By Kimberley Sander Eastvale – The City of Eastvale gave its Strategic Plan Presentation to the City Council on May 8, 2013, the goal of which is to provide a vision for the City. This vision establishes a Mission Statement, and outlines five-year goals, objectives and action steps. In his State of the City address on April 9, 2013, Mayor Ike Bootsma stated, “The City Council is working on developing a five-year strategic plan as a guiding document for providing leadership and identifying the priorities and direction of the City. This will include the development of a Mission Statement, Vision Statement, and identify the City’s Core Values. The plan will provide an organizational strategy that outlines five-year goals and objectives for the City, as well as outlines how the City can successfully reach these goals.” In order to gain input for the Plan, the Strategic Planning Team conducted a multitude of meetings, interviews, workshops and focus groups with community leaders and stakeholders. Joint meetings of the Planning Commission, Public Safety Commission, and the Community Foundation also helped to establish a solid platform to grow from. The main strategic goals presented were to Establish a Solid Fiscal Foundation for the City by enhancing current revenue sources for public services and improving the cost effectiveness of City operations; Optimize the City’s Economic Development Potential by creating a destination in Eastvale; Maintain an Excellent Level of Public Safety by upholding the current status as the region’s safest city; and to Provide High Quality Public Facilities, Infrastructures and Amenities by establishing plans for the development of a Civic Center, Library, Arts and Cultural facilities and other potential future developments. There are Performance Measures in place to ensure the success of the Plan, which will provide a framework for continually evaluating the City’s priorities and progress. Fiscal stability and economic development planning will be key priorities for the next several years.As revenue becomes available, the focus will be on improving the key mission of Customer Service. Eastvale continues to thrive, and the Five-Year Strategic Plan promotes the excitement of what the future holds in an already stable environment of wonderful schools, the highest median household income in Riverside County, no city debt, a balanced budget and a healthy reserve (as reported in the May Edition of the Eastvale Community News). For more information about the City of Eastvale, visit http://www.eastvalecity.org.