Proponents of improving Moccasin Creek hope to know by early next year how they'll go about the task. Members of the James River Water Development District met with Aberdeen city officials and members of the Aberdeen Area Chamber of Commerce's Partners in Community Pride Committee on Wednesday morning. It was the first step in a process that's being jointly funded by the city and the water development district. Last month, the James River Water Development District approved $50,000 to help develop the plan. The city is matching that amount. The James River Water Development District is a subdivision of state government that has taxing power. Its annual budget is $750,000 a year, said manager Darrell Raschke of Huron. The money is used for a host of projects and improvements on the James River and its tributaries, including Moccasin Creek. Raschke said the next action that needs to be done on the Moccasin Creek project is to create a steering committee. Members of Partners in Community Pride and city officials said they would be willing to serve on the committee. But, Raschke said, regular citizens are needed, too. People who are open to new ideas are ideal for the committee, Raschke said. What he doesn't want is people who don't think there's a way to help the slow-moving, silty and sometimes-smelly creek. Through recent decades, about 30 studies have been done on Moccasin Creek. City Engineer Robin Bobzien said those will be made available to the water development district. This fall, probably in September, the steering committee and the James River Water Development District will host a two-, three- or four-day workshop in Aberdeen. More public input will be sought, the beginnings of a plan to improve Moccasin Creek will be put in place and those ideas will be shared with the public. In the 30 to 45 days that follow, the plan would be fine-tuned before it would be presented to the Aberdeen City Council and water development district board. If that schedule holds, work on the plan could be finished by early next year, said Aberdeen Mayor Mike Levsen. Raschke said the point of developing the plan is to present it to the federal government to get funding and make the outlined improvements. The next chance to do that is in March 2007, he said. But old and new information has to be studied, ideas need to be discussed and details have to be finalized before then. The steering committee's first meeting probably will be the week of Aug. 28. No exact date has been set.