High Point council reviews draft 2024–2027 strategic plan; staff to launch public dashboard and quarterly updates

The High Point City Council heard a staff presentation of the city’s draft 2024–2027 strategic plan and discussed next steps for implementation, including a public dashboard and quarterly progress updates.

City Manager Tasha LaMacour told the council the document remains “very much a work in process” and that staff and the plan facilitator had met with department heads to identify objectives, strategic initiatives and potential key performance indicators that will be used to track progress.

The plan organizes work under six broad goals: a thriving economy; effective communication and engagement; proactive urban design and planning; a resilient community; effective infrastructure and public utilities; and a high-performing organization. Strategic Initiatives Manager Eric Martin summarized earlier work that informed the plan, saying staff and the facilitator “did some context mapping where we looked at history and political trends and citizen feedback and recent successes and accomplishments.”

Under the thriving-economy goal, staff identified objectives that include growing the city’s tax base (projects cited: major industrial parks and Cement Drive improvements), revitalizing urban spaces (projects cited: 300 Oak, a proposed shared-use kitchen), supporting small businesses with grants and technical assistance, continuing development in the Catalyst District, and encouraging workforce training and incentives for job creation.

The communication and engagement goal would expand event partnerships and marketing, increase outreach in North High Point, reduce vacancies on boards and commissions and establish a citizen academy and an open-data effort labeled “Inviso.” The planning goal includes targets to increase multimodal connectivity, pursue RAISE grant projects and implement a Bloomberg micro-transit plan. Staff told the council they aim to complete 95% of commercial plan reviews within five days of submittal as part of permitting improvements.

Council member Andrew asked that the city publish sidewalk and pedestrian project prioritization online so residents can see whether a neighborhood is on a plan before funds are available. “Is there a way that we could have a plan on the website somewhere so people could know that this neighborhood is in the plan and the worst and maybe not commit to a date, but at least they know that we’re working on it,” Andrew said. Council members and staff discussed balancing transparency with avoiding commitments the city cannot meet without funding.

On housing and resilience, the draft calls for incentives and partnerships to increase affordable and mixed-income housing, funding for housing rehabilitation, investment in downtown residential projects and public–private partnerships for affordable housing. The infrastructure goal highlights street, bridge and sidewalk maintenance; water and sewer upgrades; and electric-grid resilience. The high-performing-organization goal lists recruitment and retention, employee development and an enterprise resource planning implementation (Workday).

Staff outlined the implementation timeline: owners will be assigned to objectives and initiatives, staff will finalize key performance indicators after scoping available data, and the city will publish progress on the Inviso public dashboard. Eric Martin said staff expect to demo the dashboard with the vendor later this month, finalize KPIs in summer and begin public-facing dashboard updates in the fall. The council also heard a staff proposal for quarterly written updates to accompany the dashboard.

The presentation credited work from the November 2024 council retreat and subsequent leadership workshops led by the consultant True North Performance Group.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to adopt the meeting agenda: moved by Council member Holmes, seconded by Council member Andrew; motion adopted by voice vote. (Outcome: approved.)

- Motion to go into closed session to consult with the city attorney on matters covered by attorney–client privilege (item 2025-080): moved by Council member Peters, seconded by Council member Johnson; motion adopted by voice vote. (Outcome: approved; closed session convened.)

What’s next: staff will assign owners to objectives, finalize key performance indicators and publish the strategic plan dashboard. Staff proposed quarterly updates to the council after the dashboard and KPIs are in place.