A new regional planning district is being planned for five eastern Indiana counties and the public's help is requested to prepare the strategic plan to guide the organization.

When the Eastern Indiana Development District ceased operations, the counties involved had no district group to go through if seeking to apply for certain federal grants. The Eastern Indiana Regional Planning Commission will serve that purpose as well as help the counties with economic development efforts.

The counties forming the group are Fayette, Union, Wayne, Rush and Randolph.

Two meetings have been planned to give the public a chance to give input, one in Connersville and one in Richmond.

The group is currently being led by a steering committee, consisting of one representative from each county appointed by the commissioners, until the group is officially recognized by Gov. Mike Pence and the board and executive boards appointed, Economic Development Group Director Dan Parker said.

The constitution and by-laws have been approved by the steering committee, he said. The comprehensive economic development strategy for the district will be developed with help from the Strengthening Economies Together program, a Purdue Center for Regional Development program.

The commissioners from the five counties have adopted a resolution asking the governor to allow the counties to form the organization. It will be formed under state statute, said Wayne County Councilman Jeff Plasterer, who has been instrumental in the program. It's hopeful, the application will be approved by the end of the year.

"It is is similar (to the EIDD) but we have put together a new mission statement, new by-laws and are seeking input from all the local economic development entities to make sure the mission is written in such a way as to complement what they are doing," he explained. "It will serve in a supportive role in assistance with planning, assistance with joint projects and assistance for grant applications at the federal level that require counties be a part of the region to be eligible to apply."

The federal Economic Development Administration and the Office of Rural Development of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and some others required regional participation to submit grant applications, he said.

He said the SET process is the planning process sponsored by Rural Development but it will also serve as the planning process for EDA so the plan when written will be interchangeable for both agencies. By utilizing the SET program, it will put the counties in a stronger position planning wise when the organization is launched, hopefully in the first quarter of 2016.

When established, the main board will have close to 40 members, as required by statute as to who has representatives on the board, he said. The county commissioners, county council and the five largest communities will have representatives. Fayette County which does not have five incorporated towns, the commissioners will make the additional appointments. Wayne County which is larger will have the largest seven communities with representation and the county surveyor will be on the board. The governor will make a non-voting appointment.

That large board will meet quarterly.

An executive board that will include at least one representative from each county, will likely meet monthly, Plasterer said. That board will conduct most business but their actions would have to be approved by the full board when it meets.

"It remains to be seen at this point but at the start I don't think we will be able to afford more than one employee and it might even be part time," he said. "We want to make sure we're on solid financial footing and we are actually fulfilling a useful purpose before we expand operations."

It is important to get broad participation by residents of the counties at the two meetings to give those organizing the planning commission ideas about the challenges and opportunities facing the region. People's perspectives are drawn from their experiences and a lot of those are local but there are a lot of of similarities among the counties, he said.

"All five are heavily rural," he said. "We want broad participation to get a sense of what people in the counties are interested in and are passionate about. A group of about 25 from all five counties will work with Purdue to put the plan together."