Des Moines City advisory board to lead fall public engagement on new strategic plan; volunteers sought

Des Moines City Citizens Advisory Board members on Sept. 24 heard an overview of the city’s new strategic-plan process and were asked to help with fall public engagement, City Manager Catherine Caffrey said.

"The strategic plan is really it's a long term vision that really outlines what the city's priorities are," Catherine Caffrey, city manager, told the board. She said staff will run a public-engagement program this fall and early winter — focused on a survey, multiple focus groups, passive engagement (pop-up tables at community events), and at least one town hall — to collect community priorities before a new city council finalizes the plan in spring 2026.

The plan’s purpose and timing

Caffrey described the strategic plan as an "appropriately aspirational" policy guide that helps the council and staff set priorities and inform budgeting for the next three to five years. She said the city has contracted a national consulting firm for the project and that the consultant has asked staff for existing documents and prior engagement materials to consolidate earlier work.

Caffrey said the engagement timeline calls for community input this fall and…