State of the Local Economy Released, and New Planning Initiative Launched
Chief Mahaska – October 2014
The Mahaska Community Development Group (MCDG) recently released a new report that brings to light many interesting trends and startling facts about Mahaska County. The report, entitled State of the Local Economy: A Baseline Analysis of Mahaska County’s Economy in 2014, is intended to provide information on local economic conditions to area leaders, residents, development organizations, and other community groups. One of the interesting findings is that Mahaska County has performed relatively well when evaluated against other similar communities across the state. The State of the Local Economy report can be found at www.teammahaska.org.
“Mahaska County continues to perform well compared to peer communities,” stated MCDG Executive Director, Andrew Jensen. “Most micropolitan communities across Iowa have seen a slow to moderate decline in population, while Mahaska County continues to slowly increase. Additionally, the manufacturing sector in the county has performed exceedingly well over the past five years,” he added. “In fact, the manufacturing sector not only provides approximately one in four jobs in the county, but has outperformed the state and the nation when it comes to job growth.”
Jensen also recognized many areas where the county needs to improve, which includes addressing workforce issues, providing more quality housing, and expanding the retail sector. “One of the largest current issues for the county is workforce. Employers are having a difficult time trying to find and recruit high quality employees, and this will only become more acute as the more people reach retirement,” Jensen added. “We have the jobs, but with low unemployment in the county and an aging workforce this will only become more pronounced.” The report notes that developing more housing and expanding retail options are related to the workforce issues, as they are important factors in being able to recruit new employees.
Along with identifying areas for improvement through the report, MCDG has helped launch a new strategic planning initiative, the Mahaska Development Partners, intended to provide a renewed focus on economic development and community growth. The Mahaska Development Partners was formed by leaders from several local organizations with responsibility for economic development, including MCDG, Oskaloosa Area Chamber and Development Group (OACDG), Mahaska County Agricultural and Rural Development (MCARD), Main Street Oskaloosa, City of Oskaloosa, and Mahaska County.
“These organizations have worked closely together for many years, but the leaders took it upon themselves to craft a new vision and strategy for the community,” said MCDG Chair, Beth Danowsky. “Forming the Mahaska Development Partners was the first step toward developing and eventually implementing the vision and strategy.”
The Mahaska Development Partners have actually been meeting for several months putting together the process by which these different organizations can coordinate their activities while working toward a common vision for the community. Through the process thus far, the Mahaska Development Partners have established roles and responsibilities; identified each organization’s assets and needs; and discussed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the community.
Community leaders have said that Mahaska County development organizations need to adapt their operational models to keep up with the quickening change of the world economy to which the local economy is increasingly intertwined. The outcome of this strategic planning process will be coordinated action plans for each development organization with a common vision for the community in mind.
“Armed with the quantitative data from the State of the Local Economy report, agreed upon priorities, and coordinated action plans, we’ll be able to conduct more targeted business recruitment and develop more tailored local incentive programs,” said Jensen.
Josh Buckingham, OACDG Chair and Main Street Oskaloosa President, added, “The timing of this strategic planning could not be better. This effort folds in nicely with the community branding and marketing effort led by Main Street with the assistance of the Roger Brooks International consulting team. We also have an opportunity to chart a new direction for the community with new leadership now onboard.” The new leadership Buckingham referred to includes the three new director appointments made within the last nine months: Andrew Jensen as MCDG Executive Director, Karen Hafner as Main Street Oskaloosa Director, and Valinn McReynolds as OACDG Director.
Along with these directors, MCARD Director, Deann DeGroot, has also been heavily involved in the planning process. “It is great to see leaders from these various organizations working closely together. I think the community is going to be well served by the outcomes, but the challenge will be implementation of the strategic plans.”
The next steps in this strategic planning process are to finalize community priorities and to develop the action plans based on those priorities. The community priorities, already in development, will be released in the coming weeks. To define the action plans, MCDG has contracted with the University of Northern Iowa’s (UNI) Institute for Decision Making (IDM) to facilitate the conversation. Drew Conrad, with UNI IDM, will be in Oskaloosa at the beginning of October and will work with MCDG through the end of the year.
“Having Drew Conrad assist us in the process will add a level of professionalism and an outside perspective that will ensure we develop solid plans,” stated Danowsky. “Drew is one of the best in the business and we’re glad to have him.”
Once action plans are complete, the idea is to gather all of the boards for the Mahaska Development Partner organizations for a joint meeting where each organization will roll out its action plan. This will allow each board to understand what the other organizations are doing to push toward the common community vision. Then, as DeGroot stated, the challenge turns toward implementation, which will involve a host of actions each targeted toward the community priorities.
