ALBEMARLE — During its meeting on Monday night, the Albemarle City Council received a staff presentation on the accomplishments of the city’s strategic plan for the past year, as well as the tactics for the upcoming year.
Assistant City Manager Darren Rhodes provided council members with updates on the overall progress of the City of Albemarle’s set goals as the city enters the third year of the strategic plan.
“The strategic plan allows us to prioritize what the city is going to do each year, consistent with what the citizens’ and council’s desires are,” Rhodes said. “We had the most recent survey completed last year at the end of the year. We’ve had numerous council workshops and department head retreats, all designed to refine the plan each year to make sure it keeps us accountable.”
The city’s strategic plan was drafted on the basis of community survey responses and city staff feedback before it was adopted by the council on May 2, 2022, outlining the city’s goals and objectives through 2026.
Specifically, the plan aims for an ideal vision as established in the original overview: “Albemarle will be a place where all people can develop their potential, bringing neighbors together to support a connected community.”
Rhodes mentioned that Albemarle had either completed or began 89% of the city’s 89 tactics from the previous year, adding that the other 11% had not been started due to budget constraints or lack of capacity; many of those tactics have been carried over to Year 3 of the plan.
Rhodes reviewed 10 main accomplishments in the plan’s second year, which included funding for additional staff positions such as assistant parks and recreation director, paralegal, fleet maintenance mechanic, and customer service representative.
Additionally, the city’s fire department was able to put new engine No. 2 in service.
Albemarle committed to fully funding elements of compensation philosophy, while also continuing to fund Public Utilities transition Advanced Meter Infrastructure (smart meters) with an outage management system.
The city also replaced the HVAC System at City Hall — the first part of a three-year project — and facilitated the site pad completion for the Albemarle Business Center.
Rhodes went on to list the completion of the Courthouse Plaza project, the city’s support of the Stanly Community College Line Technician program, a successful Downtown Revitalization workshop on utilizing Historic Tax Credits, and the conducting of a new community survey.
For Year 3, Albemarle has put forth 83 tactics to accomplish within the strategic plan.
The city will focus on organizational capacity by investing in the workforce, enhance local resources to improve safety and security, and provide a financial boost to infrastructure and service delivery efficiency.
Additionally, Albemarle is set to unveil community and economic growth opportunities to benefit both residents and businesses.
Councilmember Chris Bramlett provided feedback for the presentation, emphasizing his opinion that education needs to be an ongoing factor in the city’s overall set of goals.
“I’ve preached for years that our biggest drawback to economic development in Albemarle is our school system,” Bramlett said. “I would encourage you to get on that. We’ve got to influence them on behalf of the city of Albemarle to do something about our schools…It looks like a very good strategic plan.”
Rhodes concluded his strategic plan presentation by thanking the council for its involvement in the planning stage: “You all had a lot to do with it, and I appreciate your help and support.”
The Albemarle City Council is set to meet again on Aug. 19 at 6:30 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers.