Strategic Planning to Guide TAC

As we make our way into the next 50 years of serving counties, we have begun strategic planning to map out the future of your Association. The department directors and I have identified five strategic goals for TAC.

Goal number one is to improve communication not only with you, our members, but also with our employees. My monthly reports, such as this one, are one of the first steps toward accomplishing that goal.

The other four goals are to create a human resources program within TAC; provide better education to the legislature and the public on the value of county government; find ways to better leverage the data we collect for the benefit of our members, the legislature and our association partners; and develop a plan to enhance TAC's connection with the Austin community to build stronger relationships to benefit our members and employees.

TAC staff on five Task Forces will be working over the next two years to accomplish these internal TAC strategic goals.

The TAC Board of Directors has also drawn up its own two-year strategic plan with seven goals.  The goals are to develop talking points to communicate TAC's vision, mission and purpose; find ways to engage larger counties to become active members; create a plan for continued financial stability of TAC; expand and improve TAC's relationship with the Legislature; develop an evaluation process and accountability plan for the TAC Executive Director and Board of Directors; identify and document how affiliate organizations appoint representatives to the TAC board of Directors; and implement a system to monitor the progress and results of the TAC strategic plan.

Continued improvement in our communication to and engagement with our members is a common theme in both the Directors' and the TAC internal strategic plans. I will regularly update you on our progress. If you have any thoughts you'd like to share, please do. I welcome the feedback.

With the end of the legislative session and the signing and vetoing of many bills, our team has been updating our Legislative Analysis Report and creating a new online Database. These will provide you with a comprehensive overview of new laws that affect counties. We will release the report in July and the database will be available in time for the Legislative Conference, which is Sept. 4-6 at the Fairmont Hotel in Austin.

With the conference theme “Focused on the Future,” we are proud to have Evan Smith, CEO and co-founder of the Texas Tribune as our keynote speaker. Evan will begin the conference with an important discussion on how our Association and our members look toward the future after a contentious legislative session.

To engage more on the federal level, I will travel with members of the TAC Board and other county officials to the National Association of Counties (NACo) Annual Conference July 12-15. We have pledged to be more involved with the NACo staff on federal policy that we see trickling down to the state and county level. One particular topic of interest is in mental health funding for states and counties. I hope to see many of you there.

Your TAC staff is working diligently to provide you with timely and useful information to help you with the day-to-day issues you encounter in your home counties.  We appreciate your partnership as we focus on the future. If I can be of any assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.