The Charlotte County Board of Supervisors (BOS) was given an opportunity to review the results of their efforts at a recent special work session. The BOS has produced a preliminary draft of Charlotte County’s new Strategic Plan. The Plan, when finalized, will serve as a record of the core values of the BOS and the mission statement of the governing body.
Charlotte County Administrator Daniel Witt and the BOS enlisted consultation from local governmental consulting agency The Berkley Group.
Dr. Mike Chandler of The Berkley Group guided the BOS through an Organizational Strategic Assessment, (OSA). According to The Berkley Group website “An OSA is designed specifically to assess and identify weaknesses in local government operation and through proactive collaboration and revision; a new plan of initiatives and appropriate actions is implemented. The OSA improves and increases the operational efficiency of the agency. Numerous counties and towns have used the OSA across the state with great success, including Farmville when implementing a new Comprehensive Plan.”

During the work session the BOS agreed unanimously that accountability, transparency, integrity, respectfulness, trustworthiness and collaborative effort should be the core values that each Board member should recognize and affirm to in the execution of their duties. Additionally, the BOS determined that its mission, while adhering to its core values was “…to provide the citizens, businesses and visitors with public services in a fiscally prudent and socially acceptable manner.”

Additionally, the draft plan contained a set of strategic initiatives. They were chosen to provide for the economic expansion of Charlotte County, and the enrichment and economic stability of its residents. Specific actions that would help the realization of each initiative were listed below each one in outline form. The initiatives were organized in a hierarchal order of importance, from short term, more immediate goals to longer-term goals as the County and its residents look to the future.

The BOS recognizes the importance of Charlotte county’s rich historical heritage and natural resources as two solid bases to build economic growth and community enrichment through the creation of public recreation venues in the county.

Expansion of broadband technology and wireless technologies, however, are both high priority initiatives, considered paramount to the economic expansion and improving the attractiveness of Charlotte County to new businesses.

Another important initiative listed in the draft plan was to practice good governance and maintaining accountability.

Roughly one-third of the actions listed under the initiatives were aimed specifically at either improving the Board’s internal performance as a governing body or improving relationships with other agencies. The development and adoption of a Board of Supervisors Code of Performance was high on the list of initiatives.

Encouraging citizen participation in the governance of their own county was another important, short-term goal.

As the Board went about the task of reviewing and revising the draft plan, BOS Chairman and Drakes Branch Representative Butch Hamlett said, “Whatever else we put in this plan, we need to establish that we are an extension of the residents that live in the county. We need to be clear that our business is transparent and that this is a dynamic, evolving Strategic plan. It isn’t stagnant. It will change to meet the resident’s changing needs.”