Kingsville EDC

The Strategic Plan

Strategic Planning Conference

Strategic Proposals

MEMORANDUM
To: All stakeholders in the future of Kingsville, Texas
From: E. R. Dyson, President, Board of Directors
Date: 08/20/99
Re: STRATEGIC PLAN; EDC & and its partners

1. I recently conducted research to find information that might be useful as the Greater Kingsville Economic Development Council along with other local organizations, boards, and government entities undergo an internal review of their policies, procedures, mission statement, and strategies. This internal review is timely because each of us operates in an environment where the challenges are many and the public seeks accountability from its organizations and institutions for the funds for which we have become stewards. As we approach the new millennium, it seems appropriate that every organization and entity seeks a clarification regarding its direction and strategies. Without a clear vision of "where" we are headed, it will be difficult to select the appropriate policies, procedures, and strategies to take us there. The Greater Kingsville Economic Development Council will continue this "self-analysis" over the coming few months.

2. Certainly, most of our local organizations and institutions have operated with purpose and direction for many years. However, the dynamic forces of the market place require that each of us adopts a strategic plan that will "more sharply focus" our energies and provide a template or decision matrix for us to refer to as we review proposals that will consume our limited resources--whether those resources are time, labor, or money.

It is significant to note that our city leaders must decide whether to build an overpass on General Cavazos Blvd to facilitate access to health and safety services for residents living west of the railroad tracks, or to use the city's contribution toward such construction for other purposes. Additionally, the Kingsville Independent School District faces tough decisions about which schools should be closed or consolidated, if any, and how to combat the "perception" that it does not provide a quality education to our children. It must also decide which schools should receive renovations and technology and what type of technology should be implemented within the district. Additionally, our entire community must decide how we will respond to the infra-structure changes that will have to occur if Spaceport is approved--creating a need for more roads, improved utilities, more schools, more housing, improved telecommunications, and more public services. Each of these decisions will have economic development implications because they each impact the quality of life in our community. Each of these decisions can influence a business' or family's decision to stay, expand, or relocate here. As a result, these types of decisions cannot be made in a vacuum; conversely, these decisions must be made within the context of a plan whose purpose is to enhance the quality of life here and make this community one that both industry and individual would be proud to call home.

3. Operational or policy decisions--especially those with budgetary implications--should be consistent with a long-term plan of action adopted and approved by the Board (or other top executive leadership). Any proposal that does not enhance the achievement of goals set, or priorities established, should be rejected. The adoption of a strategic plan will provide a "template" or "decision matrix" for measuring whether the Board (or other top executive leadership) should adopt any proposal.

4. During my research I found many case studies of organizations that were trying to make themselves more responsive to those they served. The following points were made:

The strategic planning process is designed to foster an integration of legal, organizational, and budgetary considerations.
The strategic planning process provides a "barometer for tracking progress and program direction."
Strategic planning is designed to embrace, integrate, and guide organizational and "stakeholder" behavior toward established goals.

5. The "stakeholders" for the EDC would include, among others, the government entities and private businesses that fund us, taxpayers, large and small business owners in our area, EDC employees, as well as businesses we hope to attract to our community. Organizations must integrate strategic planning as a long-term iterative tool that incorporates planning, budgeting, performance measurement, and review for all parts of the organization. Because the economic and political environment is constantly changing, strategic planning will require flexibility and willingness to test some new approaches. It also requires that the strengths of our organization be located and built upon. This process necessarily involves setting priorities and making a critical assessment of how best to employ human and financial resources.

6. STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS.
The strategic planning process begins with information gathering via questionnaires, polls, and "workshops/retreats". An organization's employees, directors, and external "stakeholders" should be interviewed. Workshops/retreats provide opportunities to gather ideas and share information. Such gatherings are designed to culminate in a strategic template for establishing performance objectives and associated measures and to achieve a reasonable degree of consensus concerning an organization's mission, vision, and long-term goals and objectives. This process began last year for the EDC:

An EDC BOARD SURVEY was conducted last spring and summer.
The INDUSTRIAL SURVEY of targeted companies has been conducted 17 companies targeted for survey, re: business climate, quality of life issues, economic development plans for future)
TEXAS A & M KINGSVILLE SURVEY (individuals surveyed regarding impressions of business climate, means of methods of EDC) Note: A task force/committee should be formed to prepare a report evaluating the suggestions. The report will serve as a catalyst to suggest significant issue areas for a larger forum. The report should be distributed among external "stakeholders" before any leadership workshop/retreat.
LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP/RETREAT(to be attended by key leaders in industry, government, and other external "stakeholders" after completion of surveys; agenda driven by survey results) Among the purposes of the LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP/RETREAT include:

To foster an open and collaborative decision-making procedure in the development of a new strategic vision
To build supportive constituencies from a cross section of the business community
To create a common vision for the EDC, setting the climate for needed changes, and opening up avenues for additional goal-related input
To stimulate the internal imagination of the EDC and inform external stakeholders that the EDC is serious about making informed decisions

8. I propose that recommendations resulting from the Workshop/Retreat should be sent to EDC Board Directors and then to all Workshop participants. An Executive Planning Committee should be formed to develop a strategic plan and budget that presents information that is "user-friendly" to the Board, staff, and designated "stakeholders". These recommendations should also include revisions to bylaws, articles of incorporation, EDC mission statement, job descriptions, and adoption of the STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE EDC FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM.

9. The Strategic Plan should reflect collaboratively defined Mission and Vision statements for the EDC resulting from the foregoing process. Based upon the Mission and Vision statements, specific and quantifiable goals should be established. Actions needed to achieve each goal should be specified, the individuals responsible for each task should be identified, and a methodology for performance measurement must be established. The process may be summarized as follows:

DEVELOP MISSION & VISION STATEMENT
SET SPECIFIC & QUANTIFIABLE GOALS
SPECIFY ACTIONS TO ACHIEVE GOALS
IDENTIFY RESPONSIBLE PARTIES
ESTABLISH PERFORMANCE MEASURES
EVALUATE PERFORMANCE

10. Many companies and organizations have undergone this process. It is important that we learn "from the mistakes of others". Some lessons others have learned include:

In strategic planning, reaching agreement about direction and measurement is what is important. The process used to achieve and document such agreement is less important.
The development of objectives and measures should not be viewed as a technical project that can be assigned to staff. Performance objectives and measures are a management tool, and management must be involved in their development.
Thinking about Performance measurement means alignment. An organization's objectives, organization, budget, and reporting structure must be calibrated for effective measurement to be useful.
An organization should assume that objectives and measures will change over time. New opportunities and challenges will arise.
The strategic planning process consumes a significant amount of time. It takes time for concepts to "jell" and truly take hold in the thinking and processes of an organization. Whatever process is used should be interactive and adaptive and should provide for both top down and bottom up flows of information.
Our president, Scott Dodds, said it best, "Strategic planning is a process, not an event." I hope that these comments will be useful to any organization or institution that wants to sharpen its focus and improve its efficiency.

Respectfully submitted,

E. R. Dyson

The ideas contained herein were borrowed liberally from case studies performed on the Bureau of Land Management and the Internal Revenue Service. The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Center conducted the BLM study for Public Administration and Policy around 1997. The IRS study was internal and was completed in February 1997. Its authors are unknown.

Sample mission and vision statements follow:

The BLM Mission Statement reads:
"It is the mission of the Bureau of Land Management to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations."

The Vision Statement reads:
The Bureau of Land Management will:

"Provide for a wide variety of public land uses without compromising the long-term health and diversity of the land and without sacrificing significant natural, cultural, and historical resource values;
Understand the arid, semi-arid, arctic and other ecosystems it manages and commit to using the best scientific and technical information to make resource management decisions;
Resolve problems and implement decisions 'in collaboration with other agencies, states, tribal governments, and the public;
Understand the needs of rural and urban publics and provide them with quality service;
Maintain a skilled and highly professional work force;
Clearly define and achieve objectives through the efficient management of financial, human, and information resources;
Efficiently and effectively manage land records and other spatial data; and
Commit to recovering a fair return for the use of publicly owned resources and to avoid creating long-term liabilities for the American taxpayers."

The IRS's mission has remained constant for several years. It reads:
"The purpose of the IRS is to collect the proper amount of tax revenue at the least cost; serve the public by continually improving the quality of our products and services; and perform in a manner warranting the highest degree of public confidence in our integrity, efficiency and fairness."

In the early 1990s, the IRS articulated a business vision or guiding principles of how the future tax system would operate and what changes would need to be made to today's operations to achieve the vision:

"Provide taxpayers with alternative means of filing and paying their taxes;
Process the remaining paper tax returns and other documents more efficiently;
Build and maintain a robust infrastructure;
Improve and accelerate identification of compliance issues; and
Give front-line employees immediate access to complete information and modem tools to do their jobs."

Since 1993, the IRS has had three objectives, which are aimed at achieving the mission and are supported by quantifiable goals.

"The first objective focuses on improving compliance with the tax laws. The IRS believes this objective requires that it maintain the highest standards of integrity. The FY 2001 performance goal for this objective aims to collect at least 90% of the total tax dollars due, through increased voluntary compliance and enforcement.

The second objective strives to better serve the customer. To do so, the IRS aims to reduce the burden taxpayers experience fulfilling their tax responsibilities, from record keeping to final account settlement; increase customer satisfaction with IRS products and services; and resolve 95% of taxpayer inquiries after only one contact.

The third objective is to improve productivity. The IRS wants to reduce overall paper processing and handling by increasing the number of returns filed on media other than paper; receiving all remittances electronically or by third-party processors; and reducing IRS- and taxpayer-initiated paper correspondence."

Strategic Planning Conference
Friday, March 31, 2000
King Ranch

AGENDA

8:00 A.M. Welcome by Rudy Dyson, EDC President Program Overview by Ray Covey, Conference Facilitator
8:30 A.M. Transportation - Billy Parks, District Engineer Texas Department of Transportation/Corpus Christi Office
9:00 A.M. Housing - Robert McCreight, Past President MLS Committee Chairman, Kingsville Board of Realtors
9:30 A.M. Labor - Oscar Martinez, CEO Workforce Network, Inc./Coastal Bend Region
10:00 A.M. Water - Steve Childers, Board Member Carola Serrato, Director, South Texas Water Authority
10:30 A.M. Telecommunications - Barry Buske, Regional Engineer Southwestern Bell Telephone
11:00 A.M. Public Education - Charles Greenawalt, Superintendent, KISD; Joe Henkel, Kingsville ISD Bond Chairman
11:30 A.M. City Services - Ricardo Guzman, Public Works Director City of Kingsville
12-Noon Lunch
1:00-5:00 P.M. Development of Strategic Plan for Kingsville EDC

Strategic Planning Conference Attendees

Rudy Dyson, Municipal Court Judge
Darrell Nordeen, Site Director, Celanese Plant
Anse Windham, Board Member, Kingsville CVB
Ricardo Guzman, Public Works Director, City of Kingsville
Phil Esquivel, Mayor, City of Kingsville
Otto Ewers, President, PROCO
CMDR Bill Herko, Chief of Staff, Training Air Wing II
Tom Best, President, Turn Around Trucking
Caesar Silva , President, CNA Corp
Carolyn Bugg, Administrative Assistant, Kingsville EDC
Steve Childers, Manager, King Ranch Saddle Shop
Patti Young, B-Bar-B Ranch Inn
Charles Greenawalt, Superintendent, Kingsville ISD
Joe Cisneros, Executive Director, Kingsville Chamber of Commerce
Dan Garza, Manager, Norwest Bank-Kingsville
Wil Thierry, Manager, CP&L-Kingsville
James Skrobarczyk, McCoy Lumber Co.
Bill Raabe, McDonalds-Kingsville
Pat Kapitan, Family Services-NAS Kingsville
Susan Nelson, Coastal Bend College
Dr. Barbara Oates, Texas A&M-Kingsville College of Business
Dr. Craig Hollingshead, Texas A&M-Kingsville College of Business
Robert McCreight, Coldwell Banker Real Estate
Patti Wolfe, Partner, Coldwell Banker Real Estate
Joe Henkel, President, Kleberg Bank
Billy Parks, District Engineer, Texas Dept. of Transportation
Chris Carron, Regional Engineer, Texas Dept. of Transportation
Hector Hinojosa, City Manager, City of Kingsville
Tobin Armstrong, Kenedy County Commissioner
Allen May, Kleberg County Judge
Clyde Allen, Allen Furniture
Carlos Martinez, CEO, Workforce Network, Inc.
Carola Serrato Executive Director, South Texas Water Authority
Abel Garza, Celanese/South Texas Water Authority
Ken Hausnchild, Haunschild Properties
Dick Messbarger, Executive Director, Kingsville EDC

The Greater Kingsville Economic Development Council
Strategic Planning Conference Results (Proposals)

I. TRANSPORTATION

A. RESOLUTIONS:

Pass a resolution in support of the overpass as the first phase of the east/west loop.
Adopt a resolution to support funding for Hwy 77 / I-69 and communicate support to state and federal officials.
Pass a resolution in support of installing highway direction signs from Corpus Christi to Kingsville and from the Valley to Kingsville.

B. TASK FORCE FORMATION:

Form a transportation task force committee that includes representatives from the EDC, Foundation, City, etc.
Develop mission statement
Work directly with the TXDOT to press for funding for I-69.
Request TXDOT to move up the timetable for the extension of Brahma Blvd. To Hwy. 77.
Work closely with TXDOT to detect and resolve deteriorating roads, etc. to avoid problems and delays in the future.
Boost local support for the drainage of General Cavazos, paying attention to safety and appearance issues.
Make recommendations on language, addressee, and other logistics for RESOLUTIONS in IA.

II. HOUSING

A. LETTER OF SUPPORT:

Submit a letter supporting the City’s current condemnation policy, which allows developers to acquire and develop condemned property. (Query: Is this an accurate statement of current policy? Suggest rewording.)

B. TASK FORCE FORMATION:

Develop a "Clean Team" to promote condemnation, a noxious ordinance, and community clean-up support.
Develop mission statement
Support the City in its long-range planning and rezoning strategy. Suggest that the City create a Building Standardization Board.
Develop a newcomer program to attract new businesses and individuals.

C. MISC.

Facilitate new development projects/options on a state, local and federal level. Use incentives and new development ideas to attract new developers. (Comment: Needs more specificity. Who is to do what, when, and how will it be monitored?)

III. LABOR

Serve as a conduit between schools, labor force and employers. (Comment: Needs more specificity. Who is to do what, when, and how will it be monitored?)
Use the resources of The Texas Workforce Commission / Workforce Network, Inc. to the EDC’s advantage to promote job training partnerships. (Comment: Needs more specificity. Who is to do what, when, and how will it be monitored?)
Work with all educational programs and organizations to develop innovative educational programs that will prepare our labor force and students for new jobs/industries (i.e. Spaceport). (Comment: Needs more specificity. Who is to do what, when, and how will it be monitored?)

IV. WATER

A. RESOLUTIONS:

Adopt a resolution supporting the City’s renewal of the water supply contract at the reduced rate.
Pass a resolution supporting the Operation and Maintenance Tax for the SWTA.

B. LONG TERM:

Support the STWA’s development plans. (Comment: Needs more specificity. Who is to do what, when, and how will it be monitored?)

V. PUBLIC EDUCATION

Support the KISD Bond issue and help educate the community on the bond’s purpose and benefits. (Comment: Needs more specificity. Who is to do what, when, and how will it be monitored?)
Support the Chamber of Commerce’s Education Committee. (Comment: Needs more specificity. Who is to do what, when, and how will it be monitored?)
Educate public, city and county officials on EDC issues and hold them accountable. (Comment: Needs more specificity. Who is to do what, when, and how will it be monitored?)

VI. PUBLIC SAFETY

Study and analyze the differences between perception and reality with respect to public safety in our community. Then, develop an action plan and respond to findings. (Comment: Needs more specificity. Who is to do what, when, and how will it be monitored?)

VII. PUBLIC WORKS

Pass a resolution to support City’s efforts for street and landfill improvements.
Adopt a resolution encouraging the city and county to develop and implement long-range planning (i.e., Where will we be in 5 years, where will we be in 10 years, etc.).

VIII. TELECOMMUNICATION

Publicize the establishment of DSL lines to new and existing businesses.
Identify and initiate the process for obtaining a POP server in Kingsville.
Complete the sonic ring.
Access the telecommunication infrastructure fund.
Adopt a resolution to support the establishment of a telecommunications task force to ensure that Kingsville is one of the Coastal Bend’s communication technology leaders.

IX. JOB RETENTION

Approve the Kodiak Expansion
Make job retention the number one priority.
Support the re-development of the Small Business Development Corporation.
Increase awareness of available business resources and develop a resource guide.
Submit a letter on behalf of area businesses to all educational institutions that addresses the importance of teaching work ethics to our students and labor force.
Re-educate the community about the results of the University of Oklahoma’s study.
Inform the community about existing state programs.

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