Promoting tourism and business growth and a push for excellence in education are among the goals the Amherst County Board of Supervisors are striving for in a strategic plan it unanimously approved last Tuesday.
The plan is to serve as a living document supervisors can share with constituents and use for guidance in carrying out objectives, County Administrator Dean Rodgers said.
“It’s a roadmap,” Chairwoman Claudia Tucker said. “What’s important is where do we want to be?”
The plan includes six goals, the first of which is to promote tourism by demonstrating an increase in use of public facilities. Objectives include increasing wayfinding signs, promoting itineraries with overnight stay packages for local restaurants and attractions and pushing for new festivals and events while supporting existing ones, the plan states.
One festival receiving particular attention this year is the revival of the Amherst County Fair, a planned event set to return in August after more than 40 years. The county has appropriated $60,000 in planning for the
Aug. 16-19 event, which will be held at Sweet Briar College.
Fostering policies that support businesses, providing a supportive environment for starting and growing small business, increasing internet access to all county residents and enhancing the U.S. 29 corridor are part of strategies in a goal of fueling economic growth.
In seeking educational excellence, the plan emphasizes advertising and promoting successes, improving communications to parents, advancing vocational training opportunities and promoting diverse education opportunities through a locality scholarship.
Supervisors recently voted to nix a proposal from Rodgers to commit $100,000 for supporting students in community college endeavors in the upcoming 2018-19 budget in favor of further studying the possible measure beyond the upcoming fiscal year.
Amherst County School Board Chairman Mike Henderson touched on the goal at a budget work session last Thursday. He said making sure schools are adequately funded, which is a challenge this year as school officials are wrestling with cuts in a fiscal plan that has been submitted to the county with a deficit of just more than $636,000, would support excellence in education.
“What better way to do that than funding a needs-based [schools’] budget?” Henderson said.
A fourth goal is for the county to recruit and retain high quality staff by encouraging workers to attend educational, training and certification programs, staying current in technology, hiring enough employees to manage needs and approving annual cost-of-living pay increases, among other measures, the plan states.
Another goal is promoting and protecting county assets, enhancing public facilities and county properties and expanding facilities at parks with picnic pavilions and play areas.
The final goal listed is to increase citizen engagement by recruiting residents to take part in local government, reinstating the citizens’ academy, creating and publicizing community service opportunities, increasing public outreach through social media and holding town hall-style meetings.
Supervisor David Pugh stressed he is not yet willing to commit to some measures outlined in the plan that would require budget appropriations following board deliberation. Annual cost-of-living increases may not be possible in upcoming years, Pugh said.
Tucker said the plan contains steps that can get the county where it would like to go.
“Some of these take months, some of these take years to accomplish,” Rodgers said of the plan’s objectives.