County starts strategic planning process

Douglas County officials and residents took a figurative 30,000-foot flyover of the county and came up with the first steps toward completing a strategic plan.

The county started its planning process on Thursday with a six-hour session with OnStrategy consultants Kamryn Mock and Jay Stearley.

Thursday won’t be the last time people have input into the strategic plan.

The planning team will have tables at a variety of county events including the concert in Minden Park on Friday night.

Sessions are also scheduled 4-7:30 p.m. Sept. 19 at the Douglas County Community & Senior Center in Gardnerville and Oct. 9 at the Tahoe Regional Planning Association. Both sessions will feature a free meal.

“I thought it was a great exercise in listening,” commissioner Wes Rice said. “Lots of good ideas came from community and we were able to answer some questions from community. It was a very good way to learn a few things.”

Consultants guided the group to find themes that they agreed on, lifting their focus to the entire county over the next several years.

There were 20-30 residents over the course of the day and a similar number of officials at the meeting.

After presentations about the last strategic plan and the process, participants broke up into working groups focusing on each of the prior plan’s six categories.

Some questioned whether the half-dozen categories were sufficient to accomplish the plan’s goal to “Leave a Legacy.”

Natural resources, culture and quality of life are all lumped into a single category, something participants thought should be broken down into separate parts.

Thursday’s work will help inform an online survey that should go live in the next few weeks by clicking the strategic plan link at douglascountynv.gov.