Development and Feedback
I was among a number of Jasper County’s community leaders who gathered recently in Atlanta for an economic development meeting, which was promised as the first of many. The second Jasper County community economic development summit is scheduled for April 27, this time in Monticello.
In preparation for that, Susan Peacock, the facilitator of the first meeting, sent out a survey to many of the community leaders in preparation of the next get-together. The survey spurred much thought, and after completing it, I thought it would be interesting to get input from others.
Among the community leaders are the elected officials, who represent John Q. Citizen, and they may consult some people, or may have enough of an understanding of their constituent’s feelings that they don’t need to ask. But, I don’t get nearly enough feedback, routinely, so I thought I’d ask.
If anyone has input, please e-mail me at editor@themonticellonews.com, and I’ll share your thoughts with the others at the meeting.
One question, which required much thought on my part, asked respondents to name the three most significant things accomplished in Jasper County in the last 12 months.
It also asked respondents to name the county’s three greatest strengths, and then the top three challenges.
The survey listed a number of issues, all of which I won’t try to list here, and asked what three issues we felt was the most important to address to provide significant improvement in Jasper County’s economic success in the next 10-20 years.
The survey asked what would be the best way to increase jobs—entrepreneurship, industrial, retail, tourism, or other.
The survey went on to ask what must be done to ensure success for Monticello and Jasper County in the realm of economic development and community sustainability.
It will be interesting to see what the results show. I hope I hear from some of The Monticello News’ readers.
* * *
And, the above words show I have a positive attitude. I am positive I’ll be able to receive your e-mail if you respond to the questions I’ve listed in this column. It takes a positive attitude to believe that, because my e-mail has been down since about 3:30 p.m. Monday of this week.
So, I apologize in advance for anything that is left out of the newspaper because you sent it to me and it did not bounce back. Some who had e-mail bounce back called, and I gave them an alternative address. However, I don’t think they started bouncing until about 18 hours after it quit working.
So, I ask everyone to look at the website, www.themonticellonews.com, this Friday to see if there is news there that was not in the print edition because of technical problems.
It’s very frustrating, but I am practicing my Pollyanna mode, because cursing it will accomplish nothing. Hopefully by the time you read this my e-mail woes will be a thing of the past. If not, I’ll have an alternate address to give you 🙂 .