Smart Growth Work Program, outline and
update as of June 4th 2002.
First, some basic statements.
Smart Growth (SG) is a Discipline. At
the end of this effort, the principles of SG should be incorporated
into the appropriate County strategic planning programs, and the
operational guidelines should be incorporated within each appropriate
operational department and advisory committee. Whether or not there is
a SG ombudsman afterwards is a future policy decision.
The Smart Growth Committee is an Auditor.
The Smart Growth Committee is not going to replace any existing
advisory board under its current work program. Its basic strategic
function is to reaffirm (or propose) the results expected from SG; its
operational function is to "audit" or request review of
appropriate programs to determine if they are oriented towards
achieving these results; its tactical function is to make
recommendations for reform or additional activity to achieve those
results. All findings of the Committee go to the BOCC for final
disposition. The practice of the Committee, though, will be to
involve the operational departments so that some practical reforms can
be initiated internally through the discussions.
Smart Growth within Lee County cannot be
achieved solely by the BOCC and its Executive Agencies.
It is important that the Smart Growth director or other appropriate
County BOCC members or staff participate in those multi-agency
functions that will be needed to implement SG within Lee County. To
that end, the County participants in such efforts need a common
strategy for achieving the results of participation. A similar
approach is needed for briefing the Legislative/Congressional
representatives. The same should be said for any public/private
partnerships such as CREW, SWFTI, Horizon Council, etc.
The Committee Work Program.
The Committee will be undertaking five overlapping efforts:
Information Gathering.
This basic and necessary step is required so that all committee
members have the same basic information package. This effort will also
incorporate the work done by the preceding Task Force, and hopefully
will draw upon the volunteer pool developed by that effort. This step
will also serve to introduce some lead county staff to the Committee.
The preliminary outline of information gathering will be that of the
original Task Force. This is the step the Committee is now engaged.
Results of SG.
This step should address the question "What does SG mean to Lee
County." The results should be stated by the Committee. I hope
that this is the "elegant few" statements initially, with
the opportunity for expansion after some preliminary successes. These
results should be forwarded to the BOCC for affirmation. The Committee
is currently affirming a Mission and Vision.
Audit. Although a
fearful word, it is a necessary step to pursue reforms. The Committee
should realistically appraise with public and Department staff help
whether we are trying to achieve the results of SG. Impediments to the
achieving results should be evaluated for whether they exist for a
competing public purpose or due to a competing public policy. The
Audit should be forwarded to the BoCC for direction. (It is expected
that the Audit statements will have preliminary recommendations on
which areas to pursue the next step).
Recommendations.
This is basically the step where the program comes to fruition.
Specific actions will be proposed through the Manager to the BoCC that
should achieve the results currently not being achieved. This step
should be completed in phases towards the end of the two year period,
and should coincide with efforts the County is currently engaged in
completing, either as a sovereign entity, as a partner, or as an
affected entity.
The Feedback Loop.
Ongoing through Committee discussions. Towards the end of the work
program, the SG effort should be evaluated as to whether it should be
sustained for a longer period. Justification for such that would come
from the feeling the "elegant few" need expansion, or
whether the recommended reforms need a "gadfly" for an
evaluation of success. That is a policy decision for another day.
SG Director. This
individual has several duties:
Committee Support.
This is providing the administrative and technical support the
Committee needs to function, more than ably supported by
Administration staff. This includes agenda preparation, speaker
arranging, report writing, public notice, etc. The Director will draft
all reports of the Committee that go to the BoCC.
Public Information.
This includes the press releases, web site maintenance and articles,
speaking engagements, and similar efforts, none of which can be
successfully performed without the energetic support of Administration
staff and the Communications Director.
Issue Teams. To
follow or lead Committee deliberations, County staff will need to
undertake specific tasks. The SG Director will be asking for ad hoc
teams to be formed to do these tasks, for which he will commonly be
the secretary if not chairman of task teams.
Outreach. The SG
Director will work with County staff/BoCC members to ensure that
partner programs, or efforts affecting the County, will have a
consistent strategy to pursue.
Inreach. The SG
Director at the invitation of County staff (or on his own initiative),
will brief agency staff or advisory committees on Smart Growth issues,
providing recommendations as appropriate.
