AGENDA DATE: 9/5/2018
TITLE:
Title
Update on the Finalization of the Economic Development Strategic Plan
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Staff is seeking the Board's endorsement of the updated Goals and Objectives within the draft Economic Development Strategic Plan.
ITEM TYPE: Regular Action Item
STAFF CONTACT(S): Richardson, Walker, Johnson, Newberry
PRESENTER (S): Doug Walker, Roger Johnson
LEGAL REVIEW: Not Required
REVIEWED BY: Jeffrey B. Richardson
BACKGROUND: On July 11, 2018, the Board of Supervisors endorsed a finalization process and schedule for the Economic Development Strategic Plan. The first steps in the finalization process included engaging several internal work groups comprised of key partners to the Economic Development Office such as the County Executive’s Office, Community Development, Finance, and County Attorney’s Office, as well as external stakeholders such as the City of Charlottesville, University of Virginia, Piedmont Virginia Community College, ACSA and others.
Economic Development staff have now completed the initial engagement of stakeholders according the adopted finalization process and schedule. Staff recommends the Board endorse the proposed Goals and Objectives, and direct staff to continue the finalization process by developing specific Strategies to pursue the endorsed goals.
STRATEGIC PLAN: Economic Prosperity: Foster an environment that stimulates diversified job creation, capital investments, and tax revenues that support community goals.
DISCUSSION: Economic Development staff used the Mission and Guiding Principles adopted in 2017 to begin the review process with internal stakeholders. Staff incorporated valuable feedback to improve the existing plan’s clarity, which resulted in several additions, including an expansion of the background section, a flowchart showing how this strategic plan relates to other County plans, an organizational key, and a glossary of terms. A common understanding of how to read the plan and how it fits into other County planning processes allowed productive work on its content. Additionally, staff chose to brand the draft Economic Development Strategic Plan as “Project ENABLE” in light of its primary goal to “Enable A Better Life - Economically.”
As staff moved forward to engage external partners at the local, regional, and state levels, it was clear that many services supporting the plan’s Goals and Objectives were already available in some capacity. This information allowed staff to distinguish between the Goals and Objectives where it makes sense for the County to serve as the “lead” agency versus other areas where it makes sense to play a “support” or “referral” role to key partners. The glossary of terms outlines more specifically how staff would differentiate between these approaches throughout the plan (see page 8 of Attachment A). A summary comparing the July 2017 draft to Project ENABLE is found in Attachment B.
Although the current draft of Project ENABLE contains seven broad goals that touch on fundamental economic development activities (such as business retention and expansion, site readiness, workforce development, private capital investment, marketing, tourism, etc.), staff does not propose to focus on each one in the same way; some goals will require a longer period of time to pursue than others and some objectives will require more resources than others. Staff believes the County will be most successful by maximizing our relationships with key partners and by providing services in a targeted manner. The prioritization of these goals and objectives will be fleshed out during the strategy and action plan development phase of this project. The Board will have ample opportunity to provide feedback during the subsequent worksession later this fall.
This outlook is supported by the feedback from both our external partners and our Economic Development Authority (see Attachment C). There is agreement that the current Goals and Objectives provide the right foundation for the next four years and staff recommends moving forward to developing specific Strategies to achieve them.
You will recall that the framework plan endorsed by the Board in 2017 included initial thoughts about potential strategies. Because the proposed goals and objectives have been re-worked from the framework plan, the draft being presented at this meeting does not include those specific strategies. Rather, following the Board’s consideration and action on goals and objectives, strategies will be development to best reflect this work.
BUDGET IMPACT: There is no direct budget impact associated with this agenda item.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommends the Board endorse the Goals and Objectives of Project ENABLE and direct staff to return with drafted Strategies at a future Board meeting later this fall.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment A: Current Draft Strategic Plan (“Project ENABLE”) - dated August, 2018
Attachment B: Summary of Changes between July 2017 and August 2018 Drafts
Attachment C: Feedback received from External Stakeholders and the EDA - dated August 21, 2018