~by Denise O’Brien Van for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
About 40 people got updates on current and future efforts to enhance local economic development endeavors at a March 21 town hall meeting hosted by the Greene County Development Corporation.
Although the briefing was billed as an information session on growth in the county, its presenters focused mainly on Jefferson.
Topics ranged from the need for housing, daycare, a new animal shelter and a dog park, to the opening of a welcome center in mid-summer, plus new school security measures, renovations to downtown Jefferson’s retail area and the completion of Greene County Medical Center’s $22.5 million makeover in late summer.
Jefferson city administrator Mike Palmer said the city is taking an aggressive stance–doing basic renovations– on two abandoned and decrepit buildings in the central business district, hoping to attract buyers and get the sites back on the tax rolls.
Palmer noted that the $1million 2012 streetscape renovation in downtown Jefferson “would be all for nought if we can’t do something about the buildings behind the sidewalks.”
The city should know by mid-May if it gets a $500,000 federal CBDG (Community Development Block Grant) that will help local business owners renovate their buildings. The city, using real estate taxes set aside in the local TIF (Tax Increment Funding) district, and participating businesses will match the grant, bringing the total funding available to $1 million. If the grant comes through, Palmer said renovations, which can include structural improvements, probably will begin Spring 2017.
He showed examples of possible upgrades to the former Figenshaw Furniture building (stucco repair), the Royal Jewelers site (new sign and stucco repair) and the Ace Hardware facade (removal of wood siding and installation of display windows).
Peg Raney, program director for Jefferson Matters: Main Street, said volunteers for that organization logged 4,500 hours in 2015.
The six top entries in the group’s “Ring Out for Art” sculpture contest will installed on Bell Tower Plaza on May 15. During June’s Bell Tower Festival, the public will vote to choose three of the entries for year-long display on the plaza. The winners will each receive a cash award funded by Home State Bank.
Raney also talked about two programs that she hopes will assist local business owners. One, part of an advanced Iowa State University design class, offers local businesses interior and exterior design concepts; the other, a Main Street Iowa contest, would award money to a local winner for use in starting a new business or upgrading an existing enterprise.
Referencing the September 2015 $20 million bond issue vote, which failed, Greene County Community Schools superintendent Tim Christensen said the school board is looking at changes in the scope of physical plant upgrades the bond would have funded. He said the board has hired an architectural firm to figure costs of updating existing building and compare them with the bond issue’s proposals.
The superintendent said the district’s certified budget, which is funded by the state, by property taxes and by an income surtax, will be sent to the state on April 15. The proposed budget sets the property tax rate at $12.36 per $1,000 in assessed valuation, a reduction of 15 cents per $1,000 from the current rate. He expects the surtax to be reduced by 4 percent, from 12 to 8 percent.
Christensen also mentioned school security and public forums. See other posts on GreeneCountyNewsOnline for further information.
Carla Offenberger, Greene County Medical Center community relations director, said major renovations to the center should be complete by late summer, and an open house is planned for September. The $22.5 million project was funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, a loan from Home State Bank, and an 18-month capital campaign that raised $4 million.
The big pile of dirt on the center’s south side will be removed during the renovation’s third phase, now underway, and replaced with a main elevator and a renovated main entrance. Phase Three also includes construction of new space for orthopedic and women’s care clinics.
Chamber of Commerce tourism and events coordinator Angie Pedersen said Greene County garnered $6.6 million in tourism spending in 2014, and she expects that figure to increase with the opening of Wild Rose Casino. She’s scheduled five bus tours–with a total of 200 riders–for the coming months, and expects at least 400 visitors who will attend the Lincoln Highway Association’s 2017 national conference in Denison, with many of them passing through Jefferson.
Pedersen, who will manage this year’s Bell Tower Festival, unveiled the event’s 2016 logo. Designed by local middle school art teacher Kevin Richards, the gold and silver logo celebrates the tower’s 50th anniversary.Cherie Cerveny, Greene County Early Learning Center director, said the facility, which has served area families for 10 years, is outgrowing its space in Jefferson and has 39 kids on its waiting list.
Cerveny said she hopes to have a second location available for the center’s summer session.
Ken Paxton, GCDC director, opened his remarks, saying, “There’s ‘a serious need for animal care’ in Jefferson, and said a new shelter…and a dog park…could be constructed in the business park near the intersection of Iowa Highway 4 and U.S. 30.
He predicted that Highway 30 will one day be four lanes between Jefferson and Scranton…. “Not in the next year or two, or even five,” he said, “But we’re trying to get into position for the project.”
Paxton said he’s trying to get more housing for the area, noting that local vacancy rates are the lowest in the state. Questioned on that figure, he said the rate is zero.
“If we can get one housing project done, we’ll get more,” he said, “because the second project’s developers will have something to compare with in regard to loans and other funding.”
Asked about the progress on a proposed welcome center in Thomas Jefferson Gardens in Jefferson, Paxton said the center “probably will be open this summer.”
Answering another question from the audience, this one about the number of people who have moved to Jefferson recently, Paxton said surrounding communities have gotten the families, “not us. And that’s due to a lack of housing and daycare.”
“It’s kind of overpriced,” Paxton said, answering a question about progress on the sale of the former Hy-Vee Drug Store on the northwest corner of Lincoln Way and Wilson. “It’s double everything else on the square, but I believe they’ll negotiate.”
The building has several second-floor apartments, which could provide income and help with mortgage payments, he said.
