SHREWSBURY – Town officials are seeking community feedback as Shrewsbury moves forward with its strategic planning process over the next several weeks.
As such, leaders have planned to hold feedback sessions virtually and in person, kicking off with a virtual meeting on Thursday.
“We’re really moving into the final phase of the strategic plan with a significant amount of public engagement coming in the coming weeks,” Town Manager Kevin Mizikar said during a July 12 Board of Selectmen meeting. “This is the heart of the public feedback.”
The selectmen and staff have been discussing a strategic plan for several years.
Last October, Raftelis was selected as a consultant for the strategic plan. Since then, the town and Raftelis have taken a number of steps in the development of the plan, including conducting a survey of residents.
With the results of the survey in hand, Mizikar said the town worked with Raftelis to develop a mission and values statement — “Shrewsbury is a vibrant, inclusive, collaborative community where all can thrive.”
The selectmen worked in the past couple of months to develop draft strategic outcome areas, which are five areas developed to move toward the vision statement and provide services to residents to help them live their best lives, Mizikar said.
The five strategic outcome areas are: engaged and connected, healthy and thriving, prosperous, sustainable and exceptional.
Mizikar said these areas will be revisited on a three- to five-year basis.
“We’re really excited to be at this point,” Mizikar said. “We know residents can help us improve it even further from here and help us build out the strategies to achieve the strategic outcomes that we’ve set forth.”
The town and selectmen want feedback on these five areas during these community feedback meetings.
The first meeting is set for Thursday at 7 p.m.
Those interested should register in advance at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIsceyvrzkvGdfMJlsLsCQISFRVcd6isbLs?fbclid=IwAR0jvoSFlUJev-CavdWSbEJEwHsrYNNNvUV7kyLBOyW1spX9HzuatyE9O7w.
Remaining virtual meetings will be held on:
• July 26 at 2 p.m.
• Aug. 5 at 9 a.m.
• Aug. 12 at 7 p.m.
There will be in-person meetings at the Shrewsbury Public Library on:
• Aug. 1 at 7 p.m.
• Aug. 2 at 10:45 a.m.
Drop-in sessions at the Shrewsbury Farmers’ Market will be:
• July 27 from 3 to 5 p.m.
• Aug. 10 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Drop-in sessions at Food Truck Thursdays will be:
• July 28 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
• Aug. 4 from 4 to 6 p.m.
• Aug. 11 from 5 to 7 p.m.
Additionally, people can provide feedback online at https://getinvolvedshrewsbury.com/.
“I love how many opportunities there are for people to engage, and even the person on the four-week can probably manage a virtual meeting,” said Selectman Beth Casavant.
For more information on the strategic plan and how to register for the virtual meetings, visit https://shrewsburyma.gov/1051/StrategicPlan-Project. Anyone with questions should reach out to Taylor Galusha at [email protected].
