Amador County – The Ione City Council discussed a Community Preservation Committee at its regular meeting Tuesday. And some of the council members attended a town hall meeting Monday centered on the committee’s formation. Mayor Lee Ard said Monday’s meeting showed him that the committee wants to hear from the public about what the city wants. He said he wanted the city council to guide the group, like a ship. And he said the people should decide what they want to do with downtown, and if they want to increase traffic to historic downtown, do they really want to bring people to a “block full of nothing?” He said a string of Main Street empty buildings might be in irreparable condition, and the “dirt” at the location might be worth more than some of the buildings. Councilwoman Andrea Bonham said the meeting Monday confirmed for her that the public wanted to have “grassroots” control over the Community Preservation Committee. She said they wanted to lead the committee, and preferred not to have the council lead it. City Manager Kim Kerr said Monday’s meeting drew about 20 people, including 7 business owners who wanted to participate. Councilman David Plank said council members would volunteer to recruit members in the community to help lead the committee, and he said they should urge each business member to help encourage at least one other business owner to join. Vice Mayor Skip Schaufel said downtown businesses should try to coordinate with and serve the crowds that come to town for special events, like this weekend’s Ione Homecoming. He said one business that serves food is normally closed on Monday, which last year was the day on which the July 4th holiday fell. The business was closed and he said he was a bad business move. Ard said he thought the council should lead the committee, or guide it, for a year, then a director could be hired. The other council members urged to have community leadership. Councilman Jim Ulm said he knew there were experts in town that could help with financing and business plans. Ard said 3 members of the council have retail business experience, which he thought could help. He said the main thing is to have a downtown that offers good and services that people want. Committee sign-up forms are on the city’s website, or can be found at City Hall. The council set another meeting, for 5 p.m. Monday, May 11th at City Hall, for the Main Street Program, to educate people about the program, so they can learn about it and decide if they want to be involved in helping run it. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.