Floyd County Commissioners kicked off their annual planning workshop Tuesday by spelling out the commitments residents should expect.

The first: Floyd County is safe and prepared.

“That about sums it up,” Commission Chairman Irwin Bagwell said.

Departments and agencies that play a part in that commitment include the courts, animal control, the health department, public works and emergency management, as well as police and firefighters, County Manager Blaine Williams noted.

Bagwell and the board also agreed on four other statements to further define the role of government:

• Floyd County has sound transportation and infrastructure;

• Floyd County has financial health and promotes economic vitality;

• Floyd County is a healthy, livable, sustainable community;

• Floyd County is accountable and responsive.

For the balance of their two-day retreat at Berry College’s WinShape Center, board members will focus on the 2013 budget, using the strategic commitment statements as their guide.

“How we spend our money shows what our priorities are in the county,” Williams said.

Commissioners typically use the workshop to hear updates on projects and plan for the coming year. The process presented by Williams and Assistant County Manager Noah Simon is new; designed to let the board consider nontraditional steps to accomplish their goals.

Williams said the commitments allow for a longterm strategy — a flexibility that met with approval from moderator Dave Wills, the governmental relations manager for the Association County Commissioner of Georgia.

“In the legislative process few organizations, if any, have opportunities to write a plan that goes beyond their terms,” Wills noted.

Future boards can refuse to implement a plan, he noted, but a strategy can provide needed continuity.

Encouragement also came from Lamar Norton, executive director of the Georgia Municipal Assoc., who stopped by with former Rome mayor Wright Bagby Jr. to praise the city-county partnerships.

“The world is changing. … Cities aren’t going to look like they do, five years from now,” Norton said. “It’s going to take some tough decisions.”

County Commissioners hosted Rome and Cave Spring officials at an informal dinner Tuesday night and plan to wrap up their workshop this morning.