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Draft 2025–27 strategic plan proposes four goals, trustees ask for phased review
Summary
Trustees reviewed a draft strategic plan that keeps three prior goals, adds environmental resilience, and proposes rebranding the two library locations collectively as Carmel Public Libraries. Board members asked staff to return with a phased implementation plan.
Trustees reviewed a draft strategic plan for 2025–27 that proposes four goals: center for learning and community connection; equitable and inclusive access; operational excellence; and environmental sustainability and resilience.
Library Director Ashley (last name not specified) presented the draft, which the strategic planning committee developed through six meetings and public input displays at both library buildings. The committee included trustees, staff, community members and a schoolteacher, the director said.
The draft keeps three goals from the previous plan with updated language and adds a fourth goal focused on environmental resilience and library roles during power outages and extreme weather. The draft also proposes referring to the branch buildings collectively as the Carmel Public Libraries in external communications.
Why it matters: Trustees said the plan should guide operations beyond the current renovation effort and that timing was awkward because a renovation contract had not yet been finalized. ‘‘How do these two things fit together and how don't they fit together?’’ a trustee asked, urging staff to align the plan with the renovation process rather than let the two efforts contradict one another.
Discussion and next steps
Trustees asked staff to provide the draft in smaller, reviewable sections, and to return next month with a process for board review. The director said staff will break the draft into implementable chunks and prioritize items scheduled for FY 2025–26 so the plan and budget workstreams align.
Trustee and community inputs cited in the draft included stronger branding for the two buildings, staffing and funding constraints as barriers to completing long‑term objectives, and several community program requests gathered during on‑site displays.
No vote was taken; the draft remains for board review and further comment.
