![The city council approved the strategic plan for the City of Crestview Monday night. [CONTRIBUTED PHOTO]](http://127.0.0.1/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ghows-DA-8b05f53c-0496-0448-e053-0100007fe1bf-d88a5337.jpeg)
CRESTVIEW — The Crestview City Council approved “A New View” for Crestview on Monday night.
“A New View Strategic Plan 2020” is a draft report made by city staff after the three-day planning session at the end of May.
“We are very excited about it,” Crestview City Manager Tim Bolduc said. “We’re looking forward to getting this thing implemented.”
According to the plan, the city’s vision is “to be known as a forward thinking, hospitable, and growing community that embraces diversity with a family-centric culture” with a mission “to improve the quality of life by providing exceptional municipal services.”
“We’re going to roll out our vision and mission,” Bolduc said. “It will be on our shirts, and you’ll hear it from me often.”
In order to obtain these statements, city staff came up with two categories: foundational strategic focus areas and quality of life. There are 10 elements to achieve these goals.
There are four areas the city will focus on as a foundation: financial sustainability; organizational capacity, effectiveness and efficiency; infrastructure; and communication.
“You can’t expect that we approve the strategic plan Monday and have a new road Tuesday,” Mayor J.B. Whitten said. “This is the plan for how we’ll get there.”
The city broke quality of life into six experiences: community character, safety, mobility, opportunity, play and culture.
“Things people are addressing and have questions about are in the plan,” Councilman Shannon Hayes said. "We need to make sure it's available to the people."
The approval of the plan gives Bolduc the authority to develop strategies under each goal. Once the strategies are developed, he will work with staff to prioritize objectives in the budget.
In other business, the council recommended a route for East West Connector that will run from Antioch Road to State Road 85 as part of the southwest bypass. Bolduc and Okaloosa County Public Works Director Jason Autrey presented nine alternative routes for the road at a previous meeting.
In order to build the connector, the city approved an inter-local agreement with the county. The city and county have already worked closely on the design on the connector. The agreement will also establish the responsibilities for the project and the continual maintenance.
As part of the agreement, the city will provide the county with $8 million by Dec. 31 to use for the project. The money will be used for things such as the right-of-way acquisition, construction, or inspection services.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: City council approves 'New View' plans