Buchanan County made its first solid strides in its new “strategic planning” effort.

County officeholders on Monday formalized 10 short-term goals, with an emphasis on actually getting them done, instead of “as soon as possible.”

“Time frames of ASAP never get done,” said Buchanan County Prosecuting Attorney Dwight Scroggins.

The goals include better financial planning, an improved system for communicating among officeholders and increasing communication to citizens, employees and state legislators. In short, the plan would bring more new-millenium practices to county government, which has a reputation of informal business practices rooted in the 19th or 20th century.

County Clerk Pat Conway hammered on organizing a joint front to lobby state legislators about funding problems created by new state mandates.

“When one of these comes up, the decision has kind of been, ‘OK, it’s going to happen, there’s nothing we can do about it,’” Mr. Conway said.

Presiding Commissioner Royal “R.T.” Turner said every officeholder needs to lobby on one another’s behalf.

Mr. Scroggins suggested a much more litigious approach to those state “unfunded mandates.”

“Let’s be honest here, the only thing they really respond to is if we sue,” Mr. Scroggins said. “... File suit on every unfunded mandate until they change the way they do business.”

County commissioners — the three of whom have four, two and no years of experience — pursued these “strategic planning” sessions this spring. Part of the motivation was prodding by Mr. Scroggins about haphazard spending and budgeting, such as using proceeds from The Shoppes at North Village to build parking lots and storage buildings instead of paying employees.

The county in the next month plans to finalize its long-term goals.

The other short-term goals include the following: update the county’s personnel policies to be standard for all departments; develop job descriptions, pay and performance evaluations; survey citizens and customers to determine priorities; provide more useful information and forms on the Internet; train all employees on dealing with the public; provide online payment options for taxes; and create TV, newsletter and public forums.

The Buchanan County budget is roughly $35 million. Some of the main county functions are the Sheriff’s Department, prosecutor’s office, rural road and bridge maintenance, and property tax appraisals and collections for school districts, libraries, the city and county.

Joe Blumberg can be reached at joeblumberg@npgco.com.