PLAN members are needed to attend a breakfast meeting Saturday morning to help make decisions for the future of the grassroots organization.

Jones County People Looking Ahead Now will meet in the Tri-County community room Sept. 20. PLAN is a grassroots organization that began meeting in 1997, and its meetings are open to anyone interested in the future of Gray and Jones County.

Breakfast will begin at 8:30 a.m., provided by Donald Sheffield and Duckman Catering, and the meeting will start a 9. The cost of the breakfast is $5.

Steering committee chairman Dr. Bob Moon has the goal of adopting a mission statement for the organization and creating structure for the grassroots group. Another issue that was up for discussion was the date and location of next year’s retreat. Last month, it was discovered that Relay for Life had been scheduled the same weekend, but according to Jim LeBrun, the Relay has been rescheduled for the first weekend in May.

Members divided into five committees to work on issues of historic preservation, housing, economic development, land use, and facilities at April’s retreat, which was held at the Little Ocmulgee State Park in McRae, and the groups have been working.

The plan for the Historic Preservation committee was a survey of Jones County’s natural resources and historic sites, and the Housing committee focused on the need for education and counseling for first time homebuyers, identifying the housing providers in the county, and educating the public about a Community Home Improvement Program that has recently been expanded countywide.

The housing group has initiated a homeless count for Jones County that joins a national event and the members held a credit seminar last month.

The Economic Development committee’s first priority was the establishment of a Downtown Development Authority for the City of Gray with a secondary goal of creating and promoting a marketing campaign to encourage spending sales tax dollars in Jones County to increase tax revenue.

Gray’s City Council adopted a resolution to activate its DDA at its Sept. 2 meeting and appointed seven members. Those members met for the first time Sept. 8 and elected officers. The authority members set their primary focus as receiving the training they need in order to get started on projects.

The Highway 18 connector was a target area for development by the Land Use committee and it suggested the development of a corridor plan with a design overlay area. The second part of that task is amending the city’s ordinance to create the overlay zone.

That committee is also focused on development around the area of the Jones County Courthouse to create a town square and tie into the Highway 11 streetscape, but they are also looking at other areas for development.

The Facilities committee spotlighted animal control, suggesting a new facility and trained personnel. The committee discussed the needs of adult education and a new building or finding an existing building that can be renovated.

Reservations for the breakfast meeting may be made by calling the Jones County/Gray Chamber of Commerce at 986-1123 or by emailing robin@jonescounty.org.