By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–Do you have ideas for Paris and Henry County? Then Tuesday night’s community forum–titled “Positively + Paris & Henry County” –is the place for you.
The forum will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, September 24, at the Krider Performing Arts Center in Paris, with dinner to be served at 5 p.m. and child care provided. No admission will be charged and you need not sign up in advance. Both the Paris Police and Henry County Sheriff’s Office will be grilling.
A lot of hard work by city and county officials has gone into the planning of the event, with nine focus areas to be discussed. Everyone who attends will be divided into the nine focus groups, with experts to oversee each group.
Paris City Manager Kim Foster said city officials are hoping for a big crowd with good ideas for the future of the local community. Foster and other city officials have attended local civic group meetings to issue invitations and have invited all Paris and Henry County commissioners and officials of other local organizations such as BPU and Henry County Medical Center to attend.
Everyone who attends will be given t-shirts with the Positively + Paris & Henry County logo.
After the focus group discussions, the main ideas from each group will be introduced to the entire group for further discussion. The focus group sessions will be held in the classrooms in the building.
All of the focus group discussion leaders are from outside of Henry County and are considered experts in their fields.
The following are the focus group discussion areas, with the names of those who will be leading the discussions:
- Recreation & Tourism
Includes: Parks, Community Events, Facilities
Elizabeth Pritchett, Center Point Business Solutions.
- Education & Workforce Development
Includes: Existing School Systems, Existing & Potential Higher Ed
(TCAT, Comm. College, etc.), Library, Industry Specific Training, Soft
Skills Cindy West, UT Martin College of Education.
- Healthcare
Includes: HCMC & current Healthcare Environment, Elder Care,
Fitness Opportunities Bill Jolley, Tennessee Hospital Association.
- Emergency Services
Includes: Law Enforcement, EMS, Fire, 911, Disaster Planning
Sherri McCarter, U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development.
- Public Works
Includes: Streets/Roads, Sidewalks, Refuse/Recycling
Dana Deem, UT Municipal Technical Advisory Service.
- Infrastructure/Broadband/Transportation
Electric, Water, Sewer, Natural Gas, public transportation
Rob Goad, NW Tennessee Development District.
- Retail/Industry/Small Business
Recruitment, Entrepreneurial Support
Landy Fuqua, UT Martin Reed Center Director
- Housing Rm
Public, Private, Single family vs multi-unit
Bobby Goode, retired USDA Rural Development State Director
- Young Talent Library
Specifically for students and young adults to discuss their
ideas for the future of Paris & Henry County
Melissa Halsell, TVA program manager.
