The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Making government work
Mention the phrase strategic plan to anyone who has worked in government or the corporate world, and they’ll think they know what you mean: an actionable plan for strategic results that intend to deliver on the identified objectives. Or, a piece of paper full of really nice ideas. But in Gunnison County, the Board of County Commissioners and county staff have changed that, turning the Gunnison County Strategic Plan from a piece of paper into real results.
“The plan is the board’s opportunity to be very clear about what results they want to deliver to their constituents—marching orders to the organization,” said county manager Matthew Birnie. “Here is what we want to accomplish and when we want to accomplish it by and the metrics to measure by. It’s a very powerful document.”
Like many strategic plans, the updated Gunnison County plan formally adopted by the commissioners on May 24 identifies the commissioners’ priorities: sound infrastructure, environmental protection, promoting healthy communities and providing a high level of service. But what makes it different, according to Birnie, are the 18 specific goals it outlines, with timelines, required actions and measures of success.
Sound infrastructure includes improving the airport by offering restrooms and restaurants in secure and non-secure areas by 2012, and replacing the Gothic Road bridge over the Slate River north of Crested Butte by 2016. Protecting the environment means things like working with ranchers to conserve 8,500 more acres of private ranchland by 2013. By 2012 the county plans to update the Housing Needs Assessment and participate in the implementation of the 2011 Gunnison County Economic Development plan currently under way. And to facilitate better quality of service, the county will aim for a full-time employee retention rate of over 90 percent by 2016.
The five-year plan adopted on May 24 is a revision of the original strategic plan created in 2008. The new goals grew out of a planning retreat with the commissioners; county staff spearheaded the development of each goal by identifying necessary steps, timelines and whether funding sources existed or need to be found.
“The Gothic Road bridge over Slate River has difficult hydrology, so the cost will be huge,” public works director Marlene Crosby told the commissioners at a May 10 review of the strategic plan. “It’s a high dollar project, from a million to a million and a half.”
Yet because of the strategic plan, staff know that surveying and mapping are already included in this year’s budget, and they plan to apply for a federal grant that could cover 80 percent of the million dollar budget. According to Birnie, it’s that kind of planning in the 2008 strategic plan that made the difference in finally building the new county jail and public works facility.
“Both buildings had been identified needs for 20-plus years but outside of putting the jail on the ballot a couple of times, not a lot had been done,” Birnie said.
The updated strategic plan was unanimously adopted by the commissioners on May 24, but the advantages of having the plan extend beyond the current board. It can also provide continuity as government changes.
“It provides some stability and focus and clarity even as boards change, to say the organization is pointed in this direction, these are the things we‘re working on,” Birnie said. “But it also gives the new board the opportunity to redirect resources and the direction of the government.”
And that, says Birnie, helps county staff help the county commissioners make government work.
