Starting in late summer of 2021, the Leadership Team of VLCT and VLCT’s Board of Directors undertook a six-month strategic planning process involving member, staff, and Board input to create the “Plan to Support Vibrant Local Government: VLCT’s Five Year Strategic Plan.”
At the core of the plan is a commitment to the essence of a member-owned organization charged with supporting and strengthening our local government. Since the creation of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns more than fifty years ago, how we support and strengthen our members has necessarily changed. Local government has become more complex, costly, and political. This requires VLCT to innovate to provide more services to our members while realizing cost efficiencies to avoid upward dues pressures.
VLCT’s Plan to Support Vibrant Local Government includes four cornerstone goals:
- Grow a sustainable and relevant member-focused organization
- Strengthen the capacity of local government
- Develop and attract outstanding talent to local government
- Champion inclusive and resilient communities
In the next five years, VLCT will work toward accomplishing 11 objectives, each tied to a particular goal:
- A1: Maximize member core value and reduce dependency on dues, implementing operational efficiencies, and gathering and using data to make decisions.
- A2: Retain and attract positive, driven, and talented staff and board members that are dedicated to the success of local government, especially those from underrepresented groups.
- A3: Implement modern operational systems that provide exceptional customer service, access, and user experience.
- B1: Identify and model an aspirational vision for local government and provide training, resources, tools, and technical assistance to help municipalities govern in the 21st century.
- B2: Promote and advocate self-governance and showcase the competence and effectiveness of local government.
- B3: Continue to provide and create shared member-owned services that reduce costs and complexity to meet the unique needs of public entities, including risk management services and benefit programs.
- C1: Attract talented people to serve in volunteer and paid positions in local government, especially those from underrepresented groups.
- C2: Build public awareness about the value of local government.
- D1: Create welcoming communities where all belong.
- D2: Provide thought leadership to municipalities and partners to create an aspirational vision for government that focuses on transparency, growth, livability, adaptability, and resilience.
- D3: Build and grow partnerships with organizations that support local government.
The complete strategic plan outlines the tactics VLCT will undertake, which business unit is responsible for the tactics, and the desired outcomes of each objective. This plan is being reviewed by the VLCT Board every year to ensure we are making progress and to re-calibrate objectives and tactics as necessary. While we don’t anticipate our fundamental overarching goals to change, we do fully anticipate needing to make changes to how we accomplish these goals.