A new plan for Richmond County’s future will be presented at Monday’s County Board of Commissioners’ meeting.
Chairman Kenneth Robinette and Richmond Community College President Dale McInnis are the co-chairs for the Vision 2020 Plan. This plan was an update of the last Civic Index, done in 2004, and was accomplished through the help of Bill McCoy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the Richmond County Development Team. Robinette and McInnis will present the plan to the Board of Commissioners at its regular monthly meeting, to be held in the Commissioners’ Chambers on the second floor of the County Administrative Building, at 221 S. Hancock St. in Rockingham, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
“Businesses and companies look at this. Grant writing depends on this,” said McInnis, who met with County Manager Rick Sago and Robinette in September 2012.
The strategic plan, which will cost $15,000, will consist of several phases. In the first phase, the county worked with the University of North Carolina - Charlotte Urban Institute to review past civic indexes to see what has been accomplished and what needs to be addressed, as well as what was recommended but not acted upon.
“The second phase is to collect and analyze data about Richmond County from two perspectives: a comparison of Richmond County with peer counties and a longitudinal analysis of critical indicators from the first strategic plan (1990 data) to the end of that plan and the beginning of the second plan (2000 data) to the current planning process (2010 data),” read the Work Plan overview, published in 2012. “This analysis will help us understand how Richmond stacks up with peer counties and what has occurred on critical variables over a 20-year period that is informed by three census counts. The work group will advise the institute in selecting the peer counties. Our target to complete the data analysis is the end of July 2012.”
The third phase is the “refinement and prioritization of recommendations for Vision 2020,” said the overview. The recommendations will come as a result of reviewing the other data, and the target date for completion is the end of September.
In other matters, the County Board is expected to:
• Consider a proposal by Sago to establish the Animal Shelter as a new county department under jurisdiction of the Richmond County Health Department.
• Hear a presentation by Paige Burns of the Richmond County Cooperative Extension on the “Sandhills Farm to Institution Food Hub,” who will be accompanied by Fenton Wilkinson, project manager for Partners in Progress, and co-founder of Sandhills Farm to Table.
• Receive an update from Paige Burns on the USDA Rural Development “Stronger Economics Together” program.
• Consider a request by Tax Administrator Vagas Jackson to hear 2013 tax appeals, as well as a request to approve a resolution to confirm postponement of revaluation of real property from 2014 to 2016.
• Get an update from Sago about the status of Stroman Road in Marston, which has been blocked off since the widening of Highway U.S. 1.
• Consider the Water Committee’s recommendations for discounted water tap fees.
• Entertain a request by Sago for the board to consider the award of a 10-year solid waste contract.
— Staff Writer Dawn M. Kurry can be reached at 910-997-3111, ext. 15, or by email at dkurry@civitasmedia.com.
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