The town of St. Marys could have its first-ever strategic plan in time for the new year.
CAO Rob Brindley, who is helping spearhead the project with a leadership team of community representatives and other town staff, says that a draft version could be ready for council’s approval by late November, provided that the feedback from a recently scheduled “youth symposium” on Nov. 4 can be processed in time.
“It’s hard to engage youth in a forum with adults,” Brindley says.
On the whole, Brindley says that “I think we’ve gotten a lot done in a month and half” on the strategic plan process. The leadership team, in conjunction with consultants from MIllier Dickinson Blais, for the plan has conducted 50 one-on-one interviews with a variety of community members.
As well, approximately 300 surveys, online and on paper, have been completed. “It’s a great response rate,” Brindley says, noting that, in another community that the consultants are working with (with a population of 145,000) only 600 surveys were completed.
Since the survey required filling in an age group, Brindley is able to say that  “there were a lot of youth respondents” in the online version of the survey. “The people who really embraced that (online) survey were the youth.”
Two focus groups also took place on Oct. 13. A total of 35 participants, who were selected by the leadership team, worked through a two-hour process that started with visualizing what an ideal St. Marys would look like in 20 years, and ended with concrete actions the municipality could take within the next 18 to 24 months to help make the idealized St. Marys happen.
Participants at the afternoon session, which included this reporter, focussed on economic issues, as well as downtown revitalization.
CAO Brindley, who observed both sessions, says that the second group “had a different rating of priorities,” with a greater focus on culture instead of the economy.
During the focus groups, participants were asked to work together and type their thoughts onto a laptop; all the results were made visible on a screen for all to discuss.
“It was a little odd, for people to get used to the collaborative method of the focus group,” Brindley says. “But it made sure that all voices were heard in an equal forum.”
Len Hawkins was part of the afternoon session. “I thought it was pretty decent, and done well by the consultant,” he told the Journal Argus. He helped develop a revitalization plan for the downtown in 2003, and while he says that there weren’t many new ideas uncovered at the focus group, “it’s good to revisit ideas -- everyone’s got their own vision; but what needs to happen is that everyone agrees on the prioritization of them.”
He adds that “once decisions are made, council and staff need to support it and move ahead with it.”
Chris West, owner of Downtown Pontiac, also participated in the afternoon session. “I thought it was phenomenal,” he says. “I think we’re very fortunate to have a mayor that’s pro-business and pro-St. Marys, as well as a CAO to move the needle forward.”
Participants for the focus groups, as well as the individual interviews, came from suggestions from the steering committee; service groups were asked for someone to participate, for example.
“The challenge is how can you involve everyone,” Brindley says of the strategic plan process. “We go to a great extent to try to get the word out;  other than knocking on peoples’ doors, it’s difficult to get people involved.”
He adds that the finalized plan should be as inclusive as possible to create as complete a plan as possible -- and as much support for it.