Editors Note: This is a copy of the presentation presented to the Vance County Board of Commissioners during their Annual Retreat January 28th, 2015. I (Phil Hart) will write more about this hopefully this weekend. An excerpt from the presentation is below, and the full presentation download link is provided at the end.
My name is Michael Bobbitt. Chairman Taylor invited me to make a data driven presentation to you, the Board of Commissioners, on what I perceive as the positive outcomes in the county by looking at where we have been, where we are today, and where we are going.
In Chairman Taylor’s letter to me he stated “The purpose of the presentation is to use data to emphasize positives that are now going on, or will soon be occurring in Vance County as a result of the efforts of [my] organization.”
I am pleased to accept Chairman Taylor’s invitation on behalf of the readers of Home In Henderson. Although I am not the head of the organization I did prepare this presentation with approval of Phil Hart the owner of Home In Henderson and input from the readers of Home In Henderson.
Home In Henderson is a Henderson based blog of Vance County and Henderson news, commentary and the opinions of its readers. I post commentary on both the county and city government meetings that I attend under the heading Notes from the Peanut Gallery. As Mr. Hart’s time permits recordings of commissioners’ and city council meetings are also posted to the blog site. Home In Henderson has averaged 3,624 unique readers in the past six months. Some 50 unique readers actively post their comments and opinions on the blog. Some postings are insightful, some are informative, some are rantings; all are the views of individuals mostly living in Vance County.
To achieve Chairman Taylor’s intentions Home In Henderson needed a methodology to find the data that emphasizes the positives within Vance County according to the readers of Home In Henderson.
A local business owner suggested using a survey tool to gather the data. Many readers use a pseudonym when posting to Home In Henderson negating an interview type approach of data gathering. For those adverse to anonymous postings, there are historical precedents, including Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay who used pseudonyms when writing letters to news papers promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution.
A survey was deemed the better vehicle for seeking data from the many readers of Home In Henderson. The survey focused on economic development of the county. I also interviewed several business owners for their vision of the county’s future.
Download the full presentation by clicking the following link: 20150128_Home In Henderson Presentation to County Commissioners Final