Red Deer 2023-2026 Strategic Plan (The City of Red Deer)

By Alessia Proietti

Q2 report card

Red Deer city council receives positive feedback on Strategic Plan progress with downtown efforts

Sep 5, 2023 | 5:22 PM

Red Deer city council received their second quarterly report card from administration on Tuesday, highlighting positive progress towards the Strategic Plan, particularly in the downtown area.

Each quarter, council receives a report card highlighting strategic metrics like work, activities and hard data, to track progress on key performance indicators with the aim of achieving desired outcomes in the Strategic Plan.

The Plan is divided into three key focus areas: Thriving City, Community Health & Wellbeing and Connected & Engaged City. Each focus area contains aspirational goals and outcomes to achieve by 2026.

READ: Red Deer city council approves 2023-2026 Strategic Plan

The City says they have taken an intentional shift to focusing on outcomes as they speak more to the impact of the work.

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One outcome for the Thriving City focus area is a “Vibrant and Enjoyable Downtown”.

Notable highlights from Q2 (April – June) towards this outcome include:

• Numerous activations: The community worked together to activate the Ross Street Patio, Capstone, City Hall Park, and Paradise Plaza to create lively spaces for residents and visitors alike.
• Downtown Activation 4 Seasons Grant: The City awarded five applicants with a total of $25,000 to support community-led projects that empower citizens to take action to achieve the strategic moves of the Downtown Activation Playbook.
• Downtown community: The City says work is underway to create a Downtown Community Association with businesses, residents and cultural / social agencies. The association is intended to be the community voice for the downtown and based on models from other municipalities.

“This report card highlights a small fraction of the work that is happening across the organization to achieve the Strategic Plan,” said Karen Smilar, Divisional Strategist. “The vast majority of our key performance indicators are reported annually, so as we continue to progress, council and the public will begin to see the year-over-year metrics as the most insightful into our performance.

Other highlights include increased ridership of public transit with 871,734 passenger trips in Q2, an 84 per cent increase by this time in 2022. The City also reported an increase in development in the Timberlands North area with 11 lots conditionally sold.

Councillor Cindy Jefferies questioned the progress on washroom issues in the downtown core. Sarah Tittemore, General Manager of Community Services, explained that the washrooms in Sorensen Station were closed due to “functional and security risks happening in them.”

She said a plan is being crafted moving forward to address the station bathroom and the Temporary Washroom Pilot Program is available in the meantime as trailers in the central downtown in parking lot P4 (4900 49 Ave.) until roughly the end of September. She also confirmed council’s decision to advance capital investment in the Centennial Park Plaza for more permanent washrooms in the near future.

To view the report card, and to learn more about the Strategic Plan, visit www.reddeer.ca/strategicplan.