Oliver’s new Town council wants to get away for a strategic planning session, but the potential cost isn’t sitting well with two councillors.
Rick Machial and Andre Miller voted against a motion to earmark $9,000 in the budget for a strategic planning getaway, including a consultant.
“To me that is an outrageous amount of money . . . it’s not worth $9,000,” said Machial, who recommended that council try to lead its own strategic meeting.
But Mayor Ron Hovanes said planning a session internally “can go sideways with little value.”
Council has determined the need for a strategic planning session to set the vision, goals and objectives for the next four to five years.
The idea is to utilize a unbiased municipal expert (consultant) to lead the session. But they don’t come cheap.
Chief Administrative Officer Heidi Frank said you can spend up to $30,000 for a strategic planning consultant. She noted that $9,000 is in the low range.
“Some (municipal) councils have gone the cheap route, and it shows,” Frank said.
Machial said the Town should charge by the hour because he “can’t see someone charging $9,000 for a day’s work.”
Councillor Jack Bennest said there is no urgency to have a planning session, but Frank said the longer council postpones it, the longer it will take to arrange one.
Staff will come back with more information on costs and venues.
