Great places to hold info meeting Thursday

WASHINGTON — The Washington Great Places committee will hold a meeting Thursday to give the public background and a chance to ask questions of the group, which was recently recognized by the city after winning designation from the state.

“Because it involves the citizens of the town, many local groups and organizations and businesses, we want to just let people know what it is that we’re doing,” said Millie Youngquist, a Washington City Council Member who and member of Washington’s Great Places Steering Committee. “And to inform them, if they haven’t heard, about what this designation means.”

The city was recognized as one of Iowa’s “Great Places” by the state’s department of cultural affairs in late July. Since then, Youngquist said the committee had come up with a “vision plan” for the community, outlining improvement proposals in everything from the arts to economic development to municipal amenities to housing to historical preservation.

Those proposals would mostly be carried out by local governments and groups, with the committee serving more of an advisory role, according to Youngquist.

“We’re the ones responsible to make sure that these goals we’ve set out in our vision plan are being followed through with,” she said. “The committee itself is not the one, say, putting on a film festival, but we are the ones making sure things are happening. If there are any problems we could hopefully help, things like that.”

The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20 at the Washington Public library. Youngquist said getting people in the loop was a committee priority.

“We hope to enlist them and their support in some of these things,” she said. “It’s important for people to know what’s going on in Washington and put us even more on the map.”

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