November 13, 2006

Goals set at 2nd Community Meeting.

The purpose of the meeting was to share the plans and progress being accomplished by the various committees. We were challenged to start formulating priorities and time lines within our committees. Brief reports were given by the chairs of each committee.

The Committees

Covered Bridge Committee: Chair-Tom Thompson
Report: The interior structure of the bridge is in good shape. The outside needs a lot of work. It needs to be scraped and painted. Funding needs looking into. Ownership of the access to the creek must be investigated and established. There is a weed problem which will be taked care of by volunteers from the county. "Friends of Sugar Creek" will annually lead the clean up of the creek.

Downtown Committee: Chair-Joe McCullough
Report: Our goal is to attract new businesses to our town. Some possibilities include: a Pharmacy, a 'Unique" Restaurant, a Day Care, or a Soda Shop. Plan to work with Beatification Committee in focusing on fundraisers.

Beautification Committee: Chair-Sandra Tharp
Report: Plans to make improvement to both South and Madison Streets to make them more inviting to visitors by planting trees and shrubs. Plan to provide decorative trees to homeowners. Awaiting permission to bring in top soil and level the area where the theater used to be and follow up by sowing grass. Move gazebo from present site to behind the Toll Gate House.

Festival Committee: Chair-Jamie Chastain
Report: Have plans to revive Pioneer Days.

Communications Committee: Chair-Todd Chastain
Report: Established a town web site. Plan to keep a dialogue of events in the community. Asked other committees to feed information to it for posting to the public. Plan to be a P.R. group for Darlington.

Merchants Committee: Chair-Tracy Cole
Report: Pledged the Merchants of Darlington to work toward bringing new businesses into town. Expressed a willingness to work with all the other committees to achieve the goal of 'a new Darlington'.

Community Center Committee: Chair-
Report: Goal is to do an overall assessment of the overall picture of adding the Armory to the town as a Community Center. Some questions that need to answers are: Is it possible to become the property of our town? How will the up keep be funded? How will the running of the building be staffed?

Economic Development Committee: Chair-
Report: Goals are to raise Darlington's Profile. To highlight our assets and let them shine for this community. There needs to be a profile of the community created, including: population, average income, and average residents per household, etc. This group will pursue creating a non profit organization to be an umbrella for all other committees.

Priorities for Action:
Covered Bridge Committee: Get Paint by August 2007
Downtown Committee: Establish the 5012C
Beautification Committee: Move Gazebo. Investigate town covenants. Plan banners and Holiday decor for the town.
Festival Committee: Establish date of festival.
Communications Committee: Continue Web Site Development. Make welcome packets for town.Create town Newsletter
Merchants Committee: Aquire a list of residents. Compile a merchants Directory be the end of November 2006
Community Center Committee: Do a feasibility study. Evalute the possibilities. Report findings at December 4 meeting.
Economic Development Committee: Develope task force, assess ownership of buildings downtown.

August 30th, 2006
Our Darlington Community Meeting was a huge success!

There were 112 people in attendance, plus the facilitator and scribes provided by the League of Women Voters. It may have been a little tight in Memorial Hall, but squeezing in was well worth it! Ideas poured out and there were many common goals realized for the Darlington Area.

Overwhelmingly, the people of our community would like to have:
• downtown revitalized with thriving small businesses and beautification
• a community center in the armory building
• covered bridge maintenance
• overall economic development
• a town newsletter and website
• a full service restaurant
... and the list goes on an on!

Thank you to all who attended the meeting and to those who have expressed their commitment to building a better community!