Grand Traverse County commissioners participated in a half-day facilitated strategic planning session Wednesday, eventually identifying five priority areas – including facilities/operations, finances/customer service, natural resources/environment/infrastructure, mental health, and quality of life including affordable housing and childcare – around which they want to set county goals the board can work toward in the coming months and years.

Tim Dempsey of Public Sector Consultants collected feedback from commissioners prior to the meeting on the county’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (a SWOT analysis) and used their answers to guide Wednesday’s discussion. County Administrator Nate Alger told the commissioners the county is in a strong fiscal position and has the “opportunity to go to the next level” in delivering services and having a community impact, calling strategic planning “the first step in that process.” He added: “This is an important process that we should go through regularly, if not annually…this is our opportunity to support and push your objectives.”

Commissioners identified a range of Grand Traverse County strengths, from clean water to natural resources to downtown Traverse City to geographic and economic diversity across the region. It was the county’s list of weaknesses, however, that ultimately helped commissioners zero in on strategic priorities. Identified weaknesses included affordable housing, affordable childcare, decline in employees, mental health care, challenges retaining young families, and a lack of cohesion among county departments and services, which are scattered across the region.

Several commissioners noted that while tourism is an important part of the local economy, visitors significantly impact infrastructure, traffic, and public safety services – costs that are born by year-round residents. In terms of labor, in addition to the struggles many local employers are experiencing hiring staff, Grand Traverse County itself is seeing nearly 25 percent turnover among employees, according to HR Director Donna Kinsey. “That’s a weakness,” Commissioner Betsy Coffia emphasized. The fractured nature of governance in Michigan – with 83 counties divided into 1,724 cities, villages, and townships – can also make it challenging to address regional problems in a cohesive way, commissioners agreed.

Potential threats in the SWOT analysis included a perceived lack of governmental reliability (such as in delivering mental health services), crime, inflation/high cost of living/homelessness, and political polarization. Commissioners saw opportunities, meanwhile, to demonstrate collective leadership and collaborate with other community partners on projects with regionwide benefits, use a coming influx of major federal funding to accomplish long-term goals, and concentrate on results-focused solutions to problems. The county’s financial position means leaders aren’t in “slash-and-burn mode,” according to Commissioner Betsy Coffia, giving the county rare “breathing space to look ahead” and plan thoughtfully for the future.

From that discussion, finances and customer service emerged as one of five strategic areas commissioners wanted to prioritize. Examples of objectives that could fall under that umbrella included maintaining the county’s financial strength, excelling in service delivery, prioritizing public safety, supporting county departments in offering services online wherever possible, engaging in regular goal setting, and aligning American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) spending with priorities identified by residents in a countywide survey. Facilities and operations, a separate but related priority area, could see commissioners focusing on consolidating county services onto shared campuses for “one-stop” shopping for residents, working on improving county employee retention, considering desired improvements at the Grand Traverse County Jail and other facilities, and looking at ways to share staff, cut costs, or otherwise improve operational efficiencies.

Infrastructure, the environment, and natural resources were combined into a third priority area. Commissioners pointed out that having adequate infrastructure, such as stormwater systems capable of handling increasingly volatile weather events, is directly tied to environmental health and protecting natural resources. Working with local municipalities to modernize infrastructure and plans for future needs and growth were cited as objectives that could fall under this category. Coffia also advocated for prioritizing broadband Internet access for all residents as a vital infrastructure need in the 21st century.

Addressing mental healthcare was another strategic priority area. Commissioners discussed the possibility of using ARPA or other funding to help establish a crisis facility with beds for youth and funding social workers to be involved in law enforcement. Multiple commission suggestions focused on either restructuring the county’s relationship with the Northern Lakes Community Mental Health Authority or working with a mental health entity that best “meets the needs of the community.”

The fifth and final priority category, referred to as “quality of life,” focused specifically on childcare and housing. Chair Rob Hentschel, while acknowledging those were crucial challenges facing the community, expressed wariness about the county’s role and ability in moving the needle on those topics. “I don’t want token efforts as part of our strategy,” he said, saying that government too often celebrates small symbolic wins on issues that would be better addressed by capitalism and the marketplace. “I want real solution to real problems,” he added. Coffia agreed county commissioners needed to “stay in our scope,” but said the county can play a role in partnering with local nonprofits and other organizations to work on solutions and use tools available to governments to help where possible. “Mental health, housing, these are huge issues for the community…I would love to see us do what we can,” she said.

Dempsey wrapped up Wednesday’s session by saying he would take all the commission’s input and use it to draft proposed vision and mission statements for the county, as well as a condensed list of goals and objectives for each strategic priority area. Those will come back for further discussion at a future commission study session, with commissioners then voting to  adopt the county’s new strategic plan. “This is a process,” he said. “This will get refined and adjusted.” Commissioners expressed satisfaction at the end of the session that – despite being a politically divided board – they were able to reach consensus on several key priorities for the county’s future. “This feels like teamwork,” said Commissioner Penny Morris. “It feels like we’re all on the same page, and I’m hoping we do more of this.”