Administration says Worcester strategic plan is complete and launches public survey; council urges wider outreach

The Worcester administration told the Municipal & Legislative Operations Subcommittee on Jan. 28 that the FY2025–2029 municipal strategic plan is complete and that staff launched a public survey to solicit resident feedback.

Assistant City Manager Hung Nguyen described the plan as the product of a multi-year, citywide process involving department heads and community input. Nguyen said the plan is already in the implementation phase and that departments will begin reporting initial performance metrics tied to the plan during the next budget cycle.

Nguyen said the administration seeks broad community input and used focus groups and surveys to collect feedback. He said the administration expects to share department-level performance metrics and that the plan’s rollout is timed to inform the FY2026 budget process.

Residents who spoke urged the city to make the survey prominent and easy to find. “Please make sure that this survey is very visible,” said Natalie Gibson (District 5), calling the city website difficult to navigate and urging that surveys be posted in multiple, easily found locations.

Resident David Webb echoed concerns about the website’s usability, calling it “very pretty but functionally atrocious,” and asking whether a portal exists for residents to suggest website improvements. Assistant City Manager Nguyen said the city’s Department of Innovation and Technology is working on site improvements and that survey links can be placed on the homepage and other prominent pages; he also accepted a chairman’s order to look into an easy-to-find suggestions mechanism for residents.

The committee voted to file the communications on the strategic plan and the public survey (items 5A and 5B). The administration said it hopes to provide draft evaluation and reporting materials arising from the strategic plan prior to the next budget cycle.