A great idea

Letter from the editor

I go to a lot of meetings. All the time. Feels like every day.

Between the Bigfork Steering Committee, the Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee, the Bigfork Advisory Park Board, and occasionally the Chamber of Commerce, I attend my fair share of meetings. And there are plenty of group meetings that I don’t have time to attend: The Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork, Rotary, Lake County Zoning and two more I heard of on Monday that I can’t remember.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that on some days I’d rather blindfold myself and play in traffic than attend another meeting.

So when yet another committee - actually, a subcommittee of the Bigfork Steering Committee - began a few weeks ago, I felt like crawling under my desk and waving a white flag.

The whole library/Potoczny Park issue caused longtime resident Edd Blackler to hold a meeting where the community could gather and discuss what we could all do to make Bigfork the best place it could be and what steps the community needed to take in the next 10 to 20 years. Blackler’s meeting was also the impetus for a five-week series of articles we recently finished on Bigfork’s future growth.

Information and ideas came pouring out from all corners, and the Bigfork Steering Committee decided to form the Long Range Planning Subcommittee with Blackler as the chair.

I’ll admit, I skipped the first two gatherings of the fledgling group. The thought of sitting through the development of bylaws and mangled parliament procedures was more than I could bear.

But here’s the great part - none of that boring stuff happens. This is absolutely the best meeting I attend.

For one hour each week, Blackler moderates a free-flow of remarkable ideas from community members - everything from bike paths to economic growth to affordable housing to water quality to a resort tax is open for discussion.

After a variation of days and times, the Long Range Planning Subcommittee is now meeting on Mondays at noon in the Flathead Bank of Bigfork conference room in the Osborn building. Simply put, you should go if you can. If that time doesn’t work for you, let Edd know, and I’m sure he will schedule the occasional evening meeting or something more convenient. He is very much committed to making this group a vehicle for everyone who wants to be involved. I’m also thinking about what kind of format would work to put the meeting’s findings into the paper. Because it’s more about ideas than action right now, nothing concrete is really happening yet.

The ideas, though, are worth taking the time to listen to.

No agendas. No endless motions. Just great ideas.

See you there.