Officials have referred to the plan as a living document, meaning it is meant to be long-lived, revised as needed and passed on to future leaders.
During the five-hour meeting, the council members worked with a facilitator - Randy G. Pennington, president of Pennington Performance Group - to look at the plan as it stands and consider changes.
The next step will be a meeting in January or February during which staff members will present a revision based on council input.
The strategic plan as it stands now lays out the city’s goals and a way to measure progress through 2020. They include:
nAn increase in the tax base, which will be measured by property and sales taxes, jobs and (keeping the percentage of tax base stable within the budget.)
nExpansion of the transportation system, which includes six lanes of Interstate 35 through Temple, Outer and Northwest Loop 363, a high-speed rail, an industrial rail park, intermodal transportation, Draughon-Miller Central Texas Regional Airport, the hike/bike trail system and mass transit.
nImprovement of health and bioscience institutions, measured by the bioscience incubator and increased private bioscience-related businesses; tracking health care professional jobs and keeping a medical school in Temple.
Instrumental in meeting those goals are the Temple Economic Development Corp., the TMED District, Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 1 and strategic investment zones.
Already among the city’s accomplishments are the bioscience, business and rail parks; the Bird Creek business development; passage of parks and fire bonds; Texas Instruments building sale to Scott & White for Scott & White’s West Campus; a reconstitution of the public works department; and attempts to spruce up the city’s appearance.
The strategy assumes a rapid population growth within the next 10 years and the aging of that population.
