Strategic Plan Services

The Vendor is required to provide strategic planning process that produces a proposed strategic plan shaped to the priorities and objectives of the authority.
1. Assess the current strategic position of the authority:
• Review the authority 2017-2022 strategic plan and assess progress on its vision, mission, and five strategic goals.
• Review the 2016 development plan and tax increment financing plan, including the project list and available TIF capacity.
• Review prior downtown studies, including parking, transportation, and wayfinding studies and the plaza plans.
• Review the city strategic framework and master plan, and incorporate the findings of the city's economic development strategy prepared by better city, including its recommendations for the six identified properties, so the authority plan builds on and complements city efforts rather than duplicating them.
• Review the board's input gathered to date on the authority identity, positioning, and priorities, and treat it as a starting point to test and refine through the planning process rather than as settled direction.
2. Facilitate stakeholder engagement:
• Create and implement a community engagement plan.
• Facilitate discussions with downtown businesses, property owners, the authority board, city staff and elected officials, and residents to gather diverse perspectives.
• Conduct a community survey that gathers solid, representative public input.
3. Evaluate the authority events and programming:
• Audit each recurring authority event and program against consistent measures: direct cost; staff and volunteer hours converted to a labor cost; revenue, sponsorship, and the net subsidy the authority carries; attendance and the share drawn from outside; impact on downtown businesses; and fit with the authority identity and goals.
• Recommend a right-sized program built around one to two signature events that a two-person staff can deliver well, with a clear recommendation for each event to keep, scale, restructure, hand off, or retire, including the reasoning and the staff time each change frees
• Provide a five-year programming framework with a lean annual calendar, a target net cost or subsidy range, and a short set of performance measures the board reviews each year.
4. Develop a draft strategic plan:
• Identify priorities, objectives, key initiatives, and action plans.
• Consider the boards identified priority areas, including business development and support, physical improvements, and financial sustainability such as exploration of 501(c) (3) status, as input, while remaining free to test and refine direction through the planning process.
• Present the draft strategic plan to authority staff and the authority board for feedback and revision.