Task 12 - Develop an Action Plan
For the purposes of action planning EHAT determined that the most appropriate mechanism to address the two top priority issues, illegal dumping and walkability, was to engage a larger constituency in the process of determining the intervention strategies. Although members of the assessment team considered themselves as representatives of the larger community of Island County, they were interested in offering members of the community who already had an vested interest in the topic to share their thoughts and ideas on the development of a community-based plan. EHAT decided that they would sponsor community forums on both of the top environmental health issues. The purpose of the forums was to firstly identify the gaps and barriers associated with addressing the environmental health issue, and secondly identify strategies, mechanisms, and actions to target the identified barriers. Each of the two processes was accomplished in a separate forum. For illegal dumping, EHAT invited community representatives that had some involvement in the issue of illegal dumping or littering within Island County. The forums were attended by representatives such as: solid waste utilities, the recycling industry, community litter prevention coordinators, law enforcement, regulatory personnel, elected officials, both city and county, district court judges, and health department staff. The outcome of the dumping forums was the identification of three major themes for intervention strategies. The first walkability forum was also a major success. Forum attendees included community walking groups, state and county parks representatives, school officials, physical activity coordinators, and elected officials. The outcome of the walkability forum was similar to that of the dumping forum; a prioritized list of actions to address improving the walkability of Island County. The products from the community forums were used to develop action plans for both illegal dumping and walkabilty. The plans defined specific tasks to address the priority issues, the objectives for each action, the implementing agency or organization and a timeline for implementation. The action plans derived for the community forums were living documents. The specific tasks identified were understood to be flexible based upon available resources, success rates and changes in community support. Adaptive management strategies were employed to allow for changes in direction when certain tasks did not result in the desired outcomes.
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