Brown brings roadshow to Sonoma

District Supervisor Valerie Brown calls it a “road show” and it is coming to Sonoma this evening to take the pulse of the people about what it is they want from government in the future.
In play is the creation of a “Strategic Plan” for the county, which, according to Brown, is aimed at “looking where we are today and where we want to be in 20 years.”
Meetings are being held in the county’s various districts with newspapers, school officials, local governments as well as non-profits to get a sense of what it is the people want from their government. Today’s meeting is from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Sonoma Community Center, 276 E. Napa St.
As part of this, Brown said, it is important to understand the role of those who make up the political and governmental infrastructure in the county. Their hope is to ensure that the needs of its residents are met while at the same time making sure that there is no overlap in the service provided or the money that funds it.
The nascent plan, she said, will address four major areas not covered by the county’s General Plan: setting and implementing priorities; demographics and service delivery; growth and carrying capacity (the ability of jails, for example, to adequately house inmates, or the 1,500 miles of roads to facilitate an even flow of traffic); and the jurisdictional roles of county and city governments.
“We are taking this out to the (various) jurisdictions to get people to buy in to (the belief) that we all need to work together,” Brown said in a telephone interview on Monday. “If it does nothing but get people to think outside the box, then we have done our job.”