Richland County council committee approves updated strategic-plan initiatives after staff revisions

A Richland County Council committee on July 7 accepted staff-recommended revisions to the county's strategic-plan initiatives and instructed staff to develop measures and update the dashboard, after members and administrators debated changes to diversity and housing language.

Administrator Brown told the committee that some language tied to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) could jeopardize federal or state funding, and asked the committee to consider pausing those items. "We wanna make sure that we do not put in jeopardy any of the funding that we currently receive," Brown said, recommending the committee "not proceed" with particular DEI phrasing in the current federal funding environment.

ACA Thomas and Director Britney Hammond presented the dashboard and staff's crosswalk of goals, objectives and initiatives. Thomas said the packet printout spans pages 8–42 and shows 56 initiatives; staff identified six initiatives falling below a 25% completion ratio, and said three of those are being affected by recent federal developments. Director Hammond said staff and department directors drafted recommended language to retain, revise, consolidate or remove initiatives and described the dashboard as a quarterly reporting tool available on the county's transparency website.

Committee members pressed staff for clarity on several items. Councilwoman Aileen asked whether "pause" meant deletion; Administrator Brown recommended a pause to avoid putting grant funding at risk. Members also discussed widening a workforce-education initiative beyond a proposed culinary program to include other vocational partnerships, and asked staff to coordinate with the county's economic-development arm on scope and targets.

On housing, members said the committee needs a clear local definition of "affordable housing" so objectives can be measured consistently. Staff agreed definitions and measurement frequencies should be clarified; for items labeled "periodically," staff indicated many reviews are expected to be quarterly, biannual or annual depending on the topic.

After discussion, the committee voted to accept staff's recommended initiative language with the changes discussed. Director Hammond said staff will work with the vendor and responsible directors to develop measures for the initiatives, update the dashboard visuals and return to the board; she estimated a roughly 12-week process to complete that work.

Votes at a glance: The minutes and agenda were approved earlier in the meeting. The motion to accept the strategic-plan initiative revisions passed on a recorded voice poll of members present and was declared approved by the chair.

Next steps: Staff will refine initiative language where directed, develop measurable performance indicators with a vendor and update the online dashboard for future quarterly reporting.