Do you have thoughts on the direction and future of Manhattan Beach? Now's your chance to weigh in: The city will host a strategic planning community input meeting on October 15 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Joslyn Community Center.

Residents who plan to attend the meeting are asked to RSVP here. A light dinner will be served at the meeting.

The City of Manhattan Beach, which uses its city-wide strategic plan to guide decision-making at all levels of the organization, began a new strategic planning process this fall with Novak Consulting Group.

The team has mapped out a multi-tiered process through which the plan will be developed, as shown in this infographic. Following community input in October, the City Council will hold a strategic planning session in November. They will produce a draft strategic plan, solicit community input, hold action planning meetings in December, and then proceed to a final strategic plan in January 2016.

The most recent strategic plan for the city was completed in 2013 and can be found here. The city intends to use the previous plan’s core values and three-year goals to help inform the current strategic planning process. Additionally, the city’s mission statement that emerged from the previous strategic planning sessions continues to guide its development:

“The City of Manhattan Beach is dedicated to providing exemplary municipal services, preserving our small beach town character and enhancing the quality of life for our residents, businesses and visitors.”

For the past three weeks, the city has run a booth at the Manhattan Beach Farmers Market to solicit resident input and offer residents a chance to fill out a survey.