Ottumwa Strategic Plan

Ottumwa Strategic Plan

Ottumwa, Iowa

During our team's planning process for updating the City of Ottumwa’s Comprehensive Plan, our scope was expanded to facilitate refinement of the City's future vision and create a strategic plan.

Our Strategic Planning process resulted in a “Game Plan” to guide the City's future decision-making while also prioritizing resource allocation. To create a plan that instilled ownership at all levels of city government, Confluence facilitated two half-day workshops, one with City departmental leaders and a subsequent workshop with City Council members.

The first workshop focused on a self-assessment with City staff, identifying a number of areas that could be improved to better meet the community's needs. It also confirmed the many things that instill great pride in City staff's on-going work. The second workshop engaged City Council members to reconcile areas of concern identified by staff while also addressing long and short-term community goals.

Through our team's leadership and facilitation, this Game Plan model required City Council members to evaluate and prioritize initiatives most important to undertake in the upcoming calendar year.