Marion Fire Department creating new community-led strategic plan

Mar. 27, 2023 5:13 pm

MARION — The Marion Fire Department has partnered with a Virginia-based nonprofit, the Center for Public Safety Excellence, to craft an updated strategic plan for how the department can best use its resources to serve the community.

The department hosted a meeting Monday in the Marion Public Library with community stakeholders to get input on the strategic plan. Community members were asked to fill out forms rating the priority levels of various fire department duties.

The Center for Public Safety Excellence will present the information gathered from community members to fire department staff over the next few days and help the department write the strategic plan.

Invitations to the meeting were sent to community stakeholders in an attempt to get a wide variety of perspectives.

“What we wanted to do is to try to get a cross section of the different factions in the community. So, academia, the business sector, media, health care, our partners in the city that we work with, and even everyday residents,” Marion Fire Chief Tom Fagan said.

Fagan started as the Marion Fire Chief six months ago after working as a firefighter in the Kansas City area for most of his life. He has worked with the Center for Public Safety Excellence when he was a member of other fire departments, and decided to bring them in to help him get an idea of what the Marion community expects from its fire department.

“That community driven piece to strategic planning is something because, we’re here for our community. And sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know unless we find out. So, that’s really what this is about is getting that environmental scan,” Fagan said. “With me being new to the department, and actually the state of Iowa, this is a great thing that can help me as a tool to better connect with the department, better connect with the community on how we can serve them better, in ways that are currently gaps for us.”

Fagan said he hopes to have a completed strategic plan to present to Marion City Council by early summer.

The Marion Fire Department has been working on getting approval to relocate Fire Station 3 and build a fourth fire station in response to growth in the city. Fire station changes will likely be included in the new strategic plan.