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County reviews 2030 strategic plan draft; identifies four community gaps and defers new goals pending further development
Summary
Staff reported results from the Envision Buncombe survey and recommended next steps on the 2030 strategic plan. Four gaps — youth mental health, homelessness and mental health intersection, access to care metrics, and aging population supports — were identified for future goal development; commissioners gave consensus to proceed with staff’s plan.
Buncombe County staff updated commissioners on the draft 2030 strategic plan, summarizing community feedback gathered through the Envision Buncombe outreach and recommending how to address four identified gaps.
Kathleen Blake presented the survey findings and staff analysis. The Envision Buncombe: A Path Forward survey ran Sept. 16–Oct. 3; for the strategic plan component, Blake said 41 individuals submitted 45 comments responding to a prompt about what the draft plan was missing. “When we looked at those 45 comments, we were able to find some shared themes across the feedback,” Blake said.
Staff identified four areas where community feedback indicated gaps: youth mental health, a holistic approach to homelessness and mental health, access to care (including benefits navigation), and supports for an aging population. Blake told commissioners the county sought subject-matter guidance to ensure any new goals would fall within the county’s scope of operations and be measurable. For example, staff noted that reducing youth court referrals is already a measurable education goal tied to services that address unmet youth mental-health needs.
On access to care, staff recommended specifying reporting by referral types in the county’s community referral system — for instance, reporting benefits-navigation referrals separately from primary‑care referrals — so the county can track where connections are succeeding and where gaps remain. Regarding aging services, staff recommended aligning the strategic-plan measure with the county’s Age‑Friendly Buncombe action plan and the 2026–2030 update planned by adult and aging services.
Commissioners discussed the recommendations and indicated consensus with staff’s approach: incorporate the CASPER and recovery-plan work where relevant, improve reporting by service type, and continue developing homelessness-and-mental-health metrics as programs mature. Staff said the final draft would return for formal adoption at a future commission meeting. No formal adoption vote occurred during the briefing; staff requested further guidance ahead of the adoption vote.
