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Monroe Fire Department seeks council input as consultants start five-year strategic plan update
Summary
City fire officials and consultants from the Center for Public Safety Excellence asked council for input to shape a community-driven five-year strategic plan and distributed SOAR-based questionnaires to council members.
The Monroe Fire Department sought City Council input on Feb. 11 as consultants from the Center for Public Safety Excellence began a community-driven update to the department's five-year strategic plan.
Chief Ron Fowler introduced the effort and said the department is updating its strategic plan with assistance from the Center for Public Safety Excellence, the nonprofit parent of the Commission on Fire Accreditation. "We do have a consultant organization that's doing that for us," Fowler said, asking council to provide feedback to help define mission, values and strategic outcomes.
Terry Ford, technical advisor with the Center for Public Safety Excellence, told council that the department is accredited and holds an ISO Class 1 rating, and said fewer than 1 percent of U.S. fire departments have those distinctions. Ford described a community-first process: staff and community members will use instruments to rank program priorities and complete a SOAR (strengths, opportunities, aspirations, results) analysis. "We're gonna ask these five questions. Who are we? What do we do? And what do we wanna achieve? And most importantly, how do we measure our progress?" Ford said.
Consultants held a community input session earlier the same day with about 25 community members and asked council members to fill out the provided instruments and return them to the fire chief. The questionnaire asks council to compare and prioritize nine functional program areas (for example, fire prevention, public education, fire suppression, emergency medical services, technical rescue, hazardous materials and aviation rescue and firefighting) and invites narrative feedback on what the fire department should change or keep.
Why it matters: The consultants told council the plan will focus on measurable outcomes such as reduced fire loss, improved patient outcomes and sustained accreditation. Ford said consultants will facilitate but the department will write its own plan based on community and council feedback.
Next steps: Council members were asked to complete the instruments and return them to Chief Fowler by Friday; consultants will present the community and internal input to the department and use the results to draft the strategic plan. No formal council action was required or taken on the plan update during the meeting.
