To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Michelle Halstead, Director, Commissioners’ Office
Prepared By:
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Kendra Davis, Management Analyst, Commissioners’ Office
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presenter
Presenters: Kendra Davis, Management Analyst, Commissioners’ Office; Laura Taylor, Continuous Improvement Program Manager, Finance
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Subject:
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2:45 PM *Q1 2026 Strategic Workplan and Data Update
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
The purpose of this study session is to provide the Board with a Q1 2026 strategic workplan and data update.
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Alignment with Strategic Plan: Good Governance - Plan for future service, infrastructure, and fiscal needs.
Background and Discussion: In March 2023, the Board of County Commissioners convened to chart a new strategic approach for the county's endeavors in the coming years. The original plan prioritized six strategic focus areas for the county, including: Good Governance, Increase Revenue, Sustainable Development, Housing, Economic Mobility, and Workforce. The plan also recognized the need for centralized strategic planning, creating a strategic framework that identifies long- and short-term goals, shares outcomes, tracks progress, mitigates risks, and informs Board decision-making.
In March 2025, the Board further refined their strategic plan in partnership with elected and appointed officials to create Arapahoe Forward, which serves as a roadmap for the County’s work across all departments and offices. This plan outlines four strategic focus areas to achieve the county’s vision of a diverse and vibrant community where everyone can thrive: Safe and Healthy Communities, Economic Resilience and Stability, Sustainable Growth and Infrastructure, and Workforce and Community Prosperity. Throughout all of these priorities, the county applies Good Governance principles to achieve success and maximum impact. Staff mapped existing projects and programs to the refined plan and worked with departments and offices to ensure that their activities were accurately reflected in Arapahoe Forward. Staff also rebuilt the internal dashboard that reflects these items.
Following the realignment of the strategic plan and workplan, staff worked to integrate the county’s Align Arapahoe program with Arapahoe Forward and create an opportunity to better connect operational and strategic activities across the county. The County Scorecard, relaunched at the end of 2025, reflects the strategic priorities and includes data specific to those objectives. The County also began hosting The Arapahoe Forward Forum, which is an opportunity for staff across the county to highlight and discuss work that they are doing within the strategic focus areas and partnerships with other county departments or offices. Three forums have been hosted to date and staff has received positive feedback from both participants and attendees.
Staff will review the updates to the strategic workplan and County Scorecard during the presentation and discuss next steps.
Alternatives: N/A
Fiscal Impact: N/A
Alignment with Strategic Implementation Strategies: N/A
Staff Recommendation: N/A
Concurrence: The Commissioners’ Office and Finance work closely on these updates. In alignment with established process, departments and offices are involved with all updates.