Susan B. Thomas, PhD, Executive Director

TCOG is laser focused on leadership and on doing government differently by leading according to the principles of TCOG’s leadership foundation. Our organization plays a significant role in the delivery of many state and federal programs in the tri-county area, but we see ourselves as more than government workers or bureaucrats; we see ourselves as way-finders, game changers, and even life savers. Whether we are improving a citizen’s quality of life directly by providing housing, health, nutrition, energy, or information & referral services or whether we are indirectly advancing quality of life for the members of our communities by providing our cities and counties with public safety, municipal solid waste, and community/economic development planning services, TCOG has established itself as an effective, efficient, and relevant organization in this region built on a solid foundation of leadership.

One of the keys to our success as an organization is the simple fact that every TCOG employee is on the same page and is working toward the same overall organizational goals and objectives. Each employee participates in the planning and development of the TCOG Annual Strategic Plan; their ideas are found throughout the document. Our plans are not top‐down, command‐control plans but rather are the manifestation of what matters most to our employees. We set our goals high, intentionally challenging ourselves to achieve what may seem out of reach. In 2014, we did not set goals to guarantee achievement; we set goals to guarantee the pursuit and achievement of excellence, and we will maintain those goals until the desired results are attained.

Our six goals for 2014 and the results and outcomes associated with each are outlined below.

2014 Strategic Plan Results

Broaden Awareness of TCOG

Broaden awareness of TCOG services and the value we bring to the region by providing the following deliverables to specified stakeholder groups:

Employees

Each program will provide 4 program presentations to other TCOG programs outside of their departments.

Members

Each program will provide 2 program presentations to city council or county commission meetings.

Clients

Each program will develop a project/tactic for increasing their clients’ awareness of other TCOG programs.

Partner Agencies

Each program will provide 2 program presentations to partner agencies.

News Media

Each program will issue two news releases related to program success stories.

Social Media

Each program will provide Sean monthly Facebook/Twitter posts about program news, events, or success stories.

RESULTS & OUTCOMES

95% completion rate for program objectives in broadening awareness. The most significant outcome of our broadening awareness efforts was improved relationships and increased communication between COG program staff and member jurisdictions/partner agencies which will lead to more (and potentially better) collaboration and service delivery and ultimately serve to improve quality of life in Texoma.

Effective Delivery and Scheduling of Services

Identify and implement new ways to integrate technology into operations of all programs that create measureable improvements in efficiency and effectiveness.

RESULTS & OUTCOMES

92% completion rate for program objectives in effective delivery and scheduling of services. Programs focused on increasing/improving the use of technology to improve program effectiveness including program specific software development; reducing paper copies and increasing digital records storage; utilizing better software; providing better tools to members; creating new forms or tools to increase program management effectiveness such as a digital budget amendment request form. The more effective and efficient our programs are, the more we are able to serve. Daily we face the reality that the demand for our services outpaces the resources available to meet that demand. These improvements in effective delivery and scheduling of services will enable us to stretch those limited resources further and serve more citizens.

Sustainable Funding

Generate 7.5% of program budgets (organization-wide) in non-governmental funding.

RESULTS & OUTCOMES

72% completion rate for program objectives in sustainable funding. Finding ways to increase program revenue to provide for more sustainable funding continues to prove difficult for many TCOG programs. By creating a more sustainable funding stream for our programs, we increase stability in the types and levels of services we provide member jurisdictions and citizens and increase the positive impact on quality of life.

Team Building

Provide interdepartmental opportunities for employees to work together as a cohesive unit to strengthen professional relationships, increase collaboration, improve communication, recognize individual diversity and promote mutual respect among all employees as measured by achieving an overall rating of 4.5 on team-building questions on the Year-End SAS.

RESULTS & OUTCOMES

96% completion rate for program objectives in team building. The overall average on team building questions on the Year-End SAS was 4.3, up slightly from 4.2 last year. While we have not hit our 4.5 target on the teambuilding questions on the Year-End SAS, the team building objectives continue to prove valuable with 100% of all employees indicating they believe the teambuilding exercises led to measureable improvements for their teams in 2014.

Training and Education

Continue to provide meaningful and useful training and education opportunities for staff development throughout the year as measured by (1) achieving a 4.5 overall rating on both the number of training opportunities provided and the effectiveness of the trainings from employees on the Year-End SAS and (2) each TCOG employee attending or participating in two organization, program, or personal development trainings (monthly manager training and regular/required program training does not count toward this goal).

RESULTS & OUTCOMES

97% completion rate for program objectives in training and education. While the training and education scores on the Year-End SAS increased from an overall rating of 3.685 to 3.8, we’re still a good distance from our target of 4.5. Professional Development and training will be a focus for 2015, and managers have been instructed to use the annual evaluation tool to outline development and training goals for each employee. 92% of employees completed 2 or more trainings, and 80% of employees felt these trainings had measureable improvement on their programs. With the new vision, Better Leaders Building Better Lives, staff training, education, and development is more critical than ever. The leadership vision starts at TCOG, and to pursue and achieve that vision, we will have to provide ample leadership/staff development opportunities.

Wellness

Promote employee health and wellness over the next 12 months in order to improve employee quality of life as measured by (1) achieving an overall rating of 4.5 on wellness questions on the Year-End SAS; (2) decreasing use of sick leave as measured by sick leave use records; and (3) decreasing the amount of health insurance claims as measured by an additional 5% reduction in the average annual group loss ratio.

RESULTS & OUTCOMES

95% completion rate for program objectives in wellness. We have set our sights very high with our target of 4.5 overall response rate on wellness questions on the Year-End SAS, and we will continue to strive to achieve that. In 2014 we saw tremendous movement in how our employees rated their overall health with that average response jumping from 3.89 to 4.3, and we saw positive movement in the way employees rate their own quality of life. Interestingly, while we saw an increase in the use of sick leave in 2014, our group loss ratio was down from 105.76% to 72.9%, a decrease of 31%. Similar to training and education, wellness is directly linked to our ability to achieve our vision. If TCOG employees don’t feel well, experience regular sickness, and don’t feel healthy overall, they will not make very good leaders, and if TCOG employees do not feel that they themselves experience a high quality of life, how will they be able to effectively improve quality of life for others?

What’s Ahead in 2015?

Strategic thinking and strategic planning has become part of the TCOG vernacular, employees are embracing change, and we are all able to see the tangible and intangible benefits of planning our work and working our plan rather than managing crisis-to-crisis. One thing we have learned from the last three years of planning is that it is imperative to stick with particular goals until they are achieved. While we witnessed tremendous success and accomplishments in 2014 at every level of the organization, TCOG employees believe we still have progress to make on some of the 2014 goals. Based on employee input and feedback during the planning process, the 2015 Goals include:

Broadening Awareness

Broaden awareness of TCOG services and the value we bring to the region by providing the following deliverables to specified stakeholder groups:

Employees

In June and December (if necessary) program managers will participate in a program orientation day (half-day) for new employees.

Members

Each program will provide 2 program presentations to city council or county commission meetings (selected members must be approved by ELT. Sign-up sheet will be placed on SharePoint).

Clients

Each program will develop a project/tactic for continuing to improve their clients’ awareness of other TCOG programs.

Partner Agencies

Each program will provide 2 program presentations to partner agencies (selected agencies must be approved by ELT. Sign-up sheet will be placed on SharePoint).

News Media

Each program will issue two news releases related to program success stories (sign-up sheet will be placed on SharePoint).

Social Media

Each program will provide Sean monthly Facebook/Twitter posts about program news, events, or success stories.

Texoma Community Conversations

We will conduct 4 (quarterly) special events to broaden awareness of critical regional policy issues. Events will engage staff and appropriate regional partners to create plans and projects for improving selected indicators and affecting positive change.

1. Generational Dynamics
2. Children’s Health and Poverty in Texoma
3. Veterans Community Reintegration
4. Affordable Housing

Sustainable Funding

Generate 7.5% of program budgets (organization-wide) in non-governmental funding.

Increase Collaboration and Program/Organizational Efficacy

TCOG Program Managers will build client lifecycle models for four client types to (1) identify and document gaps in the social service system in Texoma; (2) make recommendations to resolve gaps internally, externally or through collaborations with partners; and (3) implement solutions to fill identified gaps. The lifecycle models will help staff to determine when and why clients come to TCOG for assistance and when and why we are unable to serve clients and will increase our ability to improve quality of life and increase economic security and self-sufficiency for vulnerable populations including children, veterans, elderly, and disabled Texomans.

1. Identify standard/typical needs, define which needs TCOG is able to meet, and identify gaps in services.
2. Determine what gaps we can address immediately and what gaps, with additional resources or program/policy changes, we can address over time (include necessary partner agency engagement).
3. Problem-solve and implement change for “low hanging fruit”; create plans for more intractable problems.
4. Roles & Responsibilities
   1. ELT: Improve knowledge and understanding of relevant public policy research to guide solution development. Key research areas include:
      1. Generational dependence on social support programs
      2. Evidence based program evaluation
      3. Best Management Practices (BMPs) for quality of life based social service programs
   2. Program Managers: Build Lifecycle Models

   3. Frontline Staff: Managers will engage staff in meaningful data collection and train staff on the “5 Whys” method to help get to “root cause”.

      Example: The vehicle will not start. (the problem)

      1. Why? – The battery is dead. (first why)
      2. Why? – The alternator is not functioning. (second why)
      3. Why? – The alternator belt has broken. (third why)
      4. Why? – The alternator belt was well beyond its useful service life and not replaced. (fourth why)
      5. Why? – The vehicle was not maintained according to the recommended service schedule. (fifth why, a root cause)

Expand Training

Continue to provide meaningful and useful training and education opportunities for staff development throughout the year as measured by (1) achieving a 4.5 overall rating on both the number of training opportunities provided and the effectiveness of the trainings from employees on the Year-End SAS.

1. Each TCOG employee attending or participating in two organization, program, or personal development trainings (monthly manager training and regular/required program training does not count toward this goal).
2. ELT will create and implement at least two new professional development/education opportunities for TCOG membership and partner agencies.

Create and Improve “Sense of Us”

TCOG will implement various activities designed to improve how we as individuals, programs, and departments define and understand our role in TCOG’s vision: better leaders building better lives. Success will be measured by achieving an overall rating of 4.5 on team synergy and cohesiveness questions on the Year-End SAS.

1. Employee Appreciation Event – Family Picnic
2. Quarterly Better Leader Award for Program Managers
   1. How does this person build quality of life through their program(s) and what impact are they already making?
   2. What is his/her game plan for becoming a better leader (for his/her program, the organization, region, state, and/or nation)?
   3. How will his/her personal leadership development increase the quality of life they build through their programs?
   4. How will this work create better leaders in our communities, region, state, and/or nation?
3. Weekly employee spotlights – will include information to get to know the employee and give the employee an opportunity to show how they are pursuing the vision.

Dating back to the days of T.V. Munson’s research on grapes in Denison near the turn of the 20th century, the Texoma region has celebrated its rich history of winemaking and viticulture. Now, in the 21st century, local business leaders are looking to expand this legacy to include all forms of craft alcoholic beverages.

The Texoma Craft Beverage Alliance spoke recently at the Denison Development Alliance Economic Development Summit on ongoing plans to nurture and develop a strong craft beverage industry. The organization, which was announced on Dec. 2, is aimed at devising ways to bring new craft brewers to the region while strengthening existing businesses.

“At last year’s summit, I provided some statistics on the growth of the wine industry in Texas,” said former Denison Mayor Robert Brady, representing the Alliance. “At that time, I mentioned we want to take advantage of the growth of the wine industry in the state.”

“As we started looking at it more closely, we found that the growth of the wine industry was not as significant as the growth in the craft brewing and craft spirits industry,” he added. “Our vision was too small.”

Since that time, Brady and leaders from local craft beverage business and local business organizations, including the DDA and Texoma Council of Governments, came together to form the Alliance, hoping to support Texoma’s established wine culture while expanding its focus to include distillation and craft brewing. Brady cited the hard work of local leaders for the current growth that the industry has seen in the region over the last seven years.

“That didn’t come because we were lucky, it didn’t come by chance,” said Brady. “It came because we planned, had the right leadership and worked hard at it.”

Brady said craft brewing makes up the fastest growing industry in the world, making up 10 percent of the U.S. market for beer. In 1982, the were less than 20 craft distilleries in operation in the nation; in 32 years this has grown to 420, with the number doubling every 3 years, said Brady.

Gabe Parker, owner of Homestead Winery and the soon-to-be-open Ivanhoe Aleworks, said the growth in the industry has been spurred by the Millenials — those between the age of 21 and 35.

“If we can bring these people in, if we can generate a buzz and an environment of that lifestyle, I think we can also energize a lot of what we are trying to do in downtown Denison, Sherman and other places around us,” said Parker.

Parker, who has over a quarter-century of experience in winemaking, said the current generation is looking for something different in beer and other spirits, creating an interest in smaller breweries that do something different.

“Coors Light today tastes exactly like it did 10 years ago,” said Parker. “In craft beer, what we are trying to strive for is uniqueness.”

Parker started work on the brewery, located adjacent to his winery over the summer of 2014, with plans to open in December of 2014. Parker said the brewing tanks were finally delivered and installed in December. While he has received permitting from the State of Texas, Parker said he is still waiting for final permits from the federal government before he can start production. Despite this, Parker said Ivanhoe will be open in the near future.

In setting the backbone of support for these new industries, the Craft Beverage Alliance has partnered with Grayson College to provide ongoing education on the industry and process. Grayson College’s enology and viticulture program dates back to 1975, and has provided education to 108 of the 172 wineries in Texas, said GC President Jeremy McMillen.

“We have a rich history of winemaking and grape growing,” said McMillen.

To help support the industry, GC recently recruited Andrew Snyder as its new director of the enology and viticulture program. Snyder is the president of the Oklahoma Grape Growers and Winemakers Association and owner of the Chapel Creek Winery.

Currently, Snyder said he is teaching four, two-weekend courses through the spring semester, with plans to expand the vineyard at the T.V. Munson Viticulture Center to conduct variety trials for new varieties of grapes. This will be used to communicate with local growers on what varieties will grow the best in the area, said Snyder. In June, the Alliance plans to hold a craft beverage conference in Texoma.

In the coming weeks, Snyder said he plans to attend a conference on distilling to increase his knowledge on the topic to better assist that arm of the industry in the future.

– See more at: http://heralddemocrat.com/news/local/texoma-craft-beverage-alliance-hopes-attract-growing-industry#sthash.JhPqk0uP.dpuf

Author: Alexandra Weston Moffett
Chief Research Officer

Introduction by the author

O ver the past decade, rising rent and utility prices in conjunction with small gains in renter-income resulted in decreased affordability across the Texoma Region. In all three counties, there was at least a 10% increase in the number and share of “cost-burdened” individuals that spend more than 30% of their income on housing. Though decreased affordability is the result of a long-term trend, the economic downturn exacerbated affordability issues as many individuals lost their homes and jobs.

Today, almost half of all renters in the Texoma region constitute as cost-burdened. Consequently, many renters throughout the Texoma region turn to project-based and voucher-based programs for assistance. The demand for Section 9 Housing Choice Vouchers and Public Housing properties far surpasses the capabilities of these programs in both Grayson and Fannin counties. For those unable to receive assistance, cost-burdened individuals spend a large portion of their income on rent, often disallowing a clear break from the cycle of poverty.

Composed of Grayson, Fannin and Cooke counties, the Texoma region contains three diverse economies. Each community had a unique reaction and response to the economic down-turn. The following report dissects the rental market of each county by renter population demographics and the rental housing stock, then analyzes subsequent needs.

Purpose and Scope

The Texoma Affordable Housing Market Study originated as a strategic plan, devised by TCOG, to better understand the rental market in the Texoma Region. The objective of the strategy was to assess the supply, demand and affordability of the rental housing market in Grayson, Fannin and Cooke counties. The subsequent measure of the gaps in the Texoma rental market is integral to understanding the effectiveness of current strategies that aim to address market needs. By dissecting the rental markets across the region, this study will provide evidence to regional policymakers of the need for creative solutions to the reality of the housing market. Additionally, this study serves as an invaluable tool for landlords, property management companies, investors and developers to make informed business decisions with the future of their capital assets. Ultimately, the purpose of this study is to ensure that the Texoma Region identifies housing gaps to ensure a future of safe and affordable housing for its community.

Study Parameters and Region

The Texoma Region, composed of Grayson, Fannin and Cooke counties, straddles the border between Texas and Oklahoma. Although predominantly a rural area, the county contains the Sherman-Denison MSA.

Methodology

The statistics published in this report, unless otherwise noted, are derived from the 2010 Census and the American Community Survey (ACS) from 2000, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. These sources contain the most recent information available for many of the demographics here written in this report.

The Texoma region has not witnessed the unparalleled growth of many suburban areas in Texas and it is likely that many of the current demographics are similar to those reported in 2010. Approach these statistics with caution when considering present market conditions.

It should be noted that these demographics are limited to renters only and do not refer to the entire population except when referring to employment. Employment statistics could not be analyzed by tenure.

For more information on the methodology of the census please visit the following website: www.bebr.ufl.edu/category/subject-index/census-methodology

For more information on the methodology of the ACS please visit: www.census.gov/acs/www/methodology/methodology_main/

Additionally TCOG issued a survey by fax to apartment complexes and by mail to single family units. The survey does not contain a large enough sample size in all areas. It does, however, reflect many present market conditions. The trends elucidated by the survey contain disclaimers where necessary.