Lake County looks to you for ideas

Lake County officials want to establish long-range priorities and are looking to the public for help.

Six community forums have been scheduled over three weeks in all parts of the county. The hope is to get input and ideas on broad issues and strategies on how to shape Lake County's future.

"It's really bigger picture. We want to listen to citizens and assess and identify priorities and use that in developing our strategic plan," said Jennie Khoen, communications manager.

"We've never done this before."

The forums all will begin at 6 p.m. with an open house, where information will be provided about the county and its programs. Group participation begins at 7 p.m. to include focus groups guided by a facilitator.

Here's a list of the dates and times:

• March 10: Division of Transportation office, 600 W. Winchester Road, Libertyville.

• March 18: Highland Park Country Club, 1201 Park Avenue West, Highland Park.

• March 19: Lake Villa Public Library, 1001 E. Grand Ave., Lindenhurst.

• March 20: County building, 18 North County St., Waukegan.

• March 31: Ela Area District Public Library, 275 Mohawk Trail, Lake Zurich.

• April 1: Warren Newport Public Library, 224 N. O'Plaine Road, Gurnee.

The input is a continuation of a county board directive that began last year. The first step was the adoption of a short-term plan that identified four initiatives to be addressed over the next two to three years.

Those were transportation, criminal justice, drinking water and economic development. Each included a description of its importance and relevance as well as strategies, which can be viewed at www.lake.co.il.us.

In the next step, community input is being sought to identify critical challenges facing the region, determine the county's role in those issues and develop a plan to show where the county should focus its priorities and resources over the next five to 10 years.

The idea is to get deep into a particular topic.

"We know transportation is a big issue," Khoen said. But how would it be financed?

"We want it to be meaningful dialogue, not just one way," she said.