Members of a Citizens’ Committee chosen to help Curry County government avoid a financial crisis will roll up their sleeves and begin work Wednesday.

Twenty-four county residents will look at potential new revenue sources, ways to trim current costs and possibly even dissolution of the county, said Commissioner Dave Itzen. They will meet through December 2012 before giving recommendations to the county commissioners.

Gary Short, county accountant, has estimated that $2 million must be cut from the county’s general fund next year. Essential services might cease to exist by the end of 2012 without dramatic fiscal changes.

Rhodes’ visit to Salem also was to include a meeting with state Sen. Betsy Johnson, a member of the governor’s task force, to discuss ramifications of the loss of federal Secure Rural Schools funding. That meeting was postponed due to bad weather.

The committee’s first meeting will be at Docia Sweet Hall at the Curry County Fairgrounds. The 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. session is open to the public.

Commission Chairman George Rhodes said there was a miscommunication about the process for selecting committee members. He believed the three commissioners would forward their nominations to Oregon Consensus, which will help steer the committee through its work.

Oregon Consensus was then expected to pick potential members for commissioners’ final approval, according to Rhodes.

He was in Salem on Monday to present a request for $32,000 in funding for the county’s Boice Cope Park from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. However, commissioners Itzen and Bill Waddle each chose 12 members of the Citizens’ Committee that day during the commissioners’ regularly scheduled meeting.

Despite the misunderstanding, Rhodes said he has no problem with the two women and 22 men who were chosen, saying any of the 34 applicants would have been satisfactory to him.

“I was very confident in my two fellow commissioners,” Rhodes said Friday. “I have no problems with who was selected.”

During Wednesday’s Citizens’ Committee meeting, the agenda will include an explanation of the role that Oregon Consensus will play in the committee’s work. Oregon Consensus at Portland State University helps Oregonians reach agreement on public issues through conflict assessment, process design and mediation, according to the organization’s web site.

Also Wednesday, a representative from the governor’s office is scheduled to discuss Legislative realities, including the ending of Secure Rural Schools funding.

Rhodes noted that reductions to public safety funding would have major impacts on county residents.

“Everything the (county) board is doing now is aimed at creating opportunities to preserve public safety,” he said.

Without public safety services such as the sheriff’s office, he said, the cost of home owners’ insurance would go up due to the lack of dispatching for fire or police responses.

Likewise, the value of business would decline and people would not want to move into Curry County communities because of a lack of public safety services, Rhodes said.