By Buffy Pollock

CENTRAL POINT — Since adult volunteers proved hard to come by, the City Council plans to turn to a youth movement and recruit high school students to serve on city committees.

Nineteen positions on four boards are due for re-appointment, but only nine of the members holding those spots indicated they would return.

Positions available include three seats on the park commission, four on the citizens advisory committee and three on the budget committee.

City Administrator Jim Bennett said he would ask teachers of government classes at Crater High School to put out the word that juniors were welcome to apply to serve on either the park commission or the citizens advisory committee, both which are re-appointed annually.

The park commission meets once a month and the citizens advisory committee meets every two months to review policies and procedures regarding land use.

Bennett said two high school students served on the park commission about four years ago and did "an extremely good job."

Mayor Bill Walton, an advocate of student involvement in local government, said getting them interested in the various committees would provide a "useful and fresh perspective."

"There are a lot of benefits for the kids as well as the city," Walton said. "The students learn first-hand how local government operates and get their hands into what’s really going on and the city gets to see a different point of view. Too often, we look at things from one perspective and miss things that would be perfectly obvious to them."

Park Commission Chairman Gilkey, who served with two Crater students four years ago, said he agreed student involvement would be beneficial.

"Everything we do as adults is about making it better for the ones that come behind us," he said, "and if we don’t include those people in the decisions that affect their lives, things can’t be done the way they should be."

Bennett said the vacant positions would be filled by the City Council as soon as enough applications were received to adequately fill the vacancies. All applicants must be citizens of Central Point living within city limits.

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