If the county commission wants to discourage citizens from getting involved in community improvement, it’s doing a fine job.

First it was the library effort, which raised nearly $1 million in donations and grants for new full-service libraries.

Now it’s the Three Star program, for which a committee of citizens and state officials has worked diligently to gather information, brainstorm, and create a set of goals for the betterment of Polk County. Gov. Phil Bredesen enhanced the Three-Star program, adding incentives in the form of extra points for grants, as a way of encouraging communities to show their readiness for economic development. At the heart of the program is a five-year strategic plan, which is updated yearly.

This was to be the third year for the county’s participation in the program, which the county entered at Level 2 because of the fine job that had been done by the committee. There have been media reports about the Three Star. The county commission has been invited to participate in meetings. Three Star was a key topic at the annual strategic planning meeting designed to bring city and county officials together to learn about programs designed to help with community development -- but there was only one county commissioner, John Pippenger, in attendance. Thoughts from that meeting were included in the Three Star report.

At last week’s commission meeting, it was apparent that several commissioners knew nothing about the program, while others didn’t understand the concept of setting goals. These are the same commissioners who insist that they get information a week before the meeting so they can study it and get more information if needed. It doesn’t appear that anybody asked questions before the meeting. There were no comments during the meeting, so there was no chance to make changes if there was disagreement on any of the goals or strategies

Commissioner Pippenger’s motion to approve the strategic plan failed for lack of a second, thus once again putting the county in the position of having other governments wonder, “What were they thinking?” Of the 95 counties in the state, 85 (including Polk for now) have been accepted into the Three Star program.

While other communities work hard to bring citizens and agencies together to plan for the future, and rejoice in Three Star status, Polk County is being hampered by a county commission with many members who apparently don’t see the need to plan for tomorrow. This is especially ironic considering the fact that nearly every county commission candidate puts a desire to improve the economy as a key reason for seeking office.

Yet they continue to stay away from opportunities to learn more while slapping down citizen efforts to fill the void.

It wouldn’t be so bad if citizens were coming up with ridiculous ideas and the county commission was working to be proactive in planning for the county future. Neither is the case.