Sault Strategic plan under scrutiny by public, stakeholders
For the first time in decades, the strategic plan considers Sault Ste. Marie’s population growth — and continued projected growth for the coming years.
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City council is looking at its corporate strategic plan through a new lens.
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For the first time in almost two decades, recent Census Canada data shows the city’s population is growing.
The data also indicates the population will continue to grow in the coming years and that means city council needs to pivot to ensure the community is ready and capable to handle the growth, says Mayor Matthew Shoemaker.
Shoemaker said that is the underlying theme behind the new strategic plan and labelling priorities to shape the next few years.
“The Community Development focus area offers the greatest opportunity for the city to drive forward positive change that will ensure we’re ready to accommodate a growing community – from policy implementation that supports the development of more homes to advocacy for healthcare funding to connecting businesses with prospective new employees,” he told The Sault Star.
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The city’s corporate strategic plan outlines the organization’s directions and goals through 2027 and priorities the strategies and actions that will guide them and resources for the next three years.
This year’s plan began under the guidance of former CAO Malcolm White and was completed with CAO Tom Vair.
“I’m confident that the contributions and perspectives of two different chief administrative officers will prove to be immensely beneficial. We’ve leveraged the strengths of both leaders; ensuring that the strategic plan is well-grounded in the City’s history and experience while also being forward-looking and innovative,” said Shoemaker.
While the city’s mission has been altered slightly, council has also added an “Our Narrative” section defining what they hope people will say about Sault Ste. Marie.
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The seven bullet points include that they’ve received exceptional service from the city, trust local government and believe their voice has been heard. They also want members to feel safe, can do business easily, and that the Sault has everything a community can offer and is like nowhere else. Finally, it wants employees to be proud they work for the corporation.
The new draft plan continues to focus on the same four focus pillars, community development, quality of life, infrastructure and service delivery.
Each of the pillars include several subcategories and strategic targets.
Community development includes economic activity, well-being, social equity and truth and reconciliation.
Quality of life includes promoting work-life balance, ensuring a welcoming community, creating a vibrant downtown and developing arts and culture.
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Infrastructure centres on maintaining current assets, building future assets and becoming environmental leaders.
Service delivery ensures a high level of customer service to all, developing employees with a supportive workplace, eliminating barriers and building community partnerships.
Strategic plans are not new for the city. They have been developed since the 2000-2003 council term to help guide the initiatives and activities of the city’s departments to be consistent with their direction and goals.
The draft plan, which is now being shared across the community and to stakeholders for input, includes a land acknowledgement, revised vision and mission statements and a narrative describing what the city wants people to say about the community.
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Tessa Vecchio, the city’s corporate communication officer, said that to date, there have been more than 130 comments received regarding the strategic plan and the draft plan on the city’s website has received more than 180 views.
While a deep dive into the comments has not yet been completed, Vecchio said there are many comments regarding the health and safety components and focus areas of the plan.
“Just as we’ve heard from other surveys it looks like safety remains a prime area of concern,” she told The Sault Star.
Positive feedback regarding the new well being and social equity sub pillar is also receiving some good feedback, she said.
“While we know that some of these societal issues are beyond a municipality’s jurisdiction, we have a commitment to take a collaborative approach with our partners and hope that we can provide opportunity for all,” she said.
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Shoemaker agrees. He said council “is increasingly required to address areas of community concern outside of our jurisdiction because of a lack of support from the provincial and federal governments.”
For example, he said the family physician shortage the city is experiencing is the most recent example.
“The funding of healthcare is a federal responsibility, and the delivery of it is a provincial responsibility, but inadequate support on both fronts means that the city has to take a leadership role in addressing the crisis,” he said. “Advocating for improved healthcare facilities and personnel, along with investing in allied healthcare recruitment and innovative labour force solutions, is included in the plan as a result.”
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Shoemaker said the city will not turn a blind eye to problems and he vows to ensure the city can do everything it can to address them.
Vecchio said while the focus areas of the plan haven’t changed, the sub-sections have developed or emerged since the last plan was completed.
The former plan was completed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was touted as a “natural evolution” from its former plan, a time when a number of governance and structural changes as well as studies and reviews on key areas of the organization were underway.
Those studies included the restructuring of city council and senior management and studies that included an updated Fire Master Plan, Economic Development review and digital strategy, among others.
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In addition, Shoemaker said this plan will build on the past plan, including in areas that include increased collaboration with area First Nations and Sault Michigan, record-breaking building permits issues and the growing cultural vitality in the community.
Challenges like mental health and addictions should have seen more progress over recent years, but Shoemaker doesn’t blame local government.
“To be frank, that isn’t reflective of a flawed course of action or a lack of concern. We still haven’t received the support we need from the provincial and federal governments, and I will ensure we aggressively make our case for the assistance we need,” he said.
Public input on the new plan is available at .
Its anticipated input will be sought until early fall and the final document will return to city council on Oct. 1 for approval.
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