Strategic Planning Consultant Contract

Nanaimo City Council Approves $121,400 Contract

Council upon city staff recommendation has approved the awarding of a contract to Rethink (West) Incorporated to develop a strategic plan to guide the city of Nanaimo forward.

City manager Mr. Kenning urged council to approve the proposal. In the draft city of Nanaimo Financial Plan he stated:

When staff looked at core review work done in other communities, one of the frequent recommendations of the consultant hired to undertake the review is that Council engage in a strategic planning process. The reason to do this is because without a strategic plan it is virtually impossible to structure an organization and decide on what priorities it should focus on (and what priorities, if any, it should stop putting resources to). In my view, there is no point doing a core review without first undertaking a strategic plan. The strategic plan will provide the necessary guidance as to the community‟s priorities to provide direction to any follow-up organizational or core review. Only when you know what you want to accomplish as an organization can you then address the question about how and when you want to get there. I therefore strongly urge Council to support this $100,000 funding allocation.

I have put in bold type the parts of Mr. Kenning's rationale I found interesting which supported the developing of a strategic plan for the city.

It does raise a disturbing question however:

Since  WITHOUT A STRATEGIC PLAN IT IS VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO STRUCTURE AN ORGANIZATION AND DECIDE ON PRIORITIES IT SHOULD FOCUS ON........
(Remember, this is the reason given by the city manager for spending $121,400 to develop a strategic plan.)

Am I the only one wondering how the $160,000,000.00 corporation of the city of Nanaimo, with it's 700+ employees and a payroll in excess of $55,000,000.00 has been structured to date WITHOUT A STRATEGIC PLAN!!!

It makes the mind wobble !