City Council Special Meeting: Strategic Planning Retreat – October 29, 2026

The City of Asheville held a strategic planning retreat on October 29, 2026, to begin developing a five-year strategic plan, with facilitation from the UNC Charlotte School of Government. Council and staff discussed priorities for the planning process, including aligning resources with chosen goals, improving accountability and service delivery, and gathering broad community and staff input. The process is expected to develop vision, mission, values, focus areas, and goals before moving into implementation and performance measurement. No spending approvals, contract awards, or votes were reported.

Procurement-related discussion was limited to considering how the city delivers services. Participants discussed reviewing staff costs alongside contracting costs, including whether two mowing services currently handled through RFPs could be brought in-house and tested as a pilot. They also mentioned possible financial analysis by the city manager. These were discussion points, not approved procurement actions; no vendors, contract amounts, or contract numbers were identified.