Put in your 2 cents on the future of Havre, Hill County

Havre and Hill County have some real advantages as they prepare for the future. The city is blessed with a strong agriculture base, some solid manufacturing and transportation businesses, a strong medical center that serves most of the Hi-Line and a vibrant college that offers some important course offerings that will serve our communities well. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, though it provides fewer jobs than in the past, is still a mainstay of our economy. The railroad is a good corporate citizen that provides help to many community organizations. Northern Montana Hospital is an exceptional institution for this community — not only in the number of quality jobs it offers, but in the quality health-case services it provides to residents along Hi-Line. Montana State University-Northern faculty, staff and students are involved in virtually every aspect of community life. The university provides teachers for our schools, nurses for our hospitals and professionals for just about every business and industry in the area. Programs offered by the college in alternative energy hold great potential for job creation in the area. The community has a quality elementary and secondary educational system that prepares our young people for a changing world. And it has a vibrant business district that is the envy of many downtown groups around Montana, It has been affected by the growth of the Great Falls business district, the development of big box stores on the city's outskirts and the increase in Internet shopping, but it continues to be an essential part of the community. All of this comes as a backdrop to the public hearing Bear Paw Development will hold at 6 p.m. Tuesday on the proposed growth policy for the city and the county. The document is the first major update on the growth since 1971. Looking back, that document projected some events that took place, though residential and business growth did not take place at the pace that planners projected in 1971. The draft document to be discussed Tuesday begins to prepare ideas on where the city and county are headed in the future. We hear lots of people talking about what kind of Havre and Hill County they would like to leave their children. This is an opportunity to tell county and city officials just what you have in mind. Show up and give your opinion at the meeting, set for 6 p.m. Tuesday in the planning office in the basement of the Hill County Courthouse.