Kingfisher city commissioners met for about six hours Wednesday to start a months-long strategic planning process.

Initiated and led by City Manager Dave Slezickey, the first such comprehensive planning effort by the city since the early 2000s is intended to chart a longterm course for city government, craft goals and objectives for each of its departments and identify and allocate resources to achieve them.

Once generated as a comprehensive document, the city’s strategic plan can provide a guide for regular reviews to make sure the city remains on track, Slezickey said

Mayor Roxie Alexander, Vice Mayor Wendell Prim and commissioners Kyle Mecklenburg and Geoff Covalt participated in the first session, along with Slezickey and City Clerk Brittney Hladik.

(Commissioner Bill Tucker was unable to attend.)

Commissioners began by hammering out a draft of potential vision and mission statements for the city.

Once formally adopted, the statements are intended to guide city planning and future decisions, as well as articulate to the community and beyond “who we are and what we do.”

“How I see the difference between a vision and mission statement is a vision (statement) is general and a mission (statement) is more specific,” Slezickey said. “Vision is external perspective of how we’re seen and mission is more specific on who we are.”

“I do like that,” Mecklenburg said. “Vision is what we want to strive for the community to be and our mission statement is this is what we want to do as a community.”

The draft for each which were decided after considerable discussion include:

Vision Statement

“The City of Kingfisher is a safe, clean, friendly and prosperous community that is welcoming to visitors, with a vibrant small-town, rural atmosphere, supporting business and industry, while integrating and developing amenities to facilitate a high quality of life for residents of all ages and interests. Kingfisher strives to be a model of contemporary small-town America, seamlessly touching the past through its rural and historic character, while actively embracing a bright future.”

Mission Statement

“The following statements collectively represents the mission of the City of Kingfisher government:

“a. To consistently provide the highest quality services for all community members, businesses and visitors.

“b. To sustain public trust through open and responsive government, actively encouraging engagement and respecting public participation.

“c. To passionately sup port economic prosperity, growth and development for the community.”

Before adopting either statement, the city is asking for input from the community as well as further feedback from commissioners and city staff, Slezickey said.

Commissioners will meet again after the holidays to continue working towards a comprehensive plan.

In the meantime, each city department will conduct its own analysis of internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats, Slezickey said.