Westminster council workshop maps draft goals for 2025–28 strategic plan

The Westminster City Council held a special strategic planning workshop on April 28, 2025, where staff and facilitator Ryder Smith presented draft goals and six‑month objectives intended to guide city work through a new 2025–28 strategic plan.

Smith told the council the process combined review of prior goals with one‑on‑one interviews with council members and a short public survey to surface and prioritize ideas. “Our standard process is to do some initial review of prior existing goals and objectives, have a conversation with [the] city manager to get some more context… then we really like to conduct one‑on‑one interviews with each of the council members,” Smith said during the session.

The draft framework staff presented keeps four carryover goal areas — achieve financial stability; implement and support land use policies that encourage quality development; attract, develop and retain qualified staff; and improve customer service delivery — and adds a new goal area described as enhanced quality of life and city beautification. Under each goal, staff listed multiple six‑month objectives and proposed timelines for progress and follow‑up.

City Manager Christine (last name not specified at the meeting) said the workshop’s immediate aim was to “close out the previous strategic plan, but also taking those goals and objectives and morphing into the new three‑year strategic plan.” She told the council that staff will compile the workshop input into a draft report that will be finalized in May and used to help set policy and budget priorities for fiscal 2025–26.

Council members and staff worked through, item by item, to identify which objectives should stay, which should be split into narrower tasks, and which are already in progress. On land use the group emphasized the link between a citywide approach (including a planned Environmental Impact Report for proposed intensification) and any later, area‑specific tools such as specific plans or overlay zones. On workforce issues, staff reported improvements in training and hiring systems but kept recruiting and bargaining objectives on the list. On customer service, staff signaled plans to develop front‑counter flowcharts and department‑specific training.

The workshop also produced early schedules for follow‑up: staff said they will return with targeted updates on key items (for example, zoning implementation and community development process reforms) over the coming months. The draft matrix and a narrative report from the facilitator will be circulated to council members and posted as part of the administrative record ahead of final adoption steps.

The city did not take any formal votes during the workshop. The session was framed as a working discussion to refine objectives and set near‑term checkpoints.

Looking ahead, staff said they will (a) prepare a consolidated report of the workshop discussion and draft objectives, (b) return with targeted updates at study sessions on items identified as six‑month priorities, and (c) finalize a written plan in May so the council can reference it in fall budget deliberations.