Creating an inviting, attractive County - details
Rockingham County must become truly inviting in order to entice businesses, health care providers, educators, skilled laborers, and other qualified people to come to and/or remain in Rockingham County as residents and workers. Our needs and the services to address them are intertwined. Employment, health care, environmental, and educational needs cannot each be addressed in isolation. We must be diligent in how we utilize our limited resources to maximize benefit across agencies and services.
We need to work to prevent businesses turning away because of limited internet access and spotty cell service, our best teachers from going to Guilford County for higher local supplemental pay, EMS workers from going to Caswell County for higher pay, health care professionals from leaving for more support and stability, our high school graduates from going to neighboring community colleges for better technical skill training, and our community taking their spending to Guilford County for a better variety of restaurants and shops.
Our county commissioners need to address how to balance the increasing needs of the county while recognizing our limited financial resources. There is much that can be accomplished by commissioners. Their focus needs to center on careful budgeting, attention to zoning issues, providing incentives for businesses, supporting public education and community college initiatives, addressing internet and cell access, working to maintain and improve the environment, addressing the opioid crisis, as well as to focus on school and community safety.
To do these things, the Board of Commissioners needs to be a good listener to community residents and work hard to recruit and utilize experts for guidance on moving our community into a positive future. The Board itself needs to represent varied community talents, views, and interests and represent the diversity of our beautiful county.
Ann Brady's experiences determining expenditures for diverse needs within a finite budget as a public school administrator, working with school safety teams, owning a small business, working to resolve conflicts, and serving on various local and state boards and task forces provide the skill needed to work across Rockingham County to truly make our county attractive for all.
We need to work to prevent businesses turning away because of limited internet access and spotty cell service, our best teachers from going to Guilford County for higher local supplemental pay, EMS workers from going to Caswell County for higher pay, health care professionals from leaving for more support and stability, our high school graduates from going to neighboring community colleges for better technical skill training, and our community taking their spending to Guilford County for a better variety of restaurants and shops.
Our county commissioners need to address how to balance the increasing needs of the county while recognizing our limited financial resources. There is much that can be accomplished by commissioners. Their focus needs to center on careful budgeting, attention to zoning issues, providing incentives for businesses, supporting public education and community college initiatives, addressing internet and cell access, working to maintain and improve the environment, addressing the opioid crisis, as well as to focus on school and community safety.
To do these things, the Board of Commissioners needs to be a good listener to community residents and work hard to recruit and utilize experts for guidance on moving our community into a positive future. The Board itself needs to represent varied community talents, views, and interests and represent the diversity of our beautiful county.
Ann Brady's experiences determining expenditures for diverse needs within a finite budget as a public school administrator, working with school safety teams, owning a small business, working to resolve conflicts, and serving on various local and state boards and task forces provide the skill needed to work across Rockingham County to truly make our county attractive for all.