More homeless services? Fewer gopher rules? County seeks input on future work

Three open houses have been scheduled to help gather information for Thurston County’s strategic planning process.

Community members are invited to attend the events to give feedback on roads, development, housing for the homeless, public health and other issues.

“County leadership is dedicated to this process and feel it is very important to make sure we are focusing on the needs of our citizens,” county manager Ramiro Chavez said in a news release. “We want to thank the citizens who have already taken the online survey or participated in the telephone survey, and welcome those that plan to come to the open houses.”

The events are drop-in and will run from 6 to 8 p.m. on:

• Wednesday at the Rainier Sportsman’s Club on Alaska Street in Rainier.
• Feb. 5 at Thurston County Public Health and Social Services, 412 Lilly Road NE, Olympia.
• Wednesday, Feb. 7 at Rochester Middle School Commons, 9937 U.S. Highway 12, Rochester.

The events will be hosted by a consulting company that will compile the data gathered from the online and telephone surveys as well as the open houses to help identify county priorities for its strategic plan, according to the news release.

The topics in the plan have been arranged as: Healthy Natural and Built Environment (environment, development, roads and infrastructure, housing); Thriving Communities, Families, and Individuals (social services, homeless housing, public health, youth and senior services); Prosperous Economy and Strong Image (economic development, tourism and branding); Responsive Law, Justice, and Public Safety (sheriff, courts, probation services, prosecutor, public defense and coroner), Effective Governance (financial sustainability, elections, property assessment and tax collection) and Effective Organization (county workforce, internal communications, information technology and facilities).

County spokeswoman Meghan Porter told The Olympian that 2,263 people took the nearly 35-question online survey, and 500 people participated in the telephone survey. The survey’s questions covered overall impressions of how the county is doing, issues of importance, tax dollar value, growth of the county, communication, and general demographic information.

For more information on the events, contact Porter at 360-867-2097 or porterm@co.thurston.wa.us.

This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 2:22 PM with the headline "More homeless services? Fewer gopher rules? County seeks input on future work."