Appomattox hopes visioning meeting will help shape town's future

APPOMATTOX — Citizens from the town of Appomattox gathered Wednesday night to discuss what they wanted to see in their community’s future.

“This is a concerted effort here to make the town a better place,” said Appomattox Town Manager Bart Van Nieuwenhuise at the beginning of the citizen-led visioning meeting at Central Virginia Community College’s Appomattox Center.

Several months ago, Town Council instructed Van Nieuwenhuise to organize a series of visioning meetings so that citizens could play a more active role in shaping the town’s future course, Town Clerk Roxanne Paulette said.

Out of the town’s approximately 1,700 residents, about 25 people showed up for the first meeting, including several Town Council and staff members.

Town officials asked Art Mead, assistant director for the Weldon Cooper Center For Public Service, to serve as the facilitator for the process.

Paulette said the Weldon Cooper Center is a service of the University of Virginia that offers guidance and support to local governments throughout the commonwealth.

She said the center offered to facilitate the visioning process free of charge.

In 2005, the town worked on a visionary process with Virginia Tech professor Diane Zihm, but the process ended before a final document was produced.

Mead said he would work with the attendees over the course of five meetings to draft a vision statement for the town.

Ideally, the document would serve as the town’s road map in the years ahead, he said.

The vision statement should act as a tool that “helps the community move forward in terms of building on its positive assets,” he said. It should not be one that “sits on a shelf and draws dust.”

The document will outline citizens’ goals for the town as well as their ideas for possible changes and improvements.

Paulette said that council members will also use the vision statement in the future as a reference.

“Hopefully it will give council a direction from the citizenry as to what is they want or value for this community,” she said.

During the meeting, Mead urged participants to speak out and take an active part in crafting the vision statement.

“We’re here for a citizen-driven visioning process put together by you all who participate.”

Several of the night’s attendees said they wanted to preserve the town’s history and, at the same, work to make Appomattox a more economically viable community.

“Tourists have a hard time finding Main Street. That’s not good for business,” said Town Council member and local business owner Bryan Baine.

Appomattox resident Mary Lou Spiggle said creating more job opportunities was a way to keep young people in Appomattox.

Council member Jimmy Mayberry agreed: “I’d like to see some growth because we’re losing too many of our youth.”

Appomattox resident Eric Van Opstal said he thought the meetings were a step in the right direction toward making the town better.

“This visionary process is extremely important and I’m thrilled to see it start.”

Four more visioning meetings are slated for Nov. 18, Dec. 2, Dec. 9, and Dec. 16 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Central Virginia Community College’s Appomattox Center in Room 108, located on 136 Carver Lane. All citizens from the town of Appomattox are invited to attend the meetings.