By ROBERT ROSS and TREY RAGSDALE
As soon as 150 Fayette citizens and the steering committee decided on Oct 18 that Fayette should develop a vision statement and implementing plan, Fayette immediately took steps to do so.
• Last week we signed a phase one contract with nationally recognized Market Street Services (MSS) to assist us develop the Fayette County vision and implementation plan. They’ll conduct technical extensive research and interviews, moderate a number of focus groups, analyze results, and present them so we better understand where we are and where we want to go.
• Of course, it’s essential that these many activities are closely coordinated, so the steering committee is concurrently developing a five-month calendar that meets necessary milestones and accommodates major events here in Fayette County, such as school breaks.
• Several organizations have already stepped forward with particularly helpful financial pledges and donations, and Fayette Chamber of Commerce Board Chairman Randy Weaver has volunteered as fund-raising chairman (“This is a vital effort, we have to do it, and I’m confident that a number of other organizations who feel the same way will jump in”).
• Several other citizens have already volunteered their time, efforts, and meeting spaces through our email, vision@fayettechamber.org, I encourage you to help Fayette County too.
Can you sponsor light refreshments for focus groups? Provide them with a meeting space, or meeting supplies, like easels and paper, markers, paper and pens for group members’ use? Invite a speaker to your club, neighborhood association, or other organization for a brief explanation of the visioning process.
• Our Market Street Services partner is building the website to help explain and inform the Fayette vision and implementation plan process (we’ll provide the link as soon as it’s up). It’ll contain an overview of future activities, much more detail on how they’ll be conducted, the calendar, and contacts.
One of the website’s most useful features, however, will be as a portal for you to provide your ideas, thoughts, and even critiques of Fayette’s development process and the vision and plan that come out of it.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Trey Ragsdale and Bob Ross
Volunteer Co-Chairs,
Fayette County Visioning Steering Committee
