(Photo provided by Cortland County).
Updates on the strategic development plan for Cortland County were shared at the Agriculture Planning, Environmental committee meeting on Thursday.
Trisha Hiemstra, the county’s planning director, said she is hoping for a strong online outreach campaign seeking input on the plan. A strategic development plan is expected by the end of 2024 and would be the first update to the county’s current plan in about 50 years.
Legislators agreed to spend $10,000 on services, while $190,000 are grants from the Appalachian Regional Commission and the New York Empire State Development agency. The strategic plan is a timeline for government leaders to follow and keep track of progress on projects of interest to the community.
“We’ve met several times with a consultant, and we’re really starting to discuss how to kick off stakeholder engagement and how to really hit the ground running with that project as well,” Hiemstra said Thursday. “That is planned to be finished and completed by the end of 2024, so we've got a lot to do in a really short timeframe with that project.”
Hiemstra said in the past that community engagement would be a pivotal piece of how the plan comes together.
“I’m a little nervous especially on the community engagement piece,” she said then. “I think that's going to be a really, really important part of this process.”
So far, after meeting with consultants, Hiemstra said she wants a strong social media presence.
“And a logo that goes with a campaign design,” she said Thursday. “We're in the process of reviewing the scope of services with the consultant for the strategic development plan to see if that's included, or if we may need a little more support on the local level to really get us the depth of a project that we're hoping for.”
Hiemstra said she will continue to provide updates on the strategic development plan as part of her monthly reports to the committee.
