We asked . . .
What would make Marion County an even better place in which to live in 2020?
“I understand the whole idea of healthy food in school cafeterias, but I’d like to see them get real food that they will eat.”
— Becky Waner, Marion
“I don’t know where the money goes, but I always thought part of the money from the lottery was supposed to go to infrastructure. Some of our roads, even the blacktop roads, are deteriorating. That would be better for people who come here, even those who come for events.”
— Steven Walker, Peabody
“Do something to prevent blue algae. I usually go out to the reservoir and lay out for a week.”
— Samantha Wood, Marion
“Raise the county minimum wage. Turn the lakes into salt water and get rid of the algae.”
— Bryan Stoll, Marion
“Better roads. I used to live in Ramona, now I live in Peabody, and no matter where you live, the side roads are a mess. They put signs up that say, ‘Bumpy Road’ ”
— Emily Staatz, Peabody
“More community interaction with the citizens. Events, or just … I know that there are a lot of things that people do that we don’t hear about. Like pay it forward, or helping your neighbor. We need to do more of that.”
— Peggy Unruh, Peabody
“We need to keep more businesses local. That way a lot more shops have a chance to survive, so we can have more local businesses — because they are dying. Everybody goes to big box stores for what they need. I am just as guilty as the next person, but that is something we have got to work on … that will keep us from having dying downtowns. That way we won’t have these empty buildings and everybody won’t have to drive so far to go to work. Keep it in the county and that way the tax dollars stay in the county, too. We need to get more people to understand that.”
— Diana Wright, Peabody
“What I would like to see for Marion County is to take the taxes down. We live in Butler County and it’s high, but not as high as Marion County. I’ve got it in my head if Marion County would go out and find one of those springs, and dam it up and put trout in it, they’d have a good place to fish and they could advertise it and bring people in.”
— John Diver, Augusta
“If people would eat at locally-owned restaurants and keep their money in Marion County.”
— Judy Smith, Marion
“I think if Marion County hired a county administrator, it would be a lot better for the county. And another sit-down restaurant in Hillsboro.”
— Byron McCarty, Hillsboro
“We really like living in a small town. I feel like we are pretty progressive. I’m not sure about the wind farms. I don’t like what they do for the landscape, and yet I’m all for green energy.”
— Marilyn Ratlzaff, Hillsboro
“They could fix the 13-mile road so it would be smoother.”
— Warren Priel, Hillsboro
“Marion County, we have got a lot of good people here. So I would say, keep up with what we are doing and maybe work on some better programs for the kids to have something to do outside of school and keep them out of trouble.”
— Jeremy Christiansen, Peabody
Last modified Dec. 31, 2019