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Memo <br />To: The City of Hugo Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Commission <br />From: Shayla Denaway, Parks Planner <br />Date: January 7, 2016 for the Parks Commission meeting of January 13, 2016 <br />Subject: Washington County Library Strategic Plan <br />Background <br />In the fall of 2014, Washington County began strategic planning the library system. The residents of Hugo <br />receive their library services from Washington County and pay taxes accordingly. The City of Hugo partners <br />with the Washington County Library System to provide programs and services to Hugo residents. The Parks <br />Commission is invited to review the draft Strategic Plan and Facility Report and provide feedback. <br />Overview <br />In December 2014, a 17 -member library strategic planning stakeholder committee representing the library <br />board, schools, cities and townships was established. The committee met five times over the course of a year <br />to assist with planning, review of the drafts of the strategic plan, and community engagement. <br />Library Strategies Consulting Group was hired to assist with certain components of the process. The <br />conducted research in to gather qualitative data and assess the current library system. County <br />Commissioners and current library staff participated. There was a questionnaire of local elected officials <br />from the county's 33 cities and townships, a meeting with City Administrators, one-on-one meetings with <br />school superintendents, and a community questionnaire placed on the County and Library's website <br />homepage posing four key questions to which anyone could respond. Library Strategies also researched <br />national, state, and local trends. <br />Three community forums were conducted to provide insight into community needs, concerns, and visions <br />with a total of 95 people participating. <br />A key component of the process was to conduct a survey of county residents which was designed with <br />stakeholder input. Rainbow Research sent the survey to 1,500 randomly -selected county households which <br />were both library users and non -library users. With 392 people completing the survey, the response level <br />allowed estimates to be within a +-5% margin of error. <br />Two daylong strategic planning retreats were conducted in the fall of 2015 with 63 community members <br />participating. Following the retreats, two draft reports were completed by Library Strategies: a Strategic <br />Plan containing recommended goals and strategies and a Draft Preliminary Directions for Facilities Planning <br />Report. This was followed by a 6 -week public comment period ending on February 1, 2016. <br />