Josephine County leaders heard from several community agricultural and educational groups during a town hall meeting this week at the Fairgrounds.
Speakers from groups serving both children and adults addressed members of the Board of Commissioners and Fair Board in the Fairgrounds Floral Building on Thursday night, with Recreation Director Tamra Martin serving as emcee.
More than 45 community members attended the town hall. Speakers from six organizations presented assessments of their groups' participation numbers and needs, such as meeting spaces and additional funding. The interests represented ranged from gardening to animal husbandry to youth shooting sports and women's strength training.
A seventh organization focused on robotics was not able to send a representative but asked Martin to present their needs to board members. That group's needs include a classroom for education and practice as well as showroom for members' final projects to be displayed.
The Board of Commissioners plan to hold another town hall in the future to learn and listen to the needs of these local groups.
Josephine is the only county in Oregon without services from the OSU Extension after Commissioners John West and Herman Baertschiger voted to defund the 4-H Extension Service District this summer.
