County to Begin Strategic Planning Process

Once again, it is time for residents and staff members to envision the future of our community, as we begin work on the Prince William County 2021-2024 Strategic Plan. Adopted by the Board of County Supervisors every four years, coinciding with board elections, the plan outlines a vision of how the county would support the identified strategic plan goals around human services, public safety, transportation, and other county services.

To get the plan process started, the county’s Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, is convening and training a strategic plan development team. The team will consist of eight county residents, each one appointed by a county supervisor, along with seven county staff members, meeting 20 or so times throughout 2020.

Strategic Plan Coordinator Kaye Wallace emphasized that community input is essential to the strategic plan. “We really want to get community input as to what the priorities should be – what should we work on as a county over the next for years? Those things are important. We want people in the community to have their say in what’s going to be in the next strategic plan.”

The initial community engagement will begin in March with an online survey to help identify different strategic focus areas, Wallace said. Then, over the next few months, there will be several community meetings, including meetings in each of the magisterial districts. After the community meetings, the team will analyze the input to set the priorities in each of the focus areas. It is expected that the team will share its results with the board in early June.  The board will then hold a work session where they will set the goals to be included in the strategic plan.

From July through October, the team will work on developing the draft plan. Once the board’s goals and strategies are determined, and the draft is complete, it will go to the community for in-person and online input this fall, Wallace said. “As soon as we get the plan drafted, we will host some more community forums so that people can come and give us feedback on the actual draft of the plan.”

Wallace also mentioned that they are examining different options to capture the community’s feedback online, as well. The board is scheduled to finalize and adopt the plan by the end of this calendar year. Updates on planning town halls in the Occoquan District will be posted on OccoquanDistrict.net/events and Facebook.