Rehoboth Beach starts the process to develop the city’s first strategic plan.
A strategic plan covers what kind of community a city wants to be by holding conversations with residents.
Rehoboth is working with Louisiana-based consulting firm Emergent Method for the project.
Rehoboth already has a comprehensive development plan, which focuses more on land use and physical attributes, according to city manager Taylour Tedder.
The comprehensive development plan lays out goals for the city, Tedder said.
“But there's 88 action items, and there's no timeline,” Tedder said. “So seeing how, not only can we accomplish those action items, but also looking at the greater organization and the city as a whole.”
The project calls for focus groups and surveys engaging with locals to get their takes on what the city should focus on going forward.
Tedder said they plan for community engagement to be done by Thanksgiving, and the plan overall should be completed around March.
Some of the priorities in the strategic plan might already be in the works, Tedder added.
“We want to make sure we have safe sidewalks, we want to make sure that we're pedestrian friendly,” Tedder said. “I would assume we'll see things of that nature, and just hearing from community members about what they think the community needs to do, but it's really wide open.”
The strategic plan will include priorities and instructions for implementation.
“We only have the comprehensive development plan, which – it's a great document,” Tedder said. “It has a series of vision statements, but the city does not have a mission statement. We do not have a values document. So I think this is really going to be exciting and purposeful for both the organization and the community.”
Tedder oversaw a strategic plan as the city manager in Boulder City, Nevada and said it helped city officials stay organized and updated on long-term projects.
