Baker Tilly, an advisory, tax and assurance firm based out of Austin, led a strategic planning project for Comal County that included interviews with internal and external stakeholders and a strength, weakness, opportunities and threat (SWOT) analysis.
The project’s objectives were to promote and facilitate the vision for the current and future direction of the county, establish measurable goals and objectives, seize strategic opportunities and support the county’s elected and appointed leaders.
On Thursday, Sept. 12, Comal County Commissioners Court unanimously approved the strategic plan after a hearing a presentation from Khala Stanfield, project director, and senior consultant Chris Strom, who was also the project’s manager.
“By providing a robust strategic plan, the county is better positioned to chart its course forward by articulating a clear vision established by measurable goals and objectives and by providing a meaningful guideline for resource allocation and decision making,” Strom said. “Ultimately, the goal of the strategic plan is to enhance the lives of Comal County residents”
Internal stakeholders are people who work for Comal County. Those people include the county auditor, county clerk, county commissioners, county sheriff, etc.
The overwhelming responses from discovery interviews conducted by Baker Tilly centered around county facilities, county personnel, internal communications and collaborations, population growth and technology.
External stakeholders are people who do not work for Comal County but do have a vested interest in it. Those people include Alamo Area Council of Governments, Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, Bexar County Commissioners, Bulverde Spring Branch Economic Foundation, Canyon Lake Library, City of Bulverde, City of Garden Ridge, City of New Braunfels, City of Spring Branch, Comal County Independent School District, Emergency Services Districts, Texas Department of Transportation and Spark (UTSA).
Freese and Nichols, a firm with expertise in planning, designing and managing infrastructure projects, facilitated numerous community focus groups. The responses heard from their engagement centered around population growth and service demand, infrastructure and roadways, staffing and collaboration.
Stanfield also stated that a National Community Survey was conducted by Polco, a tool that helps local governments engage their communities, to do further studies on the residents of Comal County. The 10 areas concentrated on were economy, mobility, community design, utilities, safety, natural environment, parks and recreation, health and wellness, education, arts and culture, inclusivity and engagement.
The survey received 471 responses, according to Stanfield.
“Some high-level themes from your survey included Comal County residents feel safe and experience a high-quality of life. The other positive, high-level result was residents appreciate Comal County’s natural environment and recreational opportunities,” Stanfield said. “Two challenges or areas of concern that were brought up as high-level points of the survey included, although the local economy receives positive reviews, their residents are showing some concerns about general affordability and their own economic outlook moving forward, as well as mobility being a challenge in the county.”
The SWOT analysis showed where the county excels, where it needs improvement, where it has opportunity and other external factors.
“SWOT analyses are essential when we put together a strategic plan and they are beneficial in showing you the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that allow you to see and make the most informed decisions and formulate effective strategies around these,” Stanfield said.
The study showed Comal County is efficient, safe and financially strong, as well as having responsive county leadership and high-quality professional staffing. It also stated that it’s a great tourist destination and good place to live for residents, which includes vibrant entertainment, commercial and shopping areas. It highlighted the county’s natural environment and recreational opportunities as well.
The weaknesses revealed in the SWOT analysis included employee engagement, communication with public/residents, lack of technology innovation, poor condition of facilities and infrastructure, and the overall mobility within the county.
The opportunities for Comal County include building a juvenile detention center, developing a crime prevention program, expanding mental health services, creating regional collaborations and partnerships, increasing participation of county committees and advertising the positive stories.
The threats shown in the SWOT analysis include misinformation from lack of public engagement, recruitment and retention, meeting service demands due to population growth, loss of open space due to population growth, unfunded mandates, budget constraints and resident economic outlook.
Strategic goals, objectives and KPIs
After taking all things into consideration — the internal and external stakeholder engagement studies and SWOT analysis — five strategic goals and objectives were formulated for Comal County. Commissioners were invited to participate in a virtual goal-setting workshop that included discussions and brainstorming exercises to develop a set of potential strategic goals, objectives and initiatives.
“To develop the proposed set of goals and objectives, the strategic planning project team issued an interactive survey to build consensus and prioritize the strategic goals,” Strom said.
The first goal is to encourage regional collaboration and partnerships by improving communication with municipal partners, creating a regional collaboration working group and increasing public health services awareness.
The second goal is to expand county workforce engagement by improving workforce development, keying on employee recruitment and retention efforts and considering paying for new hire peace officer certifications.
The third goal is to improve infrastructure by implementing a capital improvement plan and improving county facilities, improving county bridges at notable river and creek crossings, constructing a west connector between SH-46 and I-35, upgrading Blanco Road to a regional connector roadway, and planning and developing county property located at 3150 I-35.
The fourth goal is to maintain county service standards by aligning resources with service demands, considering impact of rapid growth on open space, parks and natural resources, encouraging historical and cultural resources preservation and remaining fiscally responsible.
The fifth goal is to maintain public safety efforts by building an emergency management facility, expanding court facilities, conducting a feasibility study for charging municipal police dispatch fees, planning and expanding the jail capacity to meet future needs and building a mental health facility.
In each goal are key performance indicators (KPI), which are designed to bring accountability to the strategic plan. Over 120 KPIs were found in this study.
“The purpose of the KPIs and the implementation plan, we were able to take each KPI, identify a staff member that would be put in charge and put in accountable to make sure that they stay consistent with tracking that specific performance measure and also tying in a completion date in which we want to try to make sure that goal was accomplished,” Stanfield said.
It was recommended to Commissioners Court that there should be a dedicated strategic planning committee established. That committee can include five to 10 members and must consist of a county administrator, a county auditor, a county commissioner and department representatives.
“Strategic planning is not a one-time effort,” Strom said. “It’s similar to budgeting. You want to kind of revise, review, change and adapt to be a flexible working plan.”
It was also recommended by the National Community Survey, which was administered by Polco, that Comal County continue to focus on public safety, capitalize on the strong local economy yet address rising costs, protect the county’s natural environment and recreational opportunities and improve local mobility.
Baker Tilly also recommended conducting a post-plan check up, which will include reviewing the progress of the strategic plan after nine months and meeting with staff to discuss observations and recommended updates.
The Comal County Commissioners Court was appreciative of the study and voted unanimously to continue on with the strategic plan.
“This was a ton of work. Thank you. Thanks to all the elected officials, department heads and folks that were interviewed and took the time to do this. When you ask questions about what kind of a job you’re doing, some of the answers you get aren’t exactly what you want to hear about yourself and I think that’s the real value here,” said Commissioner Kevin Webb of Precinct 3.
Commissioner Donna Eccleston of Precinct 1 made it known that the things mentioned in the strategic plan are already being done in Comal County.
“A lot of these initiatives that you have outlined here are things that we have been working on and are working on. I don’t want people to get the impression that we’ve been sitting on our hands because that’s not how county government works,” she said. “I do realize it was a great deal of effort that went into this.”
County Judge Sherman Krause said that the information presented highlights one of Comal County’s biggest challenges, and that’s the population growth.
“I’m not sure if you used the 2020 Census figures here, but you pointed out in the plan that we’re serving a population of 160,000. That’s over 200,000 today. Everything that we do, everything that you mentioned in there is just magnified by the growth you see in our population,” Krause said.
Strom responded back by emphasizing that strategic planning is an ongoing effort.
“With this being Comal County’s first strategic plan, it takes a lot to get it started. The effort that was taken was a lot, but it was well worth it. This should be continued to be adapted, be a flexible plan so that as the environment changes and other circumstances change, so does your plan,” Strom said.
Webb said the strategic plan can provide a “backbone” of what is being worked on and how the county can accomplish those goals.
“It’s got these KPIs so that every six months, we’re going to go back and check on these things,” he said.
Krause then brought up population growth again and echoed Strom’s response about the importance of keeping the strategic plan updated.
“When I mentioned the population growth, I think that really highlights the need for planning,” he said. “We saw how much planning helps us when we developed the facilities plan. We’ve gone through that, we accomplished a lot in there, we made amendments to it, we’ve changed priorities in that plan, and so this planning document can help us.
“I think Mr. Strom hit the nail on the head when he said this thing needs to be continually reviewed and updated, otherwise it’s just going to sit on a shelf somewhere and collect dust.”
Before the final vote, Eccleston called out state legislators by requesting more “tools” to help deal with the rapid population growth.
“I would like a lot more tools being gifted to us by the legislators to deal with this suite of problems that the exponential population growth creates because we are limited in a lot of ways to address the ongoing difficulties,” she said.