Value of Conferences and Planning Sessions

The value of conferences and strategic planning sessions has come into question by some members of public. Strategic planning sessions, once called “retreats” have especially been troublesome for members of City Council who are worried about the perception and connotations associated with the idea. I’d like to provide my perspective on the topic.

First of all, conferences and planning sessions are a valuable tool that all municipalities participate in. Corporations also make use of these types of meetings as a method of exchanging information, gaining education, networking and comparing performance with others. Strategic planning sessions or business planning sessions are utilized to gather all senior levels of an organization together to find better ways to work towards short and long term goals as well as re-evaluate the vision for the organization. Team building is also an essential part of these sessions. When considering the value in the meetings, one needs to consider whether or not it would be a good idea for the City of Grande Prairie to not participate in them when all other municipalities in the world find them extremely valuable.

Secondly, I feel Grande Prairie needs representation at conferences, not only for education, but to provide a voice for our city. Provincial Ministers and MLAs are typically in attendance as well as Federal MPs. Conferences are good for providing valuable opportunities to develop relationships between City officials and other levels of government. It may or may not be a good time to lobby a Provincial Minister, but the influence of a good impression goes a long way.

In exchanging information with other municipalities, conferences are invaluable for this opportunity. Educational sessions provide time to with other elected officials to discuss common issues and dinner breaks allow for candid conversations about what is working well and what is not.

Like all things in this world, conferences and strategic planning sessions cost money. There are some taxpayers who may feel that we are spending an unusually large sum for these meetings. For example, the annual strategic planning sessions cost around $25,000 for approximately 2-1/2 days worth of meetings. Participating in these meetings are all members of council, senior administration and a facilitator (about 18 people). These meetings have typically been held out of the city, so there is the cost of meeting rooms, hotels, travel and subsistence, as well as per diems for members of council.

In order to judge whether or not we get value out of this meeting, let’s analyze the costs versus the benefits. It’s difficult to dispute the value of conferences if they are utilized by the right people. The city has benefitted from hundred of thousands of dollars worth of grants directly identified through conference participation.

As for the strategic planning session example, we need to look at that from a corporate perspective. Why? The city (not including school taxes and interdepartmental transfers) runs on a cash budget of approximately $110 million per year. Of that amount, about $70 million comes from property taxes. This means that about 40% of the city’s operational funding comes from corporate type sources, like permits, fees, grants, etc. At $50 million per year, this makes the City one of the largest businesses in Grande Prairie. An organization that manages $120 million per year and spends about $25,000 (0.021%) to ensure that it is growing in a health direction is probably not abusing its spending privileges. As a business that earns $50 million per year, the $25,000 (0.05%) expenditure is also reasonable. What does this mean to the average taxpayer? It means that, for an average household that pays $3000/yr in property taxes that about 63 cents goes towards the strategic planning session. On a side note, that same taxpayer puts about $9 towards all of Council’s salaries.