A county-wide meeting has been called to discuss “One Marshall County” with governmental agencies across the county and with the general public.
Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) and Marshall County Crossroads started conversations a year ago to create an over-arching organization to coordinate efforts throughout the county. This would be the next step forward for Marshall County Crossroads which was created when the county was applying for and received the Stellar designation.
After working with enFocus through a grant provided by the Community Foundation, Crossroads reorganized into “One Marshall County” as a new organization. The study was to look at the feasibility of how-to Marshal County moving forward. That structure showed replacing volunteers with several paid positions that would streamline the process.
A steering committee of 17 members was created and included representatives from each town in the county along with someone from the Plymouth government and Marshall County government. Other members included manufacturing, the private sector, education, workforce, economic growth, housing, infrastructure, quality of life, quality of place, financial and legal.
The committee selected five pillars they want the county to continue working to improve. Those pillars are economic development and growth, education and workforce, quality of life, quality of place, and housing and infrastructure.
Linda Yoder, Executive Director of the Marshall County Community Foundation, and Ginny Munroe from Crossroads made a few presentations about the new venture and began seeking support for its daily operation. Most of the municipalities in the county were asked to help fund the venture that would have office space and a full-time director. The organization would offer grant services, a housing and infrastructure consultant, and a communications and marketing person although those positions wouldn’t be full-time. The potential budget is $200,000 annually.
The goal of One Marshall County is to ensure that all communities in the county are represented and will benefit from the organization.
To make sure everyone is getting the same information and having questions answered the same way, a county-wide meeting has been planned for this Thursday at 6 p.m. in the second-floor meeting room of the County Building. The Marshall County Council has asked the other communities to come and participate in the meeting. Some communities have called this a special meeting so at least a majority of their councils can attend. The meeting will be streamed on the county’s website through YouTube.
