Wine Country Times

The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors unanimously endorsed a plan March 23 called Move2030, a blueprint for building a “vibrant economy.”

The board also appointed a committee to determine staff and funding from the county to continue work on the plan.

Move2030’s vision is "a more resilient economy created through partnerships among private sector, government, nonprofits and the community,” according to its website. “Working together they will ensure a sustainable, ecologically sound and diverse industry base is created to provide a healthy economy that benefits all.”

At the March 23 meeting, Supervisor Ted Williams said that in order to be successful, the plan must have broad support in the community.

“County government will not solve this on its own,” he said. “The most valuable part of this is collaboration.”

The county can help, however, by making it easier for small businesses to thrive, Williams said.

“I know there have been multiple attempts to streamline our permitting process from business licenses to use permits,” he said. “Yet what I heard from a lot of constituents is that we are not a small business friendly county and that it is very difficult to get through our process. People spend months and there is lots of paperwork and they can’t file online.”

He said improving the permitting process should be part of the Move2030 effort.

“Let’s make sure we do a really good job supporting small business,” he said.

Move2030 will help the county grow by providing a strategic roadmap, Williams said.

“We say we want broadband but when we have a telecommunications carrier come forward, we fight them on it,” Williams said. “We want housing and somebody wants a housing proposal and maybe we’re against it. It seems like there are a lot of instances where maybe not having a document vision with a roadmap, we say we want something but when it comes time we cave to minority voices and opposition to anything that comes along.”