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^ Make recommendations to the Orange County Board of County Commissioners on <br />o Water and sewer <br />o Transportation and traffic issues that relate to economic development <br />The ultimate output from each strategy-focused working group should be a list of the action <br />items for the period July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2009, each indicating who will take the <br />leadership on that item and who else will be involved in implementing it. Each work group <br />should use the discussion points from the summit as summazized in this report as a starting point <br />for their deliberations. <br />There are other related overarching process issues that are not currently part of the scope of these <br />four working groups. For example, several of the work groups committed to developing a plan <br />that can truly be endorsed and implemented.. As one person said: <br />"How is this plan going to be different? We can put the plan together but we need the <br />buy-in of'town councils, etc, or nothing will change. We will need public action by a <br />body that may not currently be committed to economic development." <br />As a related point, three of the four morning work groups, in their discussions of priority <br />strategies, emphasized the importance of new alliances and partnerships for economic <br />development. To address their interests, the new economic development plan should incorporate <br />some strategies on process that crosscut the topic-related strategies, One breakout group in <br />particular was very interested in changing the existing structure and influence of the EDC to be a <br />stronger public-private-university partnership with accountability to the public and not just as an <br />advisory body, The EDC should meet with the leadership of the county and towns, the chambers <br />and the university to explore and propose options for the county's economic development <br />implementation structure, This leadership could form its own fifth work group, whose charge <br />would be to address whatever changes to the county's economic development decision-making <br />and delivery process that are required to realize its other goals for the next five years. That <br />group could also work to craft a vision statement for the new plan that embodies the key strategic <br />directions and values of the county. <br />Any Orange County citizen who is interested in participating in one of these work groups to <br />develop the new plan should contact Dianne Reid, Jason Jolley or Yvomre Scarlett at the EDC. <br />10 <br />