Board Seeks Input from Community for Strategic Plan

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors wants input from county residents to help develop the county’s 2021-2024 Strategic Plan. Residents will have the opportunity to participate in several ways, including via an online survey and virtual community conversations.

“Community engagement is a vital component of the strategic planning process, and the input provided will be key in selecting goals and priorities that will guide the county’s vision for the future,” said Kaye Wallace, the county’s strategic plan coordinator.

The online survey is available now through Aug. 30 at English and in Spanish. It asks county residents about the issues they think are important to include in the strategic plan.

In addition to the survey, individual members of the board will hold virtual town halls to give residents a chance to provide input on the strategic plan. The community input will allow the 2021-2024 Strategic Plan Team, consisting of board appointees and county staff, to sharpen the focus on what people want from county government, Wallace said. “In July and August, we’re going to be asking people to take the survey and participate in the community conversations. That is what’s going to help us hone down and figure out the community’s goals and priorities.”

Dates of the community conversations will be set as the survey continues. For more information about the strategic planning process, visit the county’s website at pwcgov.org/strategicplan or email strategicplan@pwcgov.org.

Wallace said the team is looking for as much participation as possible. “We want broad-based input from the community, so we would really like as many people as possible who live and work in Prince William County to complete the survey and participate in the community conversations.”

Once the strategic plan team identifies and analyzes the community’s priorities using the information gleaned from the survey and the community meetings, it will work on creating a draft strategic plan.

In December and January, the board and the community will have opportunities to provide feedback on the initial draft, with final adoption of the 2021-2024 Strategic Plan set for February 2021.

Wallace said the adopted four-year plan will help the board in its decision making. “The strategic plan is a guiding policy document that lets the Board of County Supervisors know what issues and goals are important to the community. The board then uses that guiding policy document to help make decisions on where to spend taxpayer dollars.”