The Chautauqua County Community Summits – held November 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 1999 at sites in Falconer, Westfield, Sherman, Cassadaga, and Dunkirk respectively -- provided citizens a unique opportunity to talk about their concerns for their communities and about their visions for the future. In all, nearly 500 citizens attended, including volunteer facilitators, county staff, elected officials, and citizens from around Chautauqua County.

The Community Summits were held in support of a range of ongoing initiatives. These include the development of a new county-wide plan, the implementation of mandated "performance- based" government, and a variety of efforts by Mayors and Supervisors of the cities, villages and towns of Chautauqua County. Beyond that, the results of these Summits will be made available for use by any community organizations and institutions committed to improving life in Chautauqua County.

The record of the meetings is exhaustive and detailed. The meetings provide participants with six different ways to make themselves heard and all of the recorded visions, ideas, suggestions and comments are compiled in this volume. This includes, not only the record of the ranking exercises held at the end of each Summit, but a transcript of notes from each small group discussion, a transcript of larger group "open forum" sessions, and a compilation and analysis of wall surveys and exit surveys.

Our analysis of this extensive, detailed, and usually sophisticated series of conversations boils down two a seemingly simple four-point summary. It seems simple, but really isn’t, because of the complex way these four overarching concerns interconnect with one another.

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