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MCOG presents SWOT and 10 strategies to guide Sagadahoc County's planning
Summary
Midcoast Council of Governments Senior Planner Max Johnstone presented a draft SWOT analysis and ten strategies for Sagadahoc County, recommending steps on budgeting, capital planning, emergency services data, regionalizing positions, outreach and periodic reviews; commissioners asked for wording changes and next steps to turn strategies into actionable tasks.
Max Johnstone, senior planner with the Midcoast Council of Governments, presented a draft county SWOT analysis and ten strategic recommendations to the Sagadahoc County commissioners on Jan. 13.
Johnstone outlined strategies that include reviewing the county budget process with stakeholders, developing a general capital-improvement plan, analyzing emergency-services call data, encouraging regionalization of hard-to-fill municipal positions, boosting rural involvement and public outreach, coordinating municipal and county capital plans, and scheduling periodic reviews to track progress. He said the draft is intended as a foundation and can be revised into more specific tasks.
Commissioner Steve August and other commissioners asked Johnstone to clarify whether the budget-process review was aimed at internal county procedures or the Budget Advisory Committee; Johnstone said staff-level discussions informed the draft and that he could reword the strategy to emphasize stakeholders across the budget process. Administrator Amber Jones said the report is a “great start” but recommended turning the strategies into specific tasks and goals. Johnstone agreed to amend language and offer example action steps where feasible.
Commissioner Todd McPhee suggested adding shellfish wardens and animal-control officers to the list of positions appropriate for regional sharing. Commissioners also discussed how county software and workshops have advanced budget work and whether an annual stakeholder review could track progress.
Next steps: Johnstone will revise the draft to reflect the commissioners’ suggested wording and examples; the board indicated interest in a workshop once the final SWOT write-up is complete.
