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Alta council adopts concise mission, narrows core values after extended discussion
Summary
The Alta Town Council on Aug. 13 adopted a shortened mission statement — “provide services with integrity” — and agreed on a set of core values, after a months‑long effort to translate retreat discussions into a formal municipal mission and values statement.
The Alta Town Council adopted a concise municipal mission and a narrowed set of core values after an extended work‑session discussion on Aug. 13. Town Manager Chris proposed the short mission — “to provide service with integrity” — and the council voted to adopt it and a related set of values.
Council members said the shorter mission would be easier to communicate to the public and to new staff. Town Manager Chris told the council the wording grew out of a January retreat and facilitator Julie DeLong’s analysis of that session. “My proposal to you today for the town’s mission statement” was “to provide service with integrity,” Chris said during the work session.
Council members spent the meeting testing different arrangements of values — integrity, accountability, transparency, equity/fairness, community/environment and quality — and debated whether some concepts overlapped. Council member Carolyn suggested leaving “integrity” in the mission and removing it from the separate values list so the values could read as a compact set alongside the mission. Several members raised concerns that the term “equity” could be misunderstood and proposed “equality” or “fairness” as alternatives; other members argued that “equity” better captured the town’s intent to remove barriers for participation.
After discussion and a recorded voice vote, the council approved the proposal as discussed in the work session. The council directed staff to place the adopted mission and core values in municipal materials and to use the statements as a reference in future decisions and onboarding. The council and staff said they intend to revisit the language as part of ongoing strategic planning.
The adoption closes a process begun in January 2024 and refined through staff work, retreat discussion and facilitator input. Council members and staff stressed that the statements are intended as practical guides for municipal action, not as legally binding policy changes.
— Ending: The council agreed the mission and values should be living documents and asked staff to include them in retreat materials scheduled for early September and in onboarding information for new officials.
