Salisbury City Council will hold its 30th annual retreat Thursday and Friday at Lee Street Theatre.

The retreat, called the “Future Directions and Goal Settings Conference,” is council’s chance to set priorities for the year. The public can attend the retreat, which will mostly be held at the theater at 329 N. Lee St.

This year’s retreat theme is “Telling Our Story.”

Mayor Paul Woodson said he’s excited about the retreat. It’s good to get the council members and city staff in one room to talk about different issues, he said.

Mayor Pro Tem Maggie Blackwell said planning for the city’s future is key.

“If you don’t know where you’re going, you might not get there,” she said, borrowing a quote from Yogi Berra — the hall-of-fame baseball player who played for and later managed the New York Yankees.

A luncheon will be held at noon Thursday at City Hall where council will hear from Deb Socia, the executive director of Next Century Cities. The organization promotes municipalities with publicly owned broadband networks, such as Salisbury’s Fibrant.

Socia is the featured guest speaker for this year’s retreat. Council expects to hear her talk about how the city can use its fiber-optic network to attract businesses.

Woodson said Fibrant will be a big part of the retreat.

Also on Thursday afternoon, council will hear from Fibrant’s new director, Kent Winrich, and Robert Van Geons, the county’s executive director of economic development. Their discussion is titled “Taking Fibrant to the Next Level.”

Thursday morning, council will hear from Van Geons and Downtown Salisbury Inc. Executive Director Paula Bohland about the economic prospects for Salisbury.

On Friday, Janet Gapen and Preston Mitchell, with the city’s Planning Services, will lead a talk called “Salisbury at the Speed of Light: Visioning for the Next Generation.”

Gapen, the city’s planning director, will also be part of a group that speaks about neglected housing on Friday.

Councilwoman Karen Alexander, an architect, said she knows how vital planning is.

“If we don’t plan our future, someone else will,” she said.

The retreat is an opportunity to develop goals and policies that will guide the city for decades to come, she said, adding it’s important for the city to be ready when opportunities come along.

Also Friday afternoon, council will discuss its priorities for 2015 and hear a presentation on the financial status of the city.

Interim City Manager John Sofley has been with the city sine the late 1980s and said he has seen the retreat evolve over the years.

He said the retreat allows council to lay out a vision that city staff can work toward. The retreat lets staffers know what priorities the council is focused on, and they in turn can frame their work around those priorities.

The retreat begins with breakfast Thursday at 8 a.m. at Lee Street Theatre.

Contact Reporter David Purtell at 704-797-4264.