During their first visit to Danville, RKG Associates Inc. gave a strategic economic development plan presentation on Friday at the Boyle County Library for the benefit of Economic Development Partnership board members. 

RKG Vice President and Principal Kyle Talente presented what the strategic economic development plan is and the steps Danville-Boyle County has to take to reach their goals. 

Talente said RKG’s definition of an economic development plan is “a series of strategic actions and investments made by a jurisdiction with the intent of leveraging public assets to attract private investments targeted towards improving the financial, fiscal and economic well-being of the community.”

In order for Danville and Boyle County to start working on their strategic plan, Talente said they need to look at where they are, where they should go and how they can get there. 

“The RKG approach is to create a user-friendly matrix that identifies the actions needed for success, while assigning responsibility and enabl(ing) tracking progress,” Talente said. 

Talente said the strategic plan will include an objective assessment of the city and county and will identify opportunities to improve, which will lead to implementation of the strategy. 

“My job through this process is to bring the information back to you,” he said.

Talente said the information gathered by RKG will allow leaders to discuss why some ideas may or may not work and may or may not be best for the community.

Talente said while there may be those who are opposed to developing the strategic plan or who don’t understand why a strategic plan is being put together, there are benefits of having a plan, including creating a “unity of vision,” raising community awareness and providing a “roadmap.”

“The economic development plan is to bring everybody up to the same level of understanding so that they can all buy into the concepts,” he said. “… So that you’re already moving forward by the time we’re done.”

Members of the EDP, including the City of Danville and Boyle County Fiscal Court, are paying RKG up to $83,795 for the development of the strategic plan.

RKG will be returning after Thanksgiving to present socioeconomic and marketing info for Danville-Boyle County.