The community has participated in a county-wide visioning project called Oconee By Choice. Citizens were asked where they want to see their county in the next 20 years. Oconee By Choice is an opportunity for all members of the community to take part in shaping the future for Oconee County.

What is visioning?
Visioning is the overall image of what Oconee County wants to be and what it wants to look like in the future. Visioning is a way to get people together to talk about common issues in Oconee County. It uses consensus, instead of polarizing around fixed and inflexible positions. Visioning is a different way for citizens to express their concerns because it makes them responsible to implement many of their suggestions for Oconee County.
Community visioning is not a complaint session, where one person gets up to speak his or her mind about an issue. Visioning is about the consensus of citizens from various ages, ethnic backgrounds, genders, and occupations who come together to share ideas together.

An old proverb says,
A vision without a plan is just a dream.
A plan without a vision is just drudgery.
But a vision with a plan can change the world.

Casey Stengel said it better: "if you don't know where you're going, you might end up someplace else."

The Process
The information gathering process involves broad-based citizen input, with information gathered in September and October 2007 from four countywide town hall meetings, fifteen focus groups on community life themes such as health care, education, agriculture, faith, arts and culture, and economic development. There were fifteen individuals interviewed with those identified as trendsetters and influencers from different businesses, the faith community, government, and various organizations in the county. Citizens were also able to share their ideas electronically or by mail. Over two hundred eighty citizens participated in the on-line or mail-in input process.
The visioning effort is being coordinated by Oconee Alliance who has a Steering committee of over forty county residents, composed of representatives from the business, government (city and county), education, and the non-profit sectors. The town hall meetings, focus groups, and individual interviews have been facilitated by consultants from Carpe Diem Community Solutions a Florida-based firm with extensive experience in helping communities develop a community vision plan.
After the town hall meetings, focus groups, and individual interview sessions, Carpe Diem Community Solutions worked with the Steering Committee to create our community vision plan that captures the major goal areas reflecting the various input opportunities. Included in the Vision Plan is a list of goals and objectives.
An implementation team has been created to work in partnership with Oconee Alliance as well as local community organizations, companies, institutions, and governmental entities who agree to support one or more objective in the vision plan.
As the process continues in coming years the public will be able to monitor the progress of the implementation team through this website.