The Mathews County Board of Supervisors has released its 2024-2025 Strategic Work Plan, developed in cooperation with The Berkley Group, which held an all-day work session with supervisors last November.
The six-page plan contains an outline of priorities the board seeks to address in a range of areas, from infrastructure needs to economic development.
The board has already taken action on the first item on its infrastructure list—an energy audit of public buildings, including the schools. It received an interim update in January from Schneider Electric of Richmond, which was contracted to conduct the audit. The company suggested that construction on upgrades could begin this year.
Other items under infrastructure include conducting a space and program needs analysis of the schools, studying options for municipal water and sewer, and developing a public facility master plan for county buildings by the end of the year.
Under economic development, the plan calls for the board to consider measures to improve blighted property and to develop an incentives philosophy in conjunction with the Mathews Economic Development Authority to promote business recruitment and expansion, including EDA ownership of a county industrial or business park.
In the public safety arena, the plan calls for establishing a policy for county ownership of large capital assets purchased with taxpayer dollars for use by volunteer fire and rescue agencies, considering a no-cost lease arrangement with the agencies.
The board decided to look at housing in the county, as well, and seeks to “provide an environment that supports the development of safe, affordable, and diverse housing options to accommodate growth and enhance quality of life in the county.” Some options they’ll be considering in order to address these goals will be reducing the minimum lot size for single-family dwellings so there are more affordable housing opportunities and allowing for accessory uses and “tiny homes” as affordable housing options. The board plans to convene a stakeholders group sometime this year to discuss regulating and taxing transient housing, as well.
The areas of recreation and culture have perhaps the most specific ideas for future development, including creation of a trail and bike plan, establishing a parking lot at Haven Beach, discussing a joint venture with the YMCA for a community swimming pool, and developing recreational amenities on the combined 62-acre parcel between the Liberty Square complex on Buckley Hall Road and Church Street that the county purchased in 2021 for a fire station.
The board also discussed various ways to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and equity in service delivery of county government. Among the many ideas discussed were possibly increasing county fees and requiring that employees work a full 40-hour week.
Timeline
The board set a timeline for the tasks it plans on undertaking, calling for immediate action on development of a preliminary engineering plan for the parking lot at Haven Beach; updates to a preliminary engineering report on developing municipal sewer and water; issuance of a request for proposals for a space and program needs analysis for the schools, including a sports complex; and issuance of an RFP for new financial management software in cooperation with the school system.
The document is expected to be uploaded to the county’s website soon.