Ione wants to take the lead in organizing a county-wide conference to learn about the best planning practices for the future of local rural communities.

The Citizens' Institute on Rural Design, through its "Your Town" program, could grant a nonprofit allied with the city up to $22,000 to attract dozens of community leaders to the city for a two-and-a-half-day workshop. There, local representatives could pick the brains of members of a pool of professionals assembled by the institute, which is housed at the State University of New York's Syracuse campus. The experts are from fields including architecture, land-use planning and economics, according to institute documents.

"We are looking forward to hearing from the design experts and speakers as we explore our Main Street revitalization program and see this as a tremendous boost to other cities' planning and design efforts as they struggle to solve many of the same issues as the City of Ione," wrote City Manager Kim Kerr to institute officials. "Because Ione has historically been the supply station for the county of Amador, we feel that the results of this workshop will allow the participants who represent the entire county a sustainable method to implement a shared future."

City council members Tuesday approved a letter of support for the application by the Ione Community Program nonprofit.

Ione proposes to house a workshop at Evalynn Bishop Hall some time this year.

The Citizens' Institute on Rural Design is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and is run by the Department of Landscape Architecture at SUNY, Syracuse.

Ione is employing grant writer Renee Chapman.

"The recent economic downturn has hit Amador County exceptionally hard," Chapman wrote to institute officials. "The county's economy, lagging since the closure of Amador's areas largest employer at the time, the Georgia Pacific Mill, closed in 1997, was further set back when two other large employers, Prospect Motors and Jackson Ford, closed their doors. Because our community is not one to stay down long, community leaders and businesses view the proposed Amador County - Your Town Workshop 2010 as an excellent opportunity at the right time to strategize and prepare for the future of our county in all manners of planning and design with the best possible sustainable and beneficial results."