Around 30 community members from around Lassen County showed up to share their input at the Lassen County Chamber of Commerce stakeholders meeting. The topic of discussion- how should 250,000 dollars be spent? The funds are what the Lassen County chamber split with the Westwood Chamber from the 5 million that was divided among Lassen county entities from Lassen County district attorney Melyssah Rios helped negotiate with the other counties impacted by the Dixie Fire for PG&E’s involvement in the start of the Dixie fire. the meeting kicked off with round table discussions, followed by a Q&A Session.
Two community members spoke on behalf of their ideas. Becca Matlock, a 35-year Susanville homeowner, living in retirement proposed the construction of a Pickle Ball facility and park. Her fellow players joined her during last evening’s meeting, saying this is a fast-growing sport and could bring potential revenue to the county with tournaments. Next Susan Zahn discussed her travel and study of small rural towns and how hiring a consultant to help beautify uptown would “not be a bad place to start”. Other ideas that were written and not shared were copied to white boards behind the Chamber Board, which included video marketing, adding sidewalks in Susanville, providing covered area/walkways/picnic areas at the fairgrounds, investing in outdoor areas for concerts and plays, and even providing grants for small start-up businesses to support the local economy.
No decision on how the money would be spent was decided, but the chamber had the goal of receiving community input to formulate an idea of where the funds would best serve.
