We were encouraged to see the large number of citizens who showed up for Monday evening&8217;s meeting at City Hall to discuss the development of a comprehensive, long-term plan for Demopolis.

We stated last week that community involvement is key to this plan&8217;s success, and we truly believe it. Based on what we saw Monday night, the city is off to a great start in gathering ideas for how people envision their city 25 years into the future.

To be commended are members of the committee who are spearheading this project. They worked the phones and reached out to key community leaders in an effort to drum up attendance and bring awareness to the importance of this plan.

For those in attendance, the meeting was far from a waste of time. It was not a lecture situation where an overpaid consultant stood before a mass of people and spewed forth high-idea rhetoric that was void of practical substance.

Just the opposite. The people gathered broke into small work groups and talked about what they saw as important to our city&8217;s future development.

Some of the ideas were far-fetched but most were grounded and reasonable.

In the end, each group chose their four best ideas and put them before the general body of the meeting and to the moderator.

These ideas will be incorporated into the groundwork of the comprehensive plan, each one matched with data gathered through various entities and weighed as to their practicality and the impact they could have on the City of Demopolis and its future.

On Monday night, government worked as it is designed to work. The people gave input into their future, and that input will now be used to craft the plans that should be used as a guide to development in the coming years.

Additional opportunities for public input will come, and we hope more people will cease them.