Board, staff refine DPU mission, vision and values; management to return for approval

The Board of Public Utilities and Department of Public Utilities management reviewed a draft strategic plan at the Sept. 3 meeting and tentatively agreed on revisions to the department’s mission, vision and values, with staff returning to the board for formal approval at a subsequent meeting.

At the work session, Kathy (facilitator) and the DPU leadership team presented revised language and explained the rationale. The management team recommended a new vision line, "earn community trust through exceptional utility services," and the board, after discussion, suggested tweaks including "continually earn community trust through exceptional utility services." The board also supported adding "environmentally responsible" to the mission and moving safety to the top of the stated values.

Why this matters: The strategic plan language guides department priorities, communications and employee expectations. Changes to mission, vision and values inform later goals, metrics and staffing priorities.

Key changes and discussion

- Vision: Management proposed "earn community trust through exceptional utility services." Board members raised concerns that "earn" could imply trust is lacking; several members recommended "continually earn community trust through exceptional utility services" or similar wording to signal both existing trust and ongoing effort. The management team indicated support for the insertion of "continually."

- Mission: Management proposed adding the word "economical" and the phrase "environmentally responsible" to the mission so it would read in part: "provide safe, reliable, economical and environmentally responsible utility services." The board discussed minor wording (including whether to retain a leading verb such as "to provide").

- Values and code of ethics: The management team recommended moving safety to the top of the values list and renaming "organizational responsibility" to "ethical behavior." The board indicated general agreement and said the code of ethics itself would be handled separately.

- Goals and objectives: Staff explained edits to goal language and several objectives (for example, upgrade planning to replace aging electric assets while maximizing distributed energy resources). Board members suggested language additions to emphasize maintaining service into the future and controlling costs while keeping rates competitive.

Process and next steps

Staff said edits shown in red in the packet reflect management’s response to the Aug. 20 planning session and board comments. The group agreed to avoid minute wordsmithing during the session and to return the revised plan for formal adoption in about two weeks. The board asked staff to ensure action plans and instruments (for example, customer feedback collection) are referenced where appropriate; staff noted action plans will define survey instruments and implementation details.

Ending: The board signaled broad support for the direction of the revised mission, vision and values and asked staff to return a final recommended strategic plan at the next meeting for formal approval.