The Washington County Board of Commissioners adopted a new, updated Strategic Plan on April 23, 2024, after receiving input from staff, key advisory groups and members of the public. The updated 20-page document now includes modernized language for the organization’s vision and mission statements, guiding principles, fundamental approaches to services and department-by-department goals. Washington County’s Strategic Plan Update 2024-2028, which was last updated by the Board in the 1990s, now aligns the organization around a unifying vision called “One Washington County.”
The Board of Commissioners adopted the original County 2000 Plan in 1986. The original plan identified the County's fundamental approaches to its service delivery roles, principles and priorities. The strategic plan was designed to be a blueprint for the development and implementation of County policies, programs and operations. Updates to the plan in the 1990s substantively reinforced the original document with refinements based on emerging issues and service priorities.
Strategic Plan
Washington County's Strategic Plan provides policy direction to the entire organization.
Vision
One Washington County is our unifying effort that produces a vision for a special community and mission-focused organization that can better serve the community now and in the years ahead.
Mission
Washington County is a leading-edge, mission-focused organization that successfully serves the community now and in the years ahead. We are a human-centered organization that integrates equity into decision-making and supports the health, effectiveness, creativity and talents of our employees as public servants and the residents whom we serve.
County organization: council-manager form of government
Washington County's Charter provides for a council-manager form of government. The five-member Board of County Commissioners has legislative responsibility and a Board-appointed professional County Administrator has executive responsibility. The County's strategic plan also organizes the government into five functional areas, including general government; public safety; land use and transportation; housing, health and human services; and culture, education and recreation.