Saline County Study
Committee
Monday, January 10, 2000
Saline County Extension Office, Marshall
Minutes
Saline County Study Members Present: Mark Belwood, Kathy
Borgman, Wayne McReynolds, Richard Clemens, Marc Harris, Roy Hunter, LeAnn Haling
Saline County Study Members Absent: Vince Buck, Ruthie Cramer, Becky Plattner
Saline County Commissioners Present: Mike Dillon, Richard Pemberton
Saline County Commissioners Absent: John Stouffer
Saline County Extension Staff Present: Cynthia Crawford, Darin Starr
Saline County Extension Staff Absent: Gerry
Snapp
University Partners Present: Anna Cox, Dr. Ron Powers
University Partners Absent: John Lory, Tom Johnson, Chris Barnett, Kathy Miller,
Mubarak Hamed, Chris Fulcher
Media Present: Bob Stewart, Democrat News
Guest: Pat Smith, with Dr. Ron Powers
Chairman Mark Belwood called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. Mark announced Becky Plattner was not able to
attend. The minutes of the December meeting
were approved as distributed.
Darin Starr announced the next meeting of the Saline County
Connectivity group (Con.Tech) will meet next Friday at 9:00 a.m. Galaxy Cable will make a presentation. The Learning Center is incorporated and is in the
process of securing local funding to begin use of the new learning technology developed by
Raytheon.
Cynthia Crawford reported on the L.I.F.E. Leadership Fellowship
program. She thanked Bob Stewart for his
article in the Democrat News. Now is the time
to market the program and begin filling classes. Besides
disseminating information from the study and participating in a public issue forum, there
will be time for personal goal setting and discussion on how to make Saline County a
desirable place to live at any time of one’s life.
Richard Clemens moved, Roy Hunter seconded that $250 be allocated to create
a Leadership Library. Mentors who are members
of the study group are in place for the February and March sessions. Public service announcements have been on Saline
County radio stations. On-line registration
is available. Brochures are available for
study members to distribute. A cover letter
and detailed schedule are also available.
Dr. Ron Powers reported on the Land Use Public Issues Forum
committee. He is in the process of meeting
with focus groups around the county to review a condensed version of the draft booklet. Pat Smith will edit the work and the goal is to
have the booklet completed by the end of next week. There
will still be opportunity to make some changes after we hold the first forum in the
L.I.F.E. classes in February.
Dr. Powers also suggested we begin plans for additional public
issue forums to take place around the county from mid-February through June. He and his staff will commit themselves to
providing moderators for the forums. This
timeframe would allow for gathering the greatest amount of information as we bring the
study to conclusion this summer. Dr. Powers
suggested gathering groups of 15-20 people (could be as few as 10 or as many as 25)
striving for diversity and a range of opinions to be represented. Plan on 2-2 ½ hours for the session either in the
day or evening. Roy Hunter indicated he
wanted to host a forum the first week in March.
Richard Pemberton reported the commissioners have placed
$10,000 in the budget for the Saline County Study Group.
The budget is now in the process of finalization. Members of the study group voiced their
appreciation of this action.
Anna Cox reported for both Jim Scott and Tom Johnson who were
not able to attend because of teaching schedules on Monday nights. Because of time constraints, the collaborative
paper with Jim Scott will not be written. Jim
encourages us to have the study process documented as a model to others. Cynthia suggested this could be part of a fall
retreat. Dr. Ron Powers indicated he has
submitted our project as a proposal to be presented this summer at the International
Community Development conference to be held in New Brunswick. If this proposal is accepted, Dr. Powers will be
working on a document that will profile the Saline County Study.
Tom Johnson has made contact with the Federal Reserve Center
for Rural Studies and determined its programs are not geared to the activities of the
study group. However, Tom does know Larry
Meeker who works with another Federal Reserve group that focuses on community development. He will keep us posted on ways that group may be
helpful to us.
Cynthia shared copies of the Kids Count statistics with the
group. This data is collected by OSEDA and
yearly ranks counties in areas that are important to the general well being of children. This year Saline County ranked 107 out of 115. We have steadily declined from number 77 five
years ago. The statistics did seem a bit
misleading because one set seemed to show improvements while the overall ranking was very
low. Regardless of how the statistics were
gathered, the issues need to be taken seriously and we must strive for ways to improve the
lives of children in Saline County.
It was announced that Gerry Snapp will soon start a new 4-H job
at the state level in Columbia. He will still
participate in our L.I.F.E. classes and will remain a Saline County resident.
Meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy Borgman, Recorder
This web site is hosted by CARES- University
of Missouri - Columbia
This web site is maintained jointly by the Saline County Study Steering
Committee and CARES
For problems or questions regarding this web contact the Saline
County Steering Committee or Chris
Fulcher (CARES).
Last updated: October 13, 2000
