BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — Martin County residents will have three more chances this spring to help shape a countywide strategic plan. Led by the University of Kentucky and Blueprint Kentucky, the effort that began is shifting from public input to action steps and final recommendations.
Organizers will hold the remaining public sessions April 13 in Inez, April 23 in Warfield and May 12 in Inez as they work toward a completed planning document for the county.
Tyler McDaniel, who is facilitating the process, said the upcoming meetings will move from reviewing themes that surfaced earlier this year to mapping action steps and gathering final public feedback. The themes being reviewed are the major ideas that came up across the original conversations.
When discussing why residents should get involved McDaniel said, “Since we are reviewing themes brought up by community members, followed by residents refining and expanding the goals and steps of each theme, this process leads to a plan completely based on the needs and wants of Martin County residents.”
The first meeting, Monday, April 13, will take place at the Old Courthouse in Inez.
“In this session we will recap the major themes that residents shared in our first three engagement sessions along with those from youth focus groups at Martin County High School,” McDaniel said. “During review we will also look at data that summarizes the current conditions in Martin County and do small group activities that help us figure out how to achieve the major themes.”
The second session will be Thursday, April 23, at the Warfield Park Community Center.
“With our major themes and action items in place we will do a different group activity that maps out our action items and the steps we need to take to get there,” McDaniel said. “Residents will have the chance to build on their neighbors’ work to find agreement about the steps taken.”
The final session is scheduled for Tuesday, May 12, at the Martin County Extension Office in Inez.
“This session will be similar to the previous one in Warfield where we will review all of the suggestions and make any final edits or suggestions to the themes, strategies, action items and recommendations,” McDaniel said. “This will be the final opportunity for community feedback before the plan is finalized.”
McDaniel said the first round of sessions produced several major focus areas, including infrastructure, workforce development, quality of life, civic engagement and government, and “venture-tourism.”
Infrastructure discussions included water, wastewater, internet access, community lighting, road quality and countywide funding priorities. Workforce development discussions included new opportunities, satellite programs and community development-oriented training programs.
Quality-of-life priorities included self-sufficiency, community connection, places to gather, citizen empowerment, job opportunities, flood mitigation and community health. Civic engagement and government discussions included youth involvement, resident opportunities, ways to involve new voices in local processes and stronger code enforcement.
“Venture-tourism” ideas included better access points for hiking and waterways, stream health, fees to generate revenue, more Airbnb rentals or hotels and amenities for visitors.
The planning process launched in January as a collaborative effort involving the University of Kentucky, Blueprint Kentucky, LiKEN and a local steering committee that includes representatives from tourism, county government, education, utilities, business and regional development.