Written by: Julie Murphy, MPIO
Flagler County Public Information Officer
February 15, 2022 – Imagine what Flagler County could look like ten years down the road. What should be preserved and protected? What should be avoided?
Flagler County is hosting two public engagement meetings in March to provide residents the opportunity to voice their wishes and worries with consultant Herb Marlowe of Analytica – the firm the county has contracted with to guide it through the process of creating a new Strategic Plan.
“These meetings will be discussions, not presentations,” Marlowe said. “The discussions will be about the future of Flagler County so that we can identify the topics and areas that need to be addressed.”
The first meeting will be held at 1:30 p.m. on March 1 in the Commission Chambers of the Government Services Building, 1769 E. Moody Blvd., Building 2, Bunnell. The second meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on March 3 in the Waterfront Room of the Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Parkway NE, Palm Coast.
“The format of the meetings is dependent on how many people turn out,” Marlowe said. “If there are lots of people, we will have group discussions and they can report back.”
County Administrator Heidi Petito kicked off a new strategic planning process before the holidays with department heads. The county has a resolute goal of creating its Strategic Plan during the current budget process to ensure the budget and staffing allocations are aligned to best provide the services that meet the needs of residents.
“We were impressed with Mr. Marlowe’s approach, which utilizes quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques to make sure the data supports any decisions that we make,” Petito said. “It’s important to get input from the public, because everything we do is for our residents and, ultimately, to make Flagler County a better place to live.”
Marlowe began meeting with staff and individually with county commissioners on February 1.
“Strategic planning starts with building public trust. It goes hand in hand with being a high-performance organization,” Petito said. “It’s what we are striving to accomplish.”
Marlowe is a fifth-generation Floridian who lives in DeBary, where he also is a cattle rancher. He founded Analytic more than 30 years ago. He has worked as a consultant with governmental entities across the state.
I would like to know the results of Mr. Marlowe’s other cities involvements? What the residents wanted or didn’t want and did they get that?
One thing PC needs is for our Government to stop wasteful spending. Slow down the home building until the infrastructure is fixed to accommodate all the new residents driving on the roadways. Start the cities own garbage hauling. These are just a few things to start with and my opinion.