Sarasota begins drafting the next two-year strategic plan

Any viable strategic plan starts with mission and vision statements, setting the tone for developing an organization’s goals and a blueprint for how to achieve them.

The Sarasota City Commission embarked on that task at a Feb. 14 workshop, a five-hour meeting that began with an hour of wordsmithing drafts of both statements. Facilitated by consultant Martin Hurwitz, commissioners grappled with subtle nuances intended to impart the correct message to both the documents that follow and the public at large.

Although all five commissioners brought varied ideas to the discussion, consensus was that statements crafted for the 2024 plan were no longer adequate. That mission statement reads: “To provide high-quality services to our residents, businesses and visitors while safeguarding our natural resources and building a prosperous community.”

For the new mission statement, the commissioners debated such words as growth — which they deemed a "lightning rod” — and whether the mission statement implied that it applies to aspirations for all residents if the word “all” is not included. And does “prosperous,” whose root word is predominant in the city seal, cause some communities within the city to feel marginalized.

“To some extent this is a concern about the city, in many respects, is a tale of two cities,” said Vice Mayor Debbie Trice. “We have the prosperous, thriving people and we have the people who are not doing well and are wondering why they're being left behind. So if anything, maybe I would add a word ‘all’ to high-quality services to all our residents, businesses and visitors.”

Dominant among some 700 responses to a survey of city residents, businesses and organizations, Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch said, was an emphasis on safety, adding whether the word “safeguarding” implied public safety or if it was applicable only to preserving tangible aspects such as culture, history and natural resources.

She recalled the discussion about the 2024 Strategic Plan over the broader implication of the phrase “safeguarding our natural resources and building a prosperous community.” 

“I remember the last discussion when we were trying to get some more words in there, (Hurwitz) would say, ‘Can you have a prosperous community if you're not safe?’” Ahearn-Koch said. “I know the word safeguarding is there, but for me, safety is not forefront, which I feel is part of the response that we got from some of our citizens.”

Trice wondered aloud whether adjectives such as innovative are necessary as they don’t apply to everyone.  

“There are the people who are left behind who don't have sewers, don't have roofs. We're busy talking about innovative and they're saying, ‘Oh, yeah, you're doing that downtown for the people who live on the waterfront and leaving us behind,’” Trice said. “Let's not overdo the innovative stuff when there are people who are still halfway back in the 20th century.”

Ultimately, the draft of the mission statement, with future tweaks expected, reads: “To provide high-quality and responsive services to our residents, businesses and visitors while safeguarding our natural resources while preserving our cultural heritage and building a prosperous community for all.”

That set off a brief discussion of whether the reference to "businesses" would be construed as including nonprofits and charitable organizations. Perhaps “community members,” it was suggested, would be more encompassing. With no appetite to continue parsing the mission statement, Hurwitz cut off the debate, saying, “We can keep cutting the bread in as many pieces as we want. At some point in time, they're going to get too small to eat.”

The discussion turned to the vision statement, which the 2024 Strategic Plan version reads: "A world-class community and treasured destination, with enduring natural beauty, charm, and diversity.”

Hurwitz told commissioners there are multiple measures of world-class. Ahearn-Koch also bristled at the term, suggesting using such a superlative comes across as arrogance, and that the city can be aspirational without being arrogant. 

“We are a place where people can grow and live and enjoy and vacation and retire and raise a family,” she said. “That sort of makes me feel like we're patting ourselves on the back too much.”

For now, the working mission statement reads: “A city with enduring natural beauty, charm and diversity, and the opportunity to pursue a variety of interests and thrive.”

"'A variety of' needs a little more tweaking,” Trice added. “But I think we could stick with that for now.”

What is to follow the eventually refined mission and vision statements, when the Strategic Plan is developed, will be an explanation of how city projects are identified and selected, then a matrix of initiatives to guide the city’s planning for the next two years. 

Strategic plans are laid out in two-year increments because, every other year, the composition of the City Commission can change by either the three district or the two at-large seats.