City manager presents third-quarter strategic-plan update; budget adoption scheduled for this evening

City Manager Shane Chess presented the quarter‑three update on the Fort Pierce strategic plan, telling commissioners the report covered departmental milestones from April through August and alignment with the upcoming budget cycle.

Chess said the update organizes work by department and highlights activities, milestones and due dates. He listed completed mural projects on Atlantic Avenue and North Second Street, contract awards for the Marina Conceptual Plan and Festival Street design, and progress on a downtown implementation plan tied to the Marina Park Conceptual Plan. The Marina design work has a design due date in October; Festival Street design was revised to a February due date to align with other design work.

On public works, Chess said a comprehensive city beautification action plan and a budget workshop had been completed; the manager said the city hopes to adopt the budget at this evening’s public hearing. Code enforcement has expanded proactive property-maintenance work; Chess said staff hiring was complete, and training and outreach activities had revised deadlines in October.

The update covered planning milestones including site-plan reviews, historic preservation board actions, and work on the residential design catalog and economic development element of the comprehensive plan. Chess said the King’s Landing (Villas Plat) development agreement and site-plan actions were in progress with multiple reviews completed.

Several items tied directly to the budget were described as tentatively included: technology upgrades, public-safety budgets discussed in the police budget workshop, youth recreational programming expansions, and a marketing/brand budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

Chess said some positions and functions — including property‑lease management responsibilities — will be reallocated or merged into a planned deputy city manager role tentatively scheduled to be onboarded by December 2025.

Chess also described a “community listening” action plan that includes outreach to faith-based organizations, youth groups and downtown businesses; he said staff would return with more detailed implementation timing and that the next quarterly update will align with the budget report.

Commissioners asked for follow-up on several items, including the Little Gym RFP evaluation and a plan to invite the new CEO of New Horizons and representatives of the Treasure Coast Homeless Service Council to present to the commission about homelessness response. The commission’s representative to the county homeless task force, Commissioner Gaines, said she would coordinate the introduction between the task force and the city manager.