Due to a broken water line I (the Ridgeview News) missed covering one of the greatest meetings in the recent history of Calhoun County. Thursday evening, March 10th, the Calhoun County Commission held their first evening ”work” meeting for Calhoun citizens to have the opportunity to voice concerns and ask questions. Greater than 40 people were said to have attended as well as the three current County Commissioners, Mike Hicks, Kevin Helmick and Matt Walker.
Below is a brief out line by attendee Crystal Laughlin Mersh, but I hope that those who attended will comment about their experience last night and what they took away from the meeting. Perhaps share your hopes for the county! Make the comments ”the story” where I failed.
Social Media Post by Crystal Laughlin Mersh:
Well the true “Powers that be” showed up in full force last night at the first working session with the County Commission. It was literally standing room only in the small court room. It was a very constructive and open session with people addressing matters of concern for them, and then collectively we tried to bring focus and action to three primary topics. Those topics were improving county communication with the development of a website. Derek Villers agreed to lead this effort and get the CGCC to support the work with their tech students.
The second was to take a more active role in driving Calhoun’s specific agenda within these county collective groups to ensure that our interests are addressed and maintained. We will nominate a person who can be intimately involved and push to make sure Calhoun gets what we need.
And thirdly, the matter of cleaning up the county was raised. I made the point that if we are to be successful in getting business to come to Calhoun (and this is an absolute possibility) we have to clean up the abandoned structures, the trash in rivers and on sides of road, and in general everything including how the county business is handled.
A lot of good ideas were generated, and people were eager to find solutions to help neighbors and not be solely reliant on grant monies ( which in my opinion we have become too reliant on when in fact we can come together as a community and get the work done faster). Several folks acknowledged the work of and their appreciation for the support and leadership of The 1982 Foundation. It is good to hear that people all want the same outcome: economic growth, a better place for their children and grandchildren and to leverage our beautiful resources in the county to make that happen. If we can align on the goal which we did, then aligning on the pathway gets a lot easier.
I would like to thank each of the Commissioners Michael Hicks, Kevin Helmick and Matt Walker for a productive session and their individual commitments to actions that were needed. We look forward to the next meeting on April 14 to see how we have progressed. Next month it was requested to meet in the large court room! Moving on up! Keep up the great work Houners!
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For those of us who didn’t attend, Please! let us know what we missed in the comments below. ~ Shari Johnson, Publisher, Ridgeview News
- Please keep comments professional and above all ”clean”.
