Answers to common questions about the process.

Why should you care about Imagine One 85?

A plan will ensure our future is not left to chance.

The population decline that spans decades is partly the result of little or no countywide planning. Communities, like businesses, cannot reach their potential without a deliberate and thoughtful blueprint.

Our potential has a much better chance to be realized if we use an intentional and thoughtful planning process and make a commitment to implementation that leverages our assets and leans into the very real challenges of population decline, economic development, poverty and workforce development.

Imagine One 85 is an unprecedented opportunity to create a better future for the communities of Wabash County.

This is about you and your community.

For the past four decades, there have been fewer and fewer of us in the county—in fact, over 5,000 fewer of us (14+% decline), one-half the City of Wabash.

While planning is good stewardship in general, it must also address a community’s most urgent challenges. In the case of the communities of Wabash County, that challenge is population decline. We are home to many great assets, it’s up to us to take the initiative to develop a plan—and implement it.

No one can build our future for us.

This is a unique opportunity.

For the first time, we are approaching planning as an entire county. Rarely is planning done on the county level. What’s more, local governments, organizations and individual donors have invested generously to fund the planning process—which they trust—now. We may not have this kind of opportunity again for a long, long time.

This process needs your insight.

Creating the comprehensive plan requires your ideas, your input and your feedback to ensure it represents the authentic voice of Wabash County and its unique communities.

What does the name Imagine One 85 signify?

We’re coming together as one to plan for our future.

Alphabetically, Wabash County is the 85th county in the state.

Wabash County’s ’85’ has long been an administrative identifier for the county, especially on license plates and state tax returns. Wabash County is made up of five incorporated communities (La Fontaine, Lagro, Manchester, Roann and Wabash), several unincorporated communities and large swaths of farmland. This planning process recognizes the interrelated nature of all communities, and will culminate with actionable solutions that are good for one and good for all.