Infrastructure, Environment, Region & Connected
Owen Ambur
Taylor, I was planning to attend the Infrastructure WG meeting in
the morning, but now that I've taken another look at their
section, I don't think I'll take the time to come to the Town Hall
again. However, I do have some see also suggestions for their
consideration:
1) Objective INF4.1.1: Water Resources - Encourage collaborative projects and programs among the Public Service Districts that benefit long-term water resource stewardship and protection.
It would be good if any and all collaborative efforts could benefit from the same set of tools, apps, and services supporting public planning and engagement. So I'd suggest a cross-reference to:
Objective C1.1: Tools, Applications & Services - Apply tools, applications and services to facilitate sharing information supporting community connections and collaborative efforts.
Also, while the PSDs are within the confines of HHI, since there are several of them, the planning and coordination requirements are similar to those for other jurisdictions. Thus, I'd suggest a cross-reference to:
Goal R1: PLANNING - Enable innovation and excellence in regional planning and coordination for the Town of Hilton Head Island as a built-in part of the everyday process.
2) Objective INF7.2.1: Action Plan - Update the Hilton Head Island Technology Action Plan regularly to ensure it addresses changes in existing and emerging technology.
Since the increasing application of technology may offer opportunities for entrepreneurs and new service providers, it would be good to cross-reference:
Objective EC2.3: Start-Ups - Foster and encourage new business start-ups.
As well as:
Objective C1.1: Tools, Applications & Services - Apply tools, applications and services to facilitate sharing information supporting community connections and collaborative efforts.
And:
Objective C1.1.1: Technology Infrastructure - Plan for technology infrastructure to facilitate best-in-class government services.
In the Environment section, I suggest the following cross-references:
Objective EN2.4.2: Partnerships - Strengthen existing and form new local, regional, and national partnerships with environmental organizations, governments, businesses, religious groups, civic groups, neighborhoods, POAs, schools and universities, etc, for environmental education purposes.
Objective C1.1: Tools, Applications & Services - Apply tools, applications and services to facilitate sharing information supporting community connections and collaborative efforts.
Goal R1: PLANNING - Enable innovation and excellence in regional planning and coordination for the Town of Hilton Head Island as a built-in part of the everyday process.
I'm sorry I wasn't able to attend the Regional WG meeting on Tuesday morning. In addition to the cross-references suggested above, I'd also suggest these in their section:
Objective R1.1: Collaboration - Collaborate with nearby jurisdictions on regional efforts to increase communication and participation between Hilton Head Island and regional municipal, county, and state governments.
Objective C1.1.4: Input - Solicit input from stakeholders when testing new tools for communication.
It would be good if we could engage other local jurisdictions in partnership to test, implement, improve, and use such tools.
Objective R1.1.2: Workshops & Retreats - Encourage attendance at annual workshops and/or retreats of other government agencies.
Objective C1.1: Tools, Applications & Services - Apply tools, applications and services to facilitate sharing information supporting community connections and collaborative efforts.
Attendance might be virtual. Remote viewing should be supported and public engagement/participation might be facilitated by such means as online polling, in real-time. Those who don't take the time to attend meetings might be engaged virtually, particularly if they think they might get out-voted if they fail to do so. Of course, such input would be advisory in nature and would not commit the Council but it would help them gain a better sense of public opinion. At least, those who want to complain would have less justification for feeling the Council and staff have not given them a reasonable chance to provide input, much less taken their views into account.
Objective R1.3: Economic Development - Build and strengthen existing relationships with regional and private sector economic development partners.
Objective C1.1: Tools, Applications & Services - Apply tools, applications and services to facilitate sharing information supporting community connections and collaborative efforts.
Objective C3.4: Organizations & Groups - Continue to identify the many different organizations and groups that are involved in community building efforts inside and outside the Island’s gated communities.
Objective R3.1.8: Transportation & Land Use - Promote regional transportation and land use planning for all of southern Beaufort County by working with the Town of Bluffton, Hardeeville, and Beaufort County.
Objective C1.1: Tools, Applications & Services - Apply tools, applications and services to facilitate sharing information supporting community connections and collaborative efforts.
It would be good if other local jurisdictions could be engaged in partnering on the acquisition, development, and use of such tools, apps, and services.
Objective R4.2: Environmental Education - Partner regionally on environmental education by initiating and maintaining partnerships with other municipalities, county, state, and federal agencies for environmental education purposes.
Objective C1.1: Tools, Applications & Services - Apply tools, applications and services to facilitate sharing information supporting community connections and collaborative efforts.
Objective R5.2: Businesses - Attract businesses that can appropriately diversify the region’s tourism industry, such as technology and sustainability.
Placement of this strategy under the Tourism goal is a bit awkward. While it is appropriate to diversify the tourism industry, the intent is broader than that. It might be appropriate to move this strategy to the Economy section and reword it as follows:
Attract businesses that can appropriately diversify the region’s economic base, such as technology and sustainability-related enterprises.
As I mentioned at the Excellence WG meeting this afternoon, on pages 37 & 38 of the Connected section, I'd suggest:
- Putting "Inclusive and Connected" paragraph first in that series of paragraphs and reversing the order of those two words in the current label (put Inclusive first and Connected second).
- Putting the Excellence paragraph second and labeling it
"Committed to Excellence".
- Putting the Infrastructure paragraph last in the series and labeling it "Connected by Infrastructure".
- Replacing the word "and" with "to" in the labels for the other paragraphs, i.e., Connected to Our Environment, Connected to Our Parks + Recreation, Connected to Our Local Economy, and Connected to Our Region.
Just some suggestions, for whatever they may be worth.
BTW, we were supposed to be headed to MD this weekend for our grandson's birthday next week, but since school has been canceled for two weeks up there, they are now coming here to spend that time with us. So contrary to my expectations, I should be able to attend the Plan Development Team meeting on Monday.
Owen