Oronoque Village has implemented a strategic planning process to set overall goals for our community and develop a plan to achieve them. As you may know, more than 60 Villagers have volunteered to participate in the planning by teaming up to identify actions and initiatives that we might undertake to help improve our daily lives here, resulting in even greater resident satisfaction.
The new initiatives that have been recommended, thus far, range from identifying ways to improve the appearance of OV to strengthening our financial reserves by exploring new financing alternatives. These are exciting times in OV and we welcome anyone who wishes to contribute to the betterment of our community to join in.
The following is a high-level summary of the recommendations submitted by the nine teams:
- Create a socially strong community that promotes the health and well-being of OV residents – Establish an ad hoc OV Health and Wellness Committee to focus on the needs of Villagers for improved social connectedness. Create an Outdoor Facilities Reserve to fund facilities that promote outdoor social gatherings and health and wellness activities.
- Develop strong relationships with local and state government – Inventory services available from external organizations; conduct a safety and security audit of OV and bring any issues to the Stratford Police Department, Fire Department or EMS; establish communication channels with our elected officials at state, local and federal levels; develop an alternate funding committee to pursue grants, awards and stipends,
- Safeguard OV’S dependency on Blackhawk Country Club – Foster programs that enhance cooperation with regard to boundaries, membership and restaurant usage. Initial efforts to include re-establishing an OV resident/guest tournament and the pursuit of beginning and group golf lessons specific to OV residents.
- Strengthen financial reserves – Consider and research the following: availability of state and federal grants; Community Contribution Fee; traditional bank financing; increases in facilities usage fee (e.g. fees for private events).
- Develop a Compliance Program that addresses the need for enforcement of Declaration, By-laws and Rules and Regulations – Review, validate and refine existing rules; communicate existing rules; create a rules enforcement role for a staff member.
- Strengthen resident and employee partnership – Update the mission, vision and core principles to include specific reference to employees. Establish programs that foster relationship-building between residents and employees.
- Establish practices and adopt technologies for environmental sustainability – Create an ad hoc Environmental Sustainability Committee. Develop a long-term plan (5 to 10 years) for replacing fixtures, plantings and mechanicals that meet “best practice” standards. Initial focus on outdoor lighting, indoor air quality, alternative energy and pesticide usage.
- Maintain and improve Oronoque Village infrastructure and appearance – Take a microcosm approach that builds a plan for our infrastructure appearance by assessing each individual unit and using those results to build short-term and long-term plans.
- Implement and maintain a Strategic Marketing and Communications Plan – Expand ole of OVCA Communications Committee to include external communications and OV brand awareness; conduct focus groups to gather information about perceptions of OV; compare to other 55+ communities in CT; create events that demonstrate OV is a good neighbor; raise awareness of OV via advertising, social media, marketing materials; enhance internal communications.
For those of you who could not join us and want to view the PowerPoint presentation, the file has been posted on the Oronoque Village website on the Documents page and can be found by clicking here: SPT Presentation.
To view the white papers presented during the program, please click here.
During the next phase of this effort, the Strategic Management Team (comprised of the OVTD and OVCA Board officers and the Executive Director) will bring these recommendations to the OVCA and OVTD Boards for their consideration, refinement and implementation. Updates on progress will be communicated to residents in the messages from the Executive Director and OVCA and OVTD Presidents.
If you have any questions or want further information about the strategic planning process at OV, please call Myrna Mills Albino at 203-520-3928.