BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
Bradford Commissioner Carolyn Spooner — appointed to chair the board earlier this month — has been preparing to share the results of her work on a strategic plan for the county with the board.
Commissioners agreed to a workshop on Thursday, Dec. 14, at 3 p.m. to work together on the plan.
The importance of strategic planning is something Spooner has emphasized since her election to the county commission, just as she did when serving as commissioner and mayor for the city of Starke.
With the blessing of the other commissioners, Spooner began holding town halls throughout the county to gather public feedback. She has also put together a large collection of previous studies on the future of Bradford County, and reached out for information from the health department, public safety agencies and the business community.
Spooner prepared a SWOT assessment of each community she visited — a visual breakdown of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Brooker for example, has its natural beauty and strong community spirit, with opportunities to promote ecotourism and future land development. Weaknesses include its location relative to public safety services and a lack of broadband internet.
Starke is friendly, diverse and central to the county’s economy. Its infrastructure is suffering, however, and some expressed frustration with a lack of leadership and feeling ignored. That being said, there are opportunities for more community engagement, developing entrepreneurship, and access to transportation and housing.
Lawtey also enjoys a rural, family-friendly existence and a good school, but it lacks the tax base to deal with its infrastructure concerns. But it has room to grow, including agriculturally.
Spooner said Bradford has selling points including its lakes and natural beauty, but it also has issues to contend with such as a lack of affordable housing. To grow economically, that is something that will need to be addressed, she said.
She said there are opportunities to grow the county’s agricultural economy and partner with surrounding communities to draw down state and federal funds, using the Keystone Heights Airport and the expansion of Starke’s water and sewer lines as examples.
She also highlighted the availability of vacant buildings for future development, using the acquisition of warehouse space on U.S. 301 for MHD Rockland.
She also touched on public health and safety and the protection of environmental resources as important areas to address.
A constant theme in her presentation was the importance of local and regional partnerships for the attainment of these goals.
First, the county will need set its priorities, she said, and then establish strategic objectives to achieve them, making sure there are targets along the way to measure progress.
The goal of the Dec. 14 workshop is to begin that process.
