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- Sowing the Seeds of our Future - Meeker County's Strategic Plan
Sowing the Seeds of our Future - Meeker County's Strategic Plan
Through 2025, the County has worked to develop its first strategic plan, which will guide the priorities of the County Board of Commissioners through 2027. The development of the plan was a collaborative effort between the Commissioners, elected officials, and department heads and is intended to articulate current and anticipated challenges that our organization will need to face over the coming years.
A full copy of the plan can be downloaded here.
A one-page summary of the plan can be downloaded here.
The plan identifies four priorities that will be the focus of the County: Financial Stewardship, Assets & Amenities, Quality Economic Growth, and Organizational Excellence. Strategies, outcomes, and goals related to these priorities can be found in the full plan, or below.
A key feature of the plan that will ensure that the goals move forward is regular communication as to its progress. This page will be updated on a regular basis with updates on each of the priorities and the status of each goal.
- Priority 1: Financial Stewardship
- Priority 2: Assets and Amenities
- Priority 3: Quality Economic Growth
- Priority 4: Organizational Excellence
Strategy: Being prudent, thoughtful, responsive stewards of the public dollars.
Outcome: Optimal value and benefit from all sources of revenue available to support programs and services
Outcome: Fiscally responsible, efficient, accountable, cost-effective, and transparent county services.
Goals:
- Evaluate and report on the efficacy of county funded programs, focusing on mandated, non-mandated, and core services
- Explore local option sales tax for long-term stability of transportation funding
- Through the annual budget process, evaluate opportunities for cost savings or reallocation of resources based on identified priorities, while ensuring adequate resources are available
Strategy: Provide functional and modern facilities that support the needs of the county and community.
Outcome: Facility plans which balances the ability to pay with investments needed in essential capital assets.
Outcome: Prudent management of assets, property, and physical amenities.
Goals:
- Support financing for the planned Meeker County Memorial Hospital Renovation
- Pursue a long-term solution for the operation of the demolition landfill and transfer station and prepare for the closure of the demolition landfill upon the expiration of the current MPCA permit
- Develop a plan for the consolidation of the Highway outshops with the goal of eliminating shops that have maintenance and safety issues and no longer support the needs of the department
- Develop a long-term plan for maintenance of county buildings, ensuring that they remain adequate work spaces for staff to be able to perform their work
Strategy: Invest in the economic foundations that create a community where people desire to live, work and play.
Outcome: Strong partner with cities and other stakeholders county-wide to create the environment for an expansion of the tax base and economic development.
Outcome: A destination community that supports the needs of families of all ages.
Goals:
- Through the Economic Development Authority, promote the use of the County’s share of Statewide Affordable Housing Aid (SAHA) and prioritization of the development of housing to meet current and future needs of the community.
- Support the outcomes identified by the childcare coalition through their strategic planning process to seek opportunities to develop and retain childcare slots
- Update the County’s comprehensive land use plan
- Seek opportunities to connect individuals and families with existing services, through strategies such as development of a family resource center
Strategy: Create and maintain a positive culture to remain a highly competitive employer.
Outcome: Highly functioning team of elected officials and staff working in tandem for the benefit of everyone in the county.
Outcome: Best in class workplace that attracts and retains high quality talent.
Goals:
- Create a leadership and development training program
- Evaluate job descriptions and compensation system compared to the market on an annual basis and implement the recommendations
- Identify and implement staff team building activities
- Provide an annual report to the county board on turnover rate and trends in the local labor market as they impact the County
August 19, 2025
Sowing the Seeds of our Future, is Meeker County’s first strategic plan, the purpose of which is to guide the work that the county pursues through 2027. Development of this plan was the result of a collaborative effort between the Commissioners, elected officials, and department heads. The process was facilitated by Dave Unmacht through a combination of group work sessions and individual interviews, which resulted in the priorities and goals outlined in the plan. Thank you to everyone who participated in the planning process.
The title of the plan, “Sowing the Seeds of our Future” is intended to reflect both that the plan is aspirational, providing guidance for our priorities over the next two years, while also reflecting the rural nature of our community. Meeker County’s rural character is important; the small-town feel and natural beauty are reasons that many people choose to live and raise their families in this community. Additionally, agriculture plays a major role in the local economy, employing people directly and through businesses that support agriculture. As we move forward with the priorities in this plan, this will be important to keep in mind.
This strategic planning process also allowed us to develop organization-wide mission and vision statements, which are intended to be memorable and reflect the guiding principles behind why we choose to pursue this work. Our mission statement, “United to Lead, Driven to Serve” expresses our commitment to lead through service, integrity, and collaboration across the County. At times, our work can feel individual and separate from others within the organization; however, this statement is intended to reflect that everyone plays an important role in supporting members of the community to ensure they are able to thrive. Additionally, we see ourselves as being a leader among counties and within the community, bringing stakeholders together to solve complex problems.
The new vision statement, “Meeker County serves with integrity and purpose—building trust and partnerships to support the health, safety, and well-being of communities where people choose to live, work, and grow” was developed through a collection of ideas generated during one of the work sessions and refined following a survey that sought input from all staff members. Ideas such as integrity and trust were highly rated among the survey and reflect a shared ideal of ensuring that our residents know that the work we perform is at the highest standard with sound ethics backing it up.
The goals that this plan outlines cannot be achieved simply by outlining them in this document. We will need to nurture our seeds so they grow and we achieve our desired outcomes. However, we know that the future is never certain, so priorities outlined in this plan need to be nimble to allow us to address challenges as they come forward. This will be a collaborative effort and I look forward to working on it together.
Andrew Letson
County Administrator
United to Lead, Driven to Serve
This mission statement our commitment to lead through service, integrity, and collaboration across the County. At times, our work can feel individual and separate from others within the organization; however, this statement is intended to reflect that everyone plays an important role in supporting members of the community to ensure they are able to thrive. Additionally, we see ourselves as being a leader among counties and within the community, bringing stakeholders together to solve complex problems.
Meeker County serves with integrity and purpose—building trust and partnerships to support the health, safety, and well-being of communities where people choose to live, work, and grow.
This vision statement was developed through a collection of ideas generated during one of the work sessions and refined following a survey that sought input from all staff members. Ideas such as integrity and trust were highly rated among the survey and reflect a shared ideal of ensuring that our residents know that the work we perform is at the highest standard with sound ethics backing it up.