I hope that everyone has had a great summer. It was nice to have things back to normal and to get to travel our wonderful state. With this letter to the paper I would like to discuss something that has been concerning me for a while. We have had some great things happen on our Main Street, but there have been some concerning things too. In recent months we have lost businesses and along with this there are buildings that stand vacant or are in need of repair. The health of any community can be judged by its Main Street. Our Main Street has had very little growth for a long time and it is time for that to change.
Recently Jess Fueston was hired on as a full time employee. Part of her job is billing for the utility systems, and the other part of her job is economic development. Recently Jess and I met with Jesse Fonkert, the president of the Sioux Metro Growth Alliance, to discuss the economic environment in Garretson. We discussed the good things happening, and we took him on a walking tour of the central business district to show him the concerns that we have. Jesse had some great ideas and was very optimistic about the things that we could accomplish.
Jesse’s first idea was working to unify the economic development groups of Garretson. This is something that is currently being done in Baltic also. By unifying these groups Jesse feels that there would be a more focused response to the economic development needs of the city. Jesse’s second idea was in regards to finding ways to promote new and current development in the city. Jess and I have done a lot of research on what other communities do to promote business.
There is going to be a lot of discussion in the upcoming city council meetings about ways to promote businesses. Our first step will be to set up an initial funding source for economic development and improvements. I am also going to propose to the city council that all of our 3rd penny sales tax be used for this specific purpose instead of smaller community promotion projects. The second step will be to create incentives to promote business growth all over Garretson but specifically in the central business district. The last step will be to make sure that our economic development program is sustainable for the future.
There are several communities that have really creative ideas and plans to grow their businesses. We have had a status quo for a long time. It is time that we take intentional steps to develop our Main Street and improve our business environment. This is going to take time to create and implement, but we have a lot of potential. With Jess as our new economic development representative, I am excited about the possibilities.
Thank you – Greg Beaner, Mayor
