T.B. Scott Free Library Adult Department announces the continuation of the Building Merrill Together Program Series with an evening of discussion that will focus on the area’s economy and help to guide residents and governmental officials of Merrill and Lincoln County as they work toward creating a vibrant economic environment that will help to sustain and attract others to the area.
The forum will be held Monday, Nov. 5, from 6-8 p.m. at the Lincoln County Service Center, 801 N. Sales St., Merrill.
During the fall of 2018, Building Merrill Together, a project of T.B. Scott Free Library, has gathered 80 area residents composed of Merrill Common Council and Lincoln County Board members, city officials and citizens to address the economic development assets, challenges and action steps we face in the increasingly fast-paced society of the 21st Century. Through the Building Merrill Together Program Series, the T.B. Scott Free Library is inviting Merrill and Lincoln County citizens to explore economic development by looking into the past, present and future and talking about issues important to working people in Merrill and Lincoln County. Through Building Merrill Together focus groups, our fellow residents are telling us we must increase citizen civic leadership now by helping city and county officials develop a collaborative economic development plan that consistently addresses such important issues as a declining population, residential housing, financial resources for city and county expansion projects, workforce development, the needs of millennials and the elderly, and how to most effectively market Merrill and Lincoln County.
This deliberative forum aims to: more specifically define what economic development means for Merrill’s and Lincoln County’s present and future, and identify citizen, city and county government collaborative approaches to enhance policy decisions. Common themes and action steps identified from this deliberation will be used to develop an economic development action plan at a Building Merrill Together Public Action Planning event facilitated by Art Lersch, UWEX Area Extension Director, on Jan. 10, 2019 at the T.B. Scott Free Library.
For more information, please contact Laurie Ollhoff, Assistant Director, at 715-536-7191, [email protected] or John Greenwood at 715-218-0284, [email protected].
Refreshments will be provided compliments of local area businesses.