Highlights

Contact: Mary Campbell

Each year Community Council brings citizens together to analyze and find solutions for important issues facing the region that lies between Burbank and Dayton, from the Snake River to Milton-Freewater. Community Council is ready to select its fourth issue for community improvement.

Is there a pressing community issue that you’d like to see addressed?

The public is encouraged to submit potential topics for the study scheduled to begin Fall 2011. Submissions are accepted throughout the year, but to be considered for the 2011 Study, the suggestion must be received by February 28.

Send your suggestion with your name, telephone number, and email (or postal) address to Community Council, P.O. Box 2936, Walla Walla, WA 99362 or to director@wwcommunitycouncil.org. Please describe the topic as fully as possible and describe how it fits the following selection criteria:

1. Definition and Manageability: Is the issue clear? Can the issue be researched and effectively handled by the study process?
2. Importance Is the issue of importance to the region? Does it affect large numbers of people on an economic or quality-of-life basis?
3. Necessity Is it likely that other groups can or will carry out a similar study?
4. Citizen interest Is the issue likely to attract participation from a broad spectrum of members of the community at large?
5. Effectiveness Can the issue be resolved by reason, based on fact, or are the emotional overtones too great to permit reasoned analysis?
6. Timeliness Will the Study provide guidance for decisions needed now? Is there enough time to complete the study before community decisions must be made?

The Community Council Board of Directors will announce the selected topic later this Spring. The six-month study process, open to everyone interested, will begin Fall 2011. The topic will be explored in depth and will conclude with a report to the public and recommendations for action. A Community Council task force will then work with the community to implement those recommendations.

The 2010-11 study committee, chaired by Rick Griffin, is researching how prevention efforts may reduce gang membership and the impact of gangs in the region. Their findings and recommendations will be released this summer. Implementation teams, lead by Judge Robert Zagelow and Mark James, respectively, are advocating for recommendations developed during previous studies focused on the educational, mental, health, and housing stability of the region’s children and how the region’s economic vitality can be improved through the creation of value-adding businesses that use agricultural resources.

The Community Council was formally organized in 2008 to inspire a citizen-driven, consensus-based, problem-solving process to prepare the region for future growth, change, and challenges and to enhance the quality of life for everyone.