The Strategy for the Town of Jakobstad 2017–2025
The strategy for the town of Jakobstad will map out the operations of the town in accordance with the Local Government Act. The central themes of the strategy are renewal, growth, stabilisation of the economy as well as an enabling role of the town in addition to the earlier implementing role. In this way, preparations are made for future changes in the business environment.
The strategy emphasizes new ways to look at the town operations: renewal, a review of the service processes, letting the citizens in the municipality take part in developing the services, and the collaboration between businesses, societies and other municipalities as nationwide agents.
The realisation of the strategy is followed up in different lines of business and by the town’s management group. The town executive follows up on the implementation of the strategy twice annually: in conjunction with the decision-making regarding the accounts and the budget. The results of the implementation in conjunction with the accounts are annually presented to the town council. In addition, the town council regularly follows up different pivotal key figures belonging to the strategy.
The strategy has been summarised into the following goals which are followed up during the whole term:
1. Growth
- 20,000 inhabitants by the year 2020, and a continual growth
- More workplaces, more businesses focused on growth
- Developing the marketing: Jakobstad as a place of residence
2. Keeping the Citizens at the Heart of All Fields of Action
- A customer-focused way of working, where digitalisation and modern tools are used to satisfy the needs of customers
- A constant dialogue between inhabitants, businesses, officials, and elected representatives
- An enthusiastic, competent and well-being staff
3. A Balanced Economy
- The surplus of the balance sheet should be positive, and the town shall finance investments using its own means
- The town strives to keep the tax at a competitive and sensible level
- The ownership policy should be clearly defined and sustainable, sales and investments shall be done based on the core operations of the town
4. Well-being and Safety
- The town should be a safe, bilingual, and multi-cultural living environment
- More activities for children and youth should be organised to support their involvement and prevent marginalisation
- A comprehensive and sufficient supply of housing for people in all stages of life
The town goals and its lines of business are annually derived from the goals presented in the strategy, and ways of measuring the progress are also defined. The performance measures are presented annually in conjunction with the budget.
The town council approved the new strategy at their meeting on 13 November 2017. When the approval was made, the strategy process continued with an update and development of the inter-administrative and business-specific development programmes.
The intent is to examine and, if necessary, renew the strategy every two years so that it is always up to date. Here you can read the strategy for the town of Jakobstad 2017–2025 in Swedish, and at here in Finnish.