The City of Lacombe adopted a three-year strategic plan at Monday's council meeting, outlining how they will achieve their goals and make their current vision a reality.

A big part of that plan was making council more accessible, by doing things like making it easier for citizens to connect with council to express their needs, and live streaming council meetings, something Mayor Grant Creasey says is a big part of making council more transparent and accountable.

“By being open with the public not only do they understand what it is we are doing, but they are also in a better position to understand why we made the decision we have, and understand that we’ve debated those items fully and come up with a consensuses from there.”

It also includes plans to review and possibly alter service levels for programs and services the city provides, further review public transportation to see if it's meeting the public’s needs for its cost, and a long term plan of increasing the cities commercial tax base to ease the pressure off of the residential tax base.

Mayor Grant Creasey says that would be a long term goal to help relive some pressure felt by residential tax payers.

“That’s certainly a long range thing, about a decade down the road. I think right now we are at about an 80/20 split, and I would like to see it move more towards a 60% residential to 40% commercial. That certainly would be a much healthier blend, and that 20% may not seem to be that lofty of a goal, but I can assure you that that is a substantial figure.”

Reviewing the service level of programs and services offered by the city, increases public awareness about local retail options, and addressing development issues on the west side of town near Highway 2, and also on the east side in the area known as Lacombe Market Square.

You can check out the final draft of the 2018-2021 Strategic Plan from the June 11th, 2018 council meeting here.