Strategic Plan

Upon the arrival of Chief Gary Fisher to the Vista Fire Department, a strategic planning process was initiated. Key to the process was assuring that all members of the department would have a voice in the plan and that consensus would be the deciding factor. A planning team was determined through a voluntary process with each position, shift and specialty represented. Guided by a professional facilitator, Jim Boylan of Pathfinders Inc., this team determined the ground rules for the process and through Discovery Conversations involving all personnel created our Vision Statements, which led to determining our Core Values. Built on this gathering of information, the Mission Statement was developed.

These Mission, Vision and Value statements were taken back to the crews and to our other stakeholders by the team. Through feedback and consensus the final drafts were developed. A SWOT (Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis was initiated, again sharing information from the crews. Internal and external data related to operations, public surveys and interviews with City employees and other stakeholders were gathered. All of these guiding documents, including the City Council Goals were utilized as part of the environmental analysis.

Utilizing this wealth of information, the Planning Team began drafting and prioritizing our Goals, Strategies and Objectives. Several strategies were developed to support each goal including objectives. Basic Action Plans and Work Breakdown Schedules were established for completing each of the objectives. The dynamic plan will be reviewed semi-annually, updated as necessary and used to provide guidance to the department for the coming years.