WARSAW — The Warsaw Common Council held a workshop after the special meeting last night, Jan. 30, to update this year’s strategic plan.

The first strategic plan was created in 2012 with American StructurePoint after Warsaw Mayor Joseph Thallemer and several council members were first elected to serve on the board. The board updated the strategic plan in 2016 and found the update useful for completing their duties.

“This is to be kept at somewhat at a planning level, let’s not get too deep into the weeds,” said Thallemer. “Obviously there are details that will come out of this but our purpose tonight is going to be to look at these goals, objectives and see if we are still headed in the right direction.”

The strategic plan consists of six main objectives the board will look into when considering decisions made by the council including growth management, business retention and expansion, business attraction, neighborhood revitalization, communication and process and downtown Warsaw. Each objective consists of several goals and subgoals. City Planner Jeremy Skinner led the discussion.

After reviewing each idea for over an hour, the board added a few new goals to the 2017 Strategic Plan. The new goals included ideas such as more small business support, helping to create marketing plans for local businesses and city departments and working towards a technology plan for the city.

“Change is good, change will happen,” concluded Skinner. “We just need to make sure it benefits the community as a whole.”

Skinner will work toward finalizing the 2017 Strategic Plan in the next few weeks. Each council member will then receive the updated version to refer to as they work towards the city’s goals in the upcoming year.