Community input sought for Strategic Plan

To build community buy-in for its Strategic Plan, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors is inviting residents to participate in development of the five pillars it has identified as the plan’s framework.

Would you like to see Sonoma County invest more in projects to reduce greenhouse gas? Do you think too few or perhaps too many county resources are being put toward reducing homelessness? Where would you like to see the county be in terms of housing development five years from now?

Residents from throughout Sonoma County are encouraged to take part in addressing these and other important community questions beginning this week as focused development of the five-year Strategic Plan continues.

“This is a critical opportunity for the public to get involved in helping shape our blueprint for the future,” 1st District Supervisor Susan Gorin said. “This will be the guiding document that will help ensure that our future actions reflect a clear sense of purpose. This is the time to be in the room — or the Zoom — where it happens.”

In a strategic planning retreat last January the Board discussed and identified five broad categories of focus, or pillars, of the new plan, including: Healthy and Safe Communities, Organizational Excellence, Climate Action and Resiliency, Racial Equity and Social Justice, and Resilient Infrastructure.

Examples of the kinds of policy that could be developed from each category include:

• Healthy and Safe Communities: Increase housing near transportation and services, reduce homelessness, and invest in public safety;

• Climate Action and Resiliency: Make all County-owned facilities carbon-free and zero waste, become carbon neutral by 2030;

• Racial Equity and Social Justice: Assure racial equity throughout all County policy decisions, engage stakeholders to develop priorities;

• Resilient Infrastructure: Invest in capital improvements to ensure resilience and improve disaster preparedness, invest in infrastructure, fund and expand flood protection; and

• Organizational Excellence: Increase transparency and improve community engagement, become an “employer of choice” with a diverse workforce to reflect the community.

County leadership is seeking input from community members and county employees to help refine and finalize the new Strategic Plan. Adoption of the final document is expected in February 2021. To find out more, take a survey and find links to upcoming community meetings, go to sonomacounty.ca.gov/Board-of-Supervisors/Strategic/Plan.