Twelve important Town Hall meetings have been scheduled for March and April in Saline County. This letter is to encourage you to participate in one of these upcoming public discussions concerning the future of our county and also to encourage others in Saline County to actively participate.

These Town Hall meetings—facilitated by University Outreach and Extension—are designed to foster deliberation, not debate. Thus the process challenges participants to put energy into sharing ideas as well as listening carefully and respectfully to the ideas and concerns of others.

The meetings are open to all citizens (young, old and in between). The deliberative format works best with groups of 15 to 25 participants. That’s why we ask you to register for the meeting of your choice. To help citizens prepare for the meetings, each registrant will receive a specially prepared booklet entitled "Saline County – Balancing Our Heritage with Our Horizons." The sooner you register, the sooner you will receive your booklet.

Later this summer, the citizen steering committee of the Saline County Study* will present a recommendation to us regarding land use and future development in the county. Their recommendation will draw heavily from the input obtained from citizens attending these Town Hall meetings. The recommendation could also include suggested changes to state and federal statutes that affect our county. If so, we will be sharing their recommendation with our state and federal representatives.

Please take advantage of the opportunity that these Town Hall meetings afford to help us make Saline County an even better place to live and work.

Sincerely,

You can register for any of the twelve meetings by contacting the Saline County Extension Center either by phone (660-886-6908), by e-mail (salineco@missouri.edu) or in person at the offices at 153 South Odell in Marshall (8 AM to noon, 1 PM to 4:30 PM, M-F).

*These meetings are an outgrowth of the Saline County Study. Now in its third year, the Study is a collaborative effort of the Saline County Commission, a citizen steering committee, University Outreach and Extension staff and University researchers. For more detail about the Saline County Study, please visit our Web site at: www.cares.missouri.edu/salinecounty

Or ask for the Saline County Study notebook at one of the county's public libraries—in Marshall, Slater or Sweet Springs.