Consultant outlines two-year strategic plan; council urged to use it to prioritize projects

Meredith Halk of Everest Drive Solutions presented the draft strategic plan developed with council and staff input over the last several months. Halk said the plan is intentionally set to a two-year timeframe to align with the city's ongoing comprehensive plan update and to provide an operational roadmap while the larger master plan is completed.

"One of the things that we heard loud and clear... is there are no shortage of good ideas in the city of North Kansas City," Halk said as she described six themes distilled from interviews, surveys, and a council retreat. The plan organizes work into four pillars — infrastructure, development, community engagement and operations — and includes recommended markers of success, metrics to be established, and specific near-term projects that would feed into a five-year capital improvement plan. Councilmembers asked about examples and implementation tools; Halk pointed to other municipalities that used branding and agenda alignment to keep the plan active and recommended tying agenda items to strategic goals so the document does not "sit on a shelf."

Council signaled support for returning the plan in resolution form and asked staff to bring it back for adoption if members approve of the draft. Staff indicated they will return with a resolution to adopt the plan at an upcoming meeting.