&dquo;We urge everyone to attend one of the meetings and to voice their opinion on what their vision for the county is so that we can incorporate those comments into our report,&dquo; said Joe Epley, chair of the visioning committee. &dquo;The board of county commissioners wants to get as much input as they can from the citizens of the county.&dquo;

The meetings will be moderated by a committee member from the township where the meeting is held. Several other committee members and county commissioners are also expected to attend each meeting. Comments will be recorded and transcripts prepared for the committee&squo;s report.

Data gathered from the public meetings will supplement the findings of a community-wide survey made last fall in which questionnaires were sent to all households in the county and 21 percent responded.&bsp; Also, for the past year, the visioning committee has been studying existing and planned activities in many different aspects of community life, including growth management, government services, public safety, healthcare, environmental issues and quality of life.

Copies of the county-wide resident survey can be obtained free at the Polk County web site, http://www.polknc.org/surveyresults.pdf or a printed copy can be purchased at the county manager&squo;s office. A copy is also available at the Polk County Library.

The committee is scheduled to complete it