PenMet Parks is a mission-driven metropolitan park district that is intentionally positioning itself to optimally meet the current and future needs of the community. The elected Board of Park Commissioners provides leadership and policy direction, and has
adopted strategic goals and objectives for 2022 as recommended by the Executive Director.
The District is currently in a period of transition. Many of the adopted goals and objectives are foundational in nature in order to establish sustainable and functional systems that will elevate the parks and recreation services PenMet Parks provides for the community. The District is developing a 65,000 square foot indoor Community Recreation Center, which will result in additional organizational growth and transformation. We anticipate community demand for high-quality park and recreation services will continue. Within the last year senior staff leadership roles in all divisions of the organization have been permanently filled.
PenMet Parks desires to create a multi-year strategic plan to serve as a guide as the District moves forward into its next era. PenMet Parks last created a multi-year strategic plan in 2004, and it annually develops strategic goals and objectives. In addition, the District updates its Parks, Recreation, and Open Space (PROS) Plan periodically, with the last update in 2018 and the next update planned for 2022. Each of these processes provide an opportunity to identify functional shorter-term goals and objectives to advance the mission, vision, and strategic initiatives that are developed as part of the strategic plan.
The strategic planning process should reaffirm the mission of PenMet Parks, develop a compelling vision statement with community stakeholder input, define the District’s core values, and identify overarching strategic initiatives that must be undertaken in order to achieve the vision. The strategic plan will be used as a tool to steer the District, including decision making, policy development, developing annual strategic goals and objectives, developing planning documents including the PROS plan, and creating and implementing divisional work plans. The plan is expected to be a living document that informs decision-making at all levels of the organization. It is imperative that the plan is developed and communicated to foster a strategic culture of ownership and accountability in all facets of the organization.
The District plans to embark on a significant planning and community engagement effort later in 2022 to define and prioritize community need related to parks and recreation services as part of its PROS plan update. The strategic plan will establish PenMet Parks’ mission, vision, core values, and strategic initiatives to be used as the foundation for that effort. The PROS plan will continue the work of the strategic plan by translating the organizational strategic initiatives into functional goals and objectives.