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Group brainstorms to shape goals for county

By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published January 30, 2007

Between the facts and figures, bar charts and bureaucracy, one face stood out.

A little blond girl beamed for the camera. And Tax Collector Janice Warren added the picture to her PowerPoint presentation at Saturday's Vision Check 2007 meeting.

It was her granddaughter. And that smiling face, Warren told participants, is just one reason why the future of Citrus County matters.

The more than 125 local movers and shakers who convened at Lecanto Middle School came up with dozens more. In a daylong conference, they reshaped their vision for Citrus County.

Some issues were familiar topics addressed in past meetings of the nonprofit Citrus 20/20, which met and created its first report in 1995.

"When you get to quality-of-life issues, that's where we found the common ground," said Warren, who was on the Vision Check steering committee.

Among them were preserving natural resources, providing superior education and paving the way for economic growth.

But event organizers said some things were different this year, including a stronger push to follow through on ideas that came up during discussions.

Participants met in 10 thematic groups: education, economic development, ecotourism, growth management, nature and man, infrastructure, culture and society, government and public-private partnerships, social needs and youth needs.

Each group batted around ideas, coming up with goals and time frames for achieving them.

Tom Taylor, associate director of the Florida Conflict Resolution Consortium at Florida State University, guided them.

"There's a lot of new things, and some of the issues are still out there," he said. "The environmental issues have become more challenging."

In addition to big-picture planning, Taylor said participants came up with practical suggestions, such as better publicity for the county's 211 system, more coordination between local governments and creating a coalition of environmental groups.

In the next few weeks, Taylor plans to compile details of the day's discussions. The report will be posted on a Web site, Taylor said, where all Citrus residents will have a chance to weigh in.

Times staff writer Jorge Sanchez contributed to this report. Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.com or 860-7309.

[Last modified January 29, 2007, 20:17:23]