Clark County Economic Development Corporation & Tourism Bureau Brings WHEDA State Executive Director Wyman Winston to Tour C
Thursday, November 5th, 2015 -- 9:24 AM
-The Clark County Economic Development Corporation & Tourism Bureau brought WHEDA State Executive Director Wyman Winston to tour Clark County last week.WHEDA Director Winston was invited to take a closer look by meeting with our community, county and business leaders to see and hear firsthand how rural areas function. The goal of the visit was to help bridge the understanding of a real rural county, its communities and businesses.
A tour bus with many dignitaries from federal, state and local entities along with citizens, housing, commercial and industrial developers, plus business representatives were along for the daylong tour and listening sessions.
County and city representatives started out the presentations with how budgets in rural look and feel ? just exactly how much money is available in small rural areas and how it is spent. Tim Swiggum President of CCEDC, Jerome Krempasky and Dean Zank from the County gave insights to these budget finances. Following their comments were presentations by 3 Clark County Companies that have made recent investments in their company's growth thru buildings, increased employment and employee training program efforts. Marieke Penterman ? Holland Family Cheese, Cheryl Niemuth ? Thorp Supervalu and Roy Lato ? Thorp Equipment all told their family stories and what has transpired as they strive to grow in the rural communities where they have put down strong lasting roots.
Additional tours and conversation took place from companies in Thorp, Dorchester, Owen, Withee, and Curtiss. Both step on informational presentations and physical tours of the following companies took place. Driving tour of Withee and Owen area ? examples of housing and commercial industrial land available in the county was discussed. Followed by presenters from Heartland Cooperative, Omega Valley Farmers, Canadian American Homes, Meyer Manufacturing plus a firsthand look at the new fire hall being constructed in Curtiss.
At these business stops the group learned about growth and expansion from several areas of the county and the global markets many of our companies are involved in. Due to the timeline available ? only the top tier of the county was able to be physically toured but discussions throughout the day focused on the entire county.
A luncheon with information about our extensive agriculture economy including our Heart of Americas Dairyland AEA, dairy and crop production ? plus conversation on our Ag cluster businesses ? was led by Clark County Extension Office - Crops and Soils Agent - Richard Halopka.
Afternoon brought additional local bankers to the audience to hear updates on what is currently happening in Clark County from CCEDC Executive Director Sheila Nyberg plus Beth Waldhart of West Central Regional Planning presented the new Housing Survey data to the group along with other programs that they assist Clark County with.
A presentation from WHEDA Executive Director Wyman Winston and Farshad Maltes, Business Development Director at WHEDA talking about the special business development programs he has and how they can work with our local lenders and other resources to create financing packages that make deals happen. He especially gave detailed information on New Market Tax Credits; what they are and how they can be used. Extensive Conversation and discussion took place about what state, federal and local programs do and don't do to assist in packaging financing for the rural areas. Many company, county and community leaders were able to share the good and the tough issues that we face as a rural area trying to grow.
CCEDC was pleased to have this opportunity to present the real realities of rural to the many attendees that perhaps do not get this information first hand. The sponsors and host sites for our meetings, Time Federal Savings Bank, Holland Family Cheese and El Norteno were very helpful in making this all work in the timeframe that was allowed. Overall this effort was successful because we were able to get the word out more extensively about our wonderful county.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.