High Point launches public strategic-plan dashboard, highlights $21M in private investment and new metrics

Meredith Martin, the city's Strategic Initiatives Manager, told the Transparency, Engagement & Communication Committee on Nov. 12 that "the strategic plan dashboard... is launching today," unveiling a public site that summarizes progress on the city's six strategic goals and links to detailed project pages.

The dashboard shows overall plan progress for the first quarter (July 1'Sept. 30) and provides initiative-level status, project phases, brief staff updates and, where available, budget or expenditure notes. Martin said the plan is 36% through its initiatives, with 10% complete, 83% on track and 7% showing disruptions.

Why it matters: the dashboard is intended to centralize public-facing information about capital projects, programs and performance metrics and to reduce friction when residents ask for status updates. Martin said the city contracted with software vendor Inviso and completed performance-measure coaching with departments to decide which metrics should be public, which should remain internal and which to retire.

Key figures and projects cited in the presentation included three major private-project announcements that Martin said would generate more than $21,000,000 in private investment and about 245 new jobs, and roughly $675,000 in grants awarded to local businesses. On utilities, Martin reported automated metering progress: "25% of meters have been installed for electric, and 95% of the water system conversion is taking place." She also noted progress on Burton Avenue and Gallimore Dairy Road projects and that some timelines were revised after private-utility relocation and environmental-review delays.

On federal funding timelines, Damon Duquesne, Assistant City Manager, told the committee federally funded projects require additional steps and can take longer to deliver. "When those funds are agreed to by the federal government, those projects can take anywhere from 3 to 5 years to come to life," Duquesne said, adding that council set aside $250,000 in local funds for additional sidewalk projects that could start sooner.

Staff fielded questions about site metrics, update cadence and features. Jeron, a communications staffer, said site changes have increased social engagement but that complete traffic numbers were still being compiled. On the city's resident-education relaunch, Martin and Jeron said the inaugural High Point 101 course drew between 20 and 30 applications and that about 16'17 participants completed the class.

Martin said the initial public cadence for the dashboard will be quarterly updates, with the potential to post milestone updates sooner. A committee member asked whether pages would show the date of the last update; Martin said staff would look into adding visible "last updated" metadata to each page.

Departments will act as owners for initiatives and projects listed on the dashboard, Martin said, and staff will continue coaching department heads on how to prepare public-facing updates. Committee members requested exploring links from project pages to the council vote or minutes that authorized a project; Martin said staff will evaluate the feasibility of connecting those records.

What's next: staff plan Phase 3 of performance-measure coaching in January to finalize KPIs attached to the plan and to build external dashboards that include those measures. The committee adjourned after brief announcements.

Sources: Presentation by Meredith Martin, Strategic Initiatives Manager; comments by Assistant City Manager Damon Duquesne; staff remarks by Jeron (communications).