2016.01.13 Parks Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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