City’s Strategic Plan

Guelph.
Future ready.

City’s Strategic Plan

2019 to 2023

Guelph. An inclusive, connected, prosperous city where we look after each other and our environment.

The City of Guelph provides services and programs to Guelph’s 130,000+ residents, businesses and visitors — a number that will continue to grow rapidly in the coming years. This Strategic Plan will guide our passionate employees as we deliver those programs and services, engage with residents and businesses and find innovative ways to create a future-ready Guelph.

Setting clear directions

The City’s Strategic Plan serves as a living, breathing plan for Guelph’s future. It builds on Guelph’s community vision, looking at how the City can achieve aspects of the Community Plan that fall within our areas of responsibility. It also establishes directions that will help us become a more modern, effective government and creates a foundation for our first multi-year budgeting and planning process.
The plan has been developed through a comprehensive consultation process with staff and Council. It also incorporates input from more than 10,000 community members obtained through the development of Guelph’s Community Plan. Our Strategic Plan truly reflects the aspirations Council, staff, businesses and residents hold for our community, laying out our commitment to a shared future for Guelph.

The organization’s vision, mission and values provide the foundation that underpins our Strategic Plan, setting the tone for how our organization works and what we will achieve.

Our vision

An inclusive, connected, prosperous city where we look after each other and our environment.

Our mission

Working together to deliver responsible and responsive public service to Guelph’s growing and diverse community.

Our values

Integrity
honest and ethical

Service
community driven

Inclusion
stronger for our differences

Wellness
adaptable and resilient

Learning
always learning

Strategic priorities and directions

This plan includes five strategic priorities that aim to improve sustainability across many areas, while working towards improved community well-being.

Click on the links below to explore each one, along with the directions that will shape our implementation plans and some examples of actions we could take to achieve those directions.

Powering our future

Sustaining our future

Navigating our future

Working together for our future

Building our future

Download a print-friendly PDF of the Strategic Plan

Bringing the plan to life: a role for everyone

City staff will lead the implementation and reporting of actions to support the Strategic Plan and champion its success. They will integrate the Plan into corporate and service area plans and ingrain the vision, mission and values into the organization’s culture.

City Council will participate in making decisions to further the priorities laid out in the Strategic Plan to support the well-being and interests of the community. They will ensure that administrative policies, practices and procedures are in place to implement the decisions of Council regarding the Strategic Plan.

The community will work with the City, where appropriate, on initiatives that move Guelph toward its Community Plan goals. The community will hold the City accountable for delivering on its Strategic Plan, being transparent and engaging with them.

Next steps

Using this Plan, City staff will develop a set of strategic action plans to identify measurable progress in each of the five priority areas. Once Council has vetted and approved the action plans in Q2 2020, City staff will:

  • establish work plans and budget requests to implement the action plans, seeking partnerships and collaborations with the community where appropriate
  • track and regularly report on our progress
  • adjust when necessary
  • celebrate our progress