The State of the Community County-Wide Conference, scheduled March 14 at the Sidney Assembly of God Church, will help determine the direction of Richland County’s future.

According to organizers, county planner Marcy Hamburg and VISTA Stacey Schmitt, the conference is an innovative approach to help direct and monitor progress toward achieving several short and long-term goals identified in the county’s growth policy.

The conference will provide individuals, groups and governing bodies a unique opportunity to gather together and report on the progress that has been made over the past year in their communities, and also provide a forum for participants to collectively determine any new community needs and how they might best be addressed. Activities actually kick off with a special training for board members from 4-8:30 p.m. March 13 at the Sidney Country Club. Jep Enck, an expert on board member interaction, is the featured speaker. This training is open to anyone in the community interested in learning more about board ethics or board communication. Enck will focus his presentation on relevant Montana laws and guidelines for board ethics and interaction.

Cost of the event is $25 and includes a meal and training materials. Space is limited so register early by calling 433-6975 or e-mailing sschmitt@richland.org. If you register before Feb. 29, you will be entered into a drawing for lunch with Enck on March 13. Because he usually focuses on larger groups, this is a unique opportunity to learn more about anything from stress management to health and laughter and from communications to non-profit management.

The county-wide conference begins at 7:30 a.m. with registration and 8:30 a.m. with introductions at the Assembly of God Church’s activity center.

Conference registration fee is $75, which includes lunch, snacks and all conference materials. County scholarships of $50 are available.

Topics to be discussed (with facilitators in parenthesis) include: sustainable economic base (Anne Cossit), public facilities (Peggy Iba) and natural and cultural resources (Mike Fladeland) starting at 9:45 a.m.; public services (Kim Youngquist), population (Chet Hill) and agriculture (Fladeland) starting at 11 a.m.; infrastructure for economic growth (Hill), public services (Fladeland) and natural and cultural resources (Iba) starting at 2:15 p.m.; public facilities (Youngquist), land use (Cossit) and housing (Iba) starting at 3:30 p.m.

At 4:30 p.m., a conference evaluation and overall target mapping will take place.

editor@sidneyherald.com