About the Process
In April 2008, the Board of Chosen Freeholders awarded a 12-month contract to Janus Solutions of Hopewell Township. The award was based on a number of criteria, including price, quality of experience, technical capabilities to perform the project, qualifications of key personnel, approach to the project and previous performance. Janus submitted the lowest-priced proposal while also scoring the highest on an independent evaluation of the seven proposals that were received.
An internal Strategic Planning Committee was established – comprised of personnel from both inside and outside county government – representing various interests and disciplines in business, local communities and government. The Strategic Planning Committee was responsible for evaluating the county’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, for the consideration of public input and for the groundwork related to the creation of the county’s strategic plan.
In a separate, but similar effort, the county also embarked on a project to audit its information technology (IT). This IT audit was conducted by Monmouth University with an eye toward increasing productivity and lowering costs. The work, done at no cost to the county, included the development of an integrated information technology plan.
The IT audit and strategic plan went a long way toward helping the county continue to maximize its resources to provide savings for taxpayers into the future,” former Freeholder Robert D. Clifton said. “The development of a strategic plan was called for in a 2007 report by the county’s Budget Review Committee. Monmouth County is now the first county in New Jersey to have a strategic plan.”
“The county is a large business, employer and service provider, and we really needed a plan that shows us where we were and where we should go,” said former Freeholder Director Barbara J. McMorrow, who served on the Budget Review Committee. “This plan helps us focus on our goals. It is also very important for the public to see we are very serious about it.”
Former Freeholders Clifton and McMorrow served as co-chairs of the county’s Strategic Plan Committee.
Page Last Updated: 11/18/2014 10:27:00 AM