Those with burning questions or a mild curiosity about the challenges and progress of the local government will have a chance to hear from local officials next week.

The Laurinburg-Scotland County Area Chamber of Commerce will host its annual “State of the Community” breakfast on Feb. 21 at the W.R. Dulin Conference Center in the Community Health and Rehabilitation Center on the campus of Scotland Memorial Hospital.

“Typically these events are about what’s going on in the county and the city and inform the community about where the government stands and any issues they might be working on,” said Chamber President Tonia Stephenson. “If there’s someone out in the community who has questions, this is a chance for them to get their questions answered.”

County Manager Kevin Patterson, interim City Manager Harold Haywood, and Scotland County Economic Development Director Greg Icard will each provide updates on developments regarding city and county.

“My plans are just to go over a review of council goals for this year, give some information about where we stand financially and then go from there,” said Haywood.

“It’s an opportunity to talk about the last year’s work that was done and highlight some of those things and throw in some of the opportunities we have for the next year and some things we can correct,” Icard added.

Following the presentations, the meeting will open to a question-and-answer period.

“I imagine unemployement is at the top of the list for most people; with Greg Icard speaking, a lot of people are interested in what kind of projects he’s working on and if they will bring jobs to the area,” Stephenson said. “It’ll be interesteing to see what questions are asked and where the topics go.”

Breakfast will be served at 7:30 a.m., with the program beginning at 8 a.m. The chamber expects at least 50 participants.

“This is a great opportunity for leaders in our community to be able to speak in an open forum,” said Stephenson.”It really helps with the transparency of our government to be able to talk among the community and answer questions. It helps them to hear back from the community some of the questions on people’s minds.”

The cost to attend is $5, payable at the door.

Those interested in attending should RSVP with the chamber by calling 276-7420 or emailing kbuie@laurinburgchamber.com by Feb. 19.