Title
Approval of Department of Public Utilities Mission, Vision and Values, Goals and Objectives
Recommended Action
I move that the Board of Public Utilities affirm the existing Mission, Vision and Values statements, and adopt the FY2018 Goals and Objectives as presented.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends adoption of the FY2018 Objectives and Goals and affirmation of the existing Mission, Vision and Values statements.
Body
The DPU held our annual Strategic Planning Meeting on August 29th and 30th of this year. At that time the Mission, Vision and Values were evaluated to see if changes were required. Input from the Utilities Board was that, unless DPU staff felt that changes were necessary, then the existing statements were acceptable for another year. Staff did not feel that circumstances had changed enough to justify revising the Mission, Vision and Values statements.
After some discussion it was agreed that the objectives previously referred to as “Strategic Objectives” are more properly “Goals”. Similarly, “Long Term Goals” were changed to “Objectives”, and “Short Term Goals” were changed to “Action Plans”. The new focus areas were somewhat changed to better reflect our actual focus areas. Therefore, the “Customer Focus” area became “Customers and Community”, while “Operations Focus” became “Operations and Performance”. Goals were also simplified to the list as shown in the attachment. Basically, there is one overall Goal attached to each focus area, with one or more objectives under each goal. As stated above, the short-term goals are now called “Action Plans”, and correspond to the work the DPU will be doing over the coming year to ultimately accomplish the Goals and Objectives.
Many of the objectives remain the same as previous years, such as reducing unaccounted for water to 2% by 2030, while some became more general such as shooting for “high customer service ratings” rather than a specific number. The Partnerships objectives were also generalized to annually initiate conversation with our partners to look for new opportunities rather than specifying a number of new initiatives that would be launched. It was agreed that some of the specific numbers we have now in our Objectives may need to be revisited in the future if it turns out they are unrealistic. Examples of this are the 2% unaccounted for water, sewer overflow rate per mile of pipe and the 3% improved heating efficiency objectives.
The Mission Vision and Values statements are provided below for reference. The revised Goals and Objectives are provided in the attachment.
MISSION
Provide safe and reliable utility services in an economically and environmentally sustainable fashion.
VISION
Be a high-performing utility matched to our community, contributing to its future with diversified and innovative utility solutions.
VALUES
We value our:
CUSTOMERS by being service oriented and fiscally responsible;
EMPLOYEES AND PARTNERSHIPS by being a safe, ethical and professional organization that encourages continuous learning;
NATURAL RESOURCES through innovative and progressive solutions;
COMMUNITY by being communicative, organized and transparent.
Alternatives
The Board can accept the Mission, Vision and Values as retained by the DPU, or change them. Similarly, the Board can change the Goals and Objectives if necessary.
Fiscal and Staff Impact
None
Attachments
A - DPU Goals for FY2018