Richfield, MN

The 2023- 2026 City of Richfield Strategic Plan

Since the fall of 2021, hundreds of voices from the City and the community have joined together to draft a 4 (four) year strategic plan for Richfield. Based on feedback from the community, elected officials and city staff we have identified 5 (five) specific measurable priorities- issues of high importance to the City Council, which will guide city leaders’ decisions for the next 4 years. The City Council adopted the Strategic Plan during the September 13, meeting.

The five priorities identified are:

• Operational Excellence
• Community Development
• Sustainable Infrastructure
• High Quality Workforce
• Equity and Inclusion

These priorities were identified through an exhaustive engagement process over the course of many months. The community engagement included a public survey and focus groups. More than 600 Richfield residents participated in our survey and over 70 city stakeholders, including community and faith leaders, members of our disabilities community, as well as many more important stakeholders participated in the focus groups.

It’s important to note, that while these five priorities guide where the City organization will focus efforts and resources over the next 4 years, they do not represent a comprehensive list of the city’s efforts or projects.  We recognize many other significant areas or work, like the city’s sustainability efforts, are inherently connected to the success of rest of the City’s priorities and the community in the future. We commit to accomplishing the priorities in the most environmentally responsible manner practical; recognizing the stress caused by climate change threatens the well-being of urban populations, including low income residents and/or those who live in high-risk areas, and puts additional stress on our communities, infrastructure, and organization.

What happens next with the strategic plan?

City staff will begin working to accomplish the strategic priorities included in the 4 year plan. Within each strategic priority is a set of desired outcomes, key outcome indicators, performance targets and initiatives, which describe expected results and how the city will measure the impact of the work. Staff will begin working to accomplish the initiatives listed in the plan. Moving forward, City Council received strategic priority progress reports from staff quarterly. The updates will be available to the public on the City’s strategic plan progress tracking dashboard.

How will the City accomplish their strategic priorities?

To successfully accomplish the strategic priorities and achieve the intended outcomes expressed in the performance targets, it is necessary to have a focused set of actions. This includes detailed implementation steps to guide organizational effort. Richfield will accomplish this through a set of strategic initiatives. Strategic initiatives are broadly described, but narrowly focused activities that are aligned with the priorities and targeted to the achievement of outcomes expressed in the targets.

Staff then worked with the consultant to confirm that the targets, key outcome indicators and initiatives were consistent with the desired outcomes and priorities. This review also included researching and refining some targets and key outcome indicators to ensure that the needed data is or will be available. Since some of the key outcome indicator data is not currently tracked, some of the targets do not have a value listed. Staff will work over the next year to determine a baseline for the data and propose specific targets.

Questions

Residents who have questions about the strategic planning process should contact management analyst Chris Swanson.