City presents ‘Bowie Brighter’ strategic plan with five goals; council to align budget and departments in fall

City staff presented a multi-department strategic plan called "Bowie Brighter: Smart choices, stronger community" at Monday’s council meeting, describing a framework of mission, vision, values and five top goals that staff said they will fold into departmental work plans and the FY26 budget process.

Todd Peterson, the city’s director of information technology who helped present the plan, said the document’s mission is "to provide high standard cost effective services that enhance the quality of life in Bowie," and that the plan’s vision is "a thriving and inclusive community with great services where people aspire to live, work, and play." He described five core values — respect, improvement, accountability, collaboration and integrity — that will guide implementation.

Staff identified five goal areas: (1) a safe community, with objectives including improved emergency and non-emergency reporting and updated city safety infrastructure; (2) a connected and informed community to boost community participation and cross-departmental outreach; (3) sustainable practices focused on reducing solid-waste tonnage, operating as a smart city and cutting fuel use; (4) responsive service delivery that improves accessibility, addresses barriers to services and spots emerging priorities; and (5) staff development to recruit, train and retain employees and to build leadership capacity.

Janae Barber, community outreach manager, said the safe-community goal includes updating resident reporting systems and increasing cross-departmental conversations about safety. "Our priority initiative for this [goal] will be to update the resident reporting systems to better respond to emergencies," Barber said. City staff said success metrics will include usage counts for alert systems and an aspirational target of a 10% reduction in crimes against persons or property.

The plan proposes integrating the goals into departmental work plans this fall, aligning council priorities with budget decisions and forming implementation teams to track progress. Staff told the council they plan annual strategy check-ins and regular progress updates; the city also has a federally mandated deadline to make websites and documents accessible by 2026 and listed accessibility as an early priority under responsive service delivery.

Council members praised the collaborative drafting process and stressed the need to keep the plan dynamic. Councilman Brady urged that employee surveys be fully anonymous and encouraged frequent check-ins. Several council members asked staff to clarify how metrics will be measured when initiatives touch complex subjects such as event programming and smart-city implementation.

Ending: Staff said departments will incorporate the plan into work plans and budgets in fall 2025 and return with implementation timelines and measurable outcomes for council review.