The City Council of Cathedral City unanimously approved the 5-Year Strategic Plan at the regular meeting on Wednesday, April 13, 2023. The plan will provide a longer-term perspective for service delivery and budgeting as well as operationally addressing current needs and priorities. Approval of the Strategic Plan also adds structure and provides context for future policy and budget decisions.

On June 22, 2022, the City Council authorized the City Manager to enter into a contract with Moore Iacofano Goltsman, Inc (MIG) to provide facilitation services for preparation of the City of Cathedral City’s 5 Year Strategic Plan. As part of MIG’s work on the 5 Year Strategic Plan, a community survey was unveiled at the Special City Council Meeting Strategic Planning Workshop on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3) performed the Community Survey.

A Strategic Plan is an important planning document to help organizations maintain focus on the future in addition to operationally addressing current issues and needs. Over the past 4 months, the City has undertaken a series of activities to solicit input from the community, City Council, and city staff for development of the City’s 5-Year Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan expands beyond previous goal setting performed by the City since, in addition to annual goals, it also identifies longer range priorities and initiatives.

Similar to the City’s Biennial Budget process, 5-Year Capital Improvement Project (CIP) Plan, and the Parks Improvement Project Plan, the Strategic Plan will not be a static document. It will be reviewed, updated, and revised annually to reflect City Council priorities, business imperatives created by evolving customer needs and expectations, technology, and emerging legal and regulatory requirements.

The Strategic Plan is the product of a thoughtful and inclusive process of education and solicitation of City Council thoughts and priorities, City staff review and collaboration, and community opinions and preferences. The broad outreach and collaborative process of gathering important inputs and data which informed development of the Strategic Plan included:

• 2023 projects and priorities identified by City Staff
• Updates from the 2022 City Council goals and Department Work Plans
• City Council interviews conducted by MIG Consulting
• December 2022 Strategic Planning Workshop with Executive Management Team
• January 2023 Community Survey conducted by FM3 6.A Packet Pg. 89 Cathedral City Page 2 of 4 Printed on 4/6/2023.
• January 2023 City Council Strategic Planning Workshop
• March 2023 Strategic Plan Workshop with City Management Staff
• March 22nd City Council Strategic Plan Study Session

On January 27, 2024, the City Council held their annual Goal Setting/Strategic Planning Workshop.  In preparation of the meeting, City Departments and the City Council were asked to answer the following questions:

• Over the past year, what have you accomplished, as a Councilmember, that you are most proud of? What has the City accomplished that brings you the greatest pride?
• What has challenged you the most? What were the biggest internal or external factors that impeded you or the City achieving from achieving our goals and objectives?
• What key initiatives would you like staff to focus on over the next year? Do they still align with the goals/objectives outlined in the Strategic Plan or do they need to shift? If change is proposed, are there current objectives that should be delayed or postponed or are no longer a priority?

A presentation was provided to the City Council and members of the public that were in attendance.  Staff presented the FY 2023/2024 Mid-Year Financial Review as well as each Department's answers to the above mentioned questions.  The City Council adopted the revised Strategic Plan on February 14, 2024.  For those interested, below you can review the updated plan and the presentation that was given at the Goal Setting/Strategic Plan Workshop. 

 Presentation - January 27, 2024

Strategic Plan 2023

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