as we celebrate our 300th birthday Holliston embarked on a new and exciting journey to create a townwide strategic plan that will guide Holliston for years to come this will serve as a road map Guided by a shared vision and values we welcomed and encouraged questions and insights from diverse voices and views for over 2 years we receiv received thousands of responses through surveys and Community forums that inspired Lively discussions with residents of all ages and backgrounds the Strategic plan is centered around the idea that Holliston is a small town with a big heart and no one knows that better than the envisioning future Holliston committee it was um actually pretty easy to come up with the notion of a small town with a big heart when um we first moved here we got involved with work at the food pantry and I was surprised and very pleased to find out that everything at the food pantry is volunteer and it was just a wonderful feeling to have moved to a community where neighbors help neighbors small town big heart when I think of Holliston being a small town with a big heart what comes to my mind is as we grow and develop as a town we want to take with us some of the best things from our past and we want to be able to carry that into the future uh one of them is this feeling of connectedness and being a close-knit community that really hears and understands each other even as we scale and develop we are incredibly compassionate we help each other out we put a lot of emphasis on the health and well-being of hollis's children I find that uh Holliston has plethora of volunteers the bike trail that's amazing with the Arch Bridge what a project all the Committees that keep this town running and these are all volunteers that step forward and give their time and energy to this town I think it's great so a small town with a big heart when I hear that phrase the first thing I think of is home I think of all the friends that I've made who have become like family and together we serve we volunteer and we support each other I found out that one of our neighbors has been ill for a very long time and that neighbors all of them have jumped up to help out bringing meals creating meals so the whole town is very supportive of everyone else in town we are inclusive we're welcoming we have a big heart anybody diverse in their backgrounds are welcome so you get the best of both worlds the small M toown flavor but also a community that's not closed to the outside and to newness the Strategic plan was developed by a dedicated group of volunteers through input from the community the envisioning future hollison committee developed a strong shared Vision with seven strategic priorities the town will focus on for the next 5 years well my focus in the Strategic plan is diversity equity and inclusion we have the goal I'm ensuring that every Committee Member every elected official every member of the uh Town staff and then eventually the community will have access to training about Dei My Hope Is that as we think about those issues that we actually then don't have to think about them that they're simply part of the array of ideas we have whenever we approach new policies and practices in the community so the focus that I represented for this committee was education many people know me as school committee and our Public Schools PRK through 12 education but really I represent all education for the town it's lifelong learning it's learning through the Arts it's learning through volunteerism so it's a really big broad category I am a part of holist economic development committee and I am happy to see that we ended up with with not just one but in fact uh three strategic priorities as part of the Strategic plan we know that the town residents want a more vibrant economy they want to be able to spend more of our family budget within hollison we want to have more small businesses but we also want some medium businesses as well as maybe some large businesses so we want choices the goals that I'm most concerned about are the ones that are associated with land use the water quality how important it is in town we have so much of it but in many places we're infringing on it in ways that I don't think should happen as a select board member we're looking at things like sidewalks and a sewer system in downtown and trying to find ways to grow responsibly and to give people the opportunity to be a part of the community and get out of their cars and not just drive through the town of Holliston to actually get out and spend some money we have a lot of wonderful businesses here and the people pass by them but we want to get them out and get people doing those things my focus is sustainability uh sustainability is more than just trash pickup and recycling we need to look ahead to years like 2030 when our carbon footprint supposed to be 50% of what it used to be or 2050 when we're Net Zero so these are things we need to plan for in the future and a climate action plan will give us some concrete steps that we can take to get there among the things I'm interested in is continuing education for adults I taught at ke Tech High School students for many years but now I'm participating at ke at night and they have wonderful programs that I hope everyone can gain access to and partake the Strategic priority that I'm focusing on is diversity equity and inclusion the population is is changing the racial makeup is changing so part of that is making sure that the people we employ reflect the changing population and to train the staff that's already here as to how to be as welcoming and Equitable to that population as possible to grow to flourish our economy we needed infrastructure to meet that the other thing that really concerns me is the planning in town has very little buildable space left both commercially and residentially how do we utilize what we have here to enable us to meet the goals of the future I sit on the Council on Aging since I've grown up in the town and have developed into a senior myself 24% of the people in hariston are over 60 and by 2030 that's going to be about 36% so this is a large segment of the population that's going to need serving so I'm a volunteer for the economic development committee I think it's important to recognize though that you know it's not just the economy there's other aspects within the plan that you know what it is that we can do or accomplish to grow our economy and grow our tax space can benefit other aspects of our town so for example a lot of people think oh well this type of business can service the residents and provide this type of service yes it can absolutely but it can also to increase Revenue that allows us then to maybe think about doing other things like hey we need money to build infrastructure for say Town sewer these are things that are important because you need revenues in order to expand our capabilities as a town hollis's plan is a reflection of our Collective aspirations what we want for ourselves and our community together we're striving for a vibrant and livable town for all shaped by our desire for an active beautiful and fullof Life Community overall what I like about the plan is the fact that the town is doing it the town is Progressive enough to realize that where we are today may not be sufficient to handle the needs and desires of the population here in the next 3 to 5 years we really needed to move from the reactive to proactive Economic Development being able to get ahead of the curve and really do something to bring in the right types of businesses what I love about the Strategic plan is we finally have this document that will help give us a road map for the future we believe in the same goals and we're going to do what we say that's exciting to me ultimately I'm very excited about the notion that what we are trying to do is to create greater accessibility the idea that we will bring the community together to talk that when there are important issues in town we don't wait for town meeting and the opportunity to talk about things when they're all over when it's done but rather throughout the year we engage people in conversation the Strategic plan is not a finished document it's a living document and as we check something off something new is going to come forward that we need to add to the list and that's good it's a 5-year plan that we have right now and we look towards the next one and trying to update and to refine those goals so we can continue to do this into the future but I think what I'm really excited about is is the idea of working together across different committees elected officials Town Administration I think this would be good for us to do a holistic audit of everything and see what the possibilities are there may be some opportunities that we're not even thinking about today and this will allow us to sit here not only just meet these guidelines but more importantly to help us Thrive to help us diversify and help us create greater opportunities for those that want to live and work here the envisioning future hollison committee will continue to meet to to track the progress of the plan's goals the plan shares the commitment that every decision every policy and every initiative is taken with accountability at its core using an inclusive lens the promise is excellence in service responsible Financial Planning and transparent governance as we continue to create hollis's future remember we are all in this together this is our plan it's hollis's heart written refined and realized together we are not just envisioning the future we are making it