Los Alamos County Council Chair Sara Scott participates in the strategic planning session Tuesday in Council Chambers. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com 

County officials from left, Karen Kendall, Denise Cassel, Julie Habiger, Philo Shelton and Council Vice Chair Pete Sheehey at the strategic planning session. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com

What should Los Alamos County Council focus on? Councilors tackled this question during a strategic planning session Tuesday in Council Chambers.

During the discussion, council members identified seven key areas they believe require attention:

• Offering a variety of housing options. Council said increasing the amount of residences as well as different types of housing should be addressed.
• Protecting and maintaining open spaces;
• Addressing long term building vacancies;
• Reviewing the permitting and infrastructure process. Council said the process needs to be addressed both from public and County employee perspectives;
• Addressing the appropriate level of services offered by the County;
• Supporting local businesses; and
• Supporting improvement in the public health office.

Nothing was formerly approved during the session. Council Chair Sara Scott explained to the Los Alamos Daily Post after the meeting that a subcommittee that includes Scott and Council Vice Chair Pete Sheehey will develop a draft summary of the seven key areas identified, and this will be presented to council in two to three weeks for discussion. 

“The most important thing is that we’re in agreement that we have a set of priorities that will make a difference to our community and that we agree we will work on together,” Scott told the Post.

“This does not mean that the county will only work on and invest in these priorities; these (priorities) will be tools to help us ensure … that in the context of all of the other ongoing efforts, a focus on a few high-level, cross-cutting and challenging goals is maintained,” she said during the meeting.

Scott added that by committing to address these priorities, the council will show responsiveness to issues that have been brought up by the public.

As with previous councils, housing was identified as an important priority. Sheehey pointed out that housing of all types should be made a priority.

Councilor David Izraelevitz agreed. He said with work currently underway to develop two affordable apartment complexes in Los Alamos, maybe it was time to look broader at the housing issue. 

“I would agree we need to look at the larger spectrum, which does include affordable housing,” he said.

Councilor Randall Ryti said he felt market rate and affordable housing should be the top focus areas.

Councilor Antonio Maggiore argued that affordable housing should not be put on the back burner. He pointed out one affordable housing complex has been given the green light while the second is still awaiting approval. The one complex would provide 70 units of affordable housing. Meanwhile, Maggiore said 160 market homes are set for construction along with 60 market-rate apartment units in White Rock and possibly another 130 rental units in Los Alamos, near the Los Alamos Medical Center.

Another key area council touched on was getting input from County employees regarding County services.

Maggiore and Councilor James Robinson said they felt it would be valuable to make sure County employees are satisfied within local government as well as ensure the level of services provided meet both staff and community expectations. 

County Manager Harry Burgess touched on this as well, saying the community’s response to County services runs the gamut of not doing enough to doing too much.

Maggiore said in addition to doing residential surveys, perhaps internal County government surveys should be conducted.

Ryti supported this idea. “I think we need the employee feedback … basically looking at it from both directions,” he said.

The session focused on two objectives. In addition to identifying key priorities, Council also began development of a crosswalk or an integrated view of various County plans and goals.

Posted around Council Chambers were various posters with lists of goals and tasks the County is addressing. Participants were asked to identify which impact area — infrastructure, land resources, amenities, community services and education, housing, economic development and environment — they felt the goals should be placed into.  The objectives were numerous and ranged from housing to economic development to open space.

The purpose of the exercise, according to agenda documents, was to provide an integrated view of how various plans/goals impact key areas that will be discussed in the coming year. Agenda documents further reported that County policy is not being changed, the hope is to provide a tool to better understand current goals.