Goochland’s elected and appointed leaders were scheduled to meet Tuesday for a strategic planning session focused on the county’s economic development.

The agenda specifies two matters for discussion: The setting of vision and direction, and key initiatives.

Handouts will be available at the meeting, according to a notice sent out by county administration.

I do not know what will be contained in those handouts, but one issue I assume will be raised is the matter of West Creek Industrial Park.

West Creek is served by the Tuckahoe Creek Service district, a water and sewer system that was created, at an initial cost of $63 million, to attract businesses to the county.

As The Gazette reported a few weeks ago, the county is worried that the sewer pipes in the TCSD are flawed.

There will probably be further litigation involved in the county’s quest to collect on a warranty for those pipes, and thus a rising cost attached to the whole enterprise.

So now not only does Goochland have to worry about economic development to subsidize the initial price tag of creating the TCSD, but it needs to have money available to cover its maintenance.

And how is it going to do that?

County Administrator Rebecca T. Dickson has said that there is $85,000 set aside for repairs.

One force main break last December cost more than $50,000. So if another pipe bursts, the county is already looking at a deficit when, as this year’s budget battles demonstrated, it can least afford to compensate for one.

KPMG’s recently released audit cited several instances where fiscal mismanagement resulted in million-dollar economic development agreements and capital debts that had never been recorded.

How can we expect to encourage and attract investment in the TCSD when there would seem to be no plan in place to ensure that the district will remain fully functional, and when the cost of doing business there has been blurry at best?

The vision and direction of the TCSD should be focused primarily on providing clear answers to the following questions: Are the pipes, and the books, defective?

And if they are, how does Goochland propose to fix them?