Pictured: Front/Bottom Row: Vision Board Member Erika Willitzer, Paulding County Commissioners Roy Klopfenstein, Tony Zartman, Mark Holtsberry. Second Row: Vision Board Members Lisa McClure, John Daeger, and Dave Burtch. Third Top Row: Vision Board Members Joe Barker and Aaron Timm.
The Paulding County Commissioners officially adopted the Paulding County Vision Board’s Comprehensive Community Development Plan on August 27, 2018. The plan has been two years in the making.
“It’s taken two years to lay a great foundation for this organization and well worth it too. We now have a plan that is going to guide us into the future and have a real impact when it comes to quality of life for the residents of Paulding County,” stated Board President Dave Burtch.
The Vision Board was formed by a passionate group of residents who began meeting in 2016 to discuss issues facing the County, exchange ideas, and network. Deciding it was time to take action, the Vision Board was formed under the Paulding County Commissioners on April 24, 2017. The Vision Board decided to create a county-wide Community Development Plan to begin a formal planning process that would lead to establishing goals and objectives for Paulding County and strategies for how to achieve them.
“The beauty of this group is that it unites all our townships and villages and will hopefully help leverage more grant dollars. For example, if Antwerp needs improvements on their downtown facades. Sure, Antwerp could go after a grant and they may receive a small portion. But what if, we identified that all the communities in Paulding County had this same need? By proving the county had a much greater need, we could access more grants. This is just one of the ways the Paulding County Vision Board hopes to assist,” stated Erika Willitzer Vision Board Member.
The Vision Board’s mission is to ‘coordinate collaboration, plan strategically, secure funding, and create a livable Paulding County community’ and ultimately exists to serve Paulding County by inspiring collaboration, identifying needs and pursuing and securing funding to address those needs. The Board is comprised of representatives from participating Villages within the County, the Township Trustees Association, the County Commissioners, Paulding County Area Foundation, Paulding County Economic Development, and at-large members.
If you would like to view the full comprehensive plan, visit the Vision Board’s website at www.PauldingCountyVisionBoard.com. You can also find the Paulding County Vision Board on Facebook.
