St. Ansgar Chamber, EDC hold Annual Meetings

rThe annual meeting of the St. Ansgar Community Chamber and St. Ansgar Economic Development was held at the First Lutheran Parish Center on Monday, April 16. 

Those who came early were able to have their blood pressures checked by the St. Ansgar Rescue members, and could enjoy cookies made and served by the Good Samaritan Society. 

Chamber President Kathy Falk opened the meeting and introduced the first guest speaker,  Jennifer Andrade, Mitchell County Economic Development Commission Executive Director, who gave a positive message about the amount of opportunities afforded to us in Mitchell County, saying “We have opportunities to work together and get things done.” Andrade, who has been on the job for 10 months, located to Mitchell County 11 years ago from South Texas, saying that her ancestry tied her to the area:“When I think about the long harsh winters we have here, I cannot fathom what our pioneering ancestors in the 1800’s had to go through without our modern amenities.” 

Andrade stated that other positive trends observed in Mitchell County are a consistently low unemployment rate, high growth, and average home price is 105,300 while the Iowa median is well above 120,000. She also said that in 2015, Mitchell County was named the healthiest county in Iowa. 

“We continue to see job market expanding in agriculture, industry; including development for industrial park in Stacyville, and industry expansion in St. Ansgar and Osage.”

Courtney Cochran, prevention specialist from the Iowa Substance Abuse Coalition spoke about their efforts to curb drug use and alcohol abuse in Mitchell County through literacy campaigns, prevention at schools and local businesses. Partnered with Mitchell County Home & Public Health, the Coalition is working to curb the nationwide opioid and heroin epidemic in Mitchell County by informing of safe disposal techniques for drugs and needles, and honest communication and education about drug dependency. 

Ashley DeMaris spoke of the community events happening at South Square, many of which were in conjunction with the Chamber, including the bike rodeo, plant swap and sale, flower show. Upcoming are the citywide garage sales, South Squares 90th/1st anniversary celebration, and Town & Country Days. Marti Steele of the Cedar Summerstock Theater also spoke about the upcoming season, and the need for volunteers in different areas. 

Falk then presided over the business portion of the meeting, which saw the Chamber members at-large re-elect all serving officers to their incumbent positions for the next year. 2018 Chamber Officers are: Kathy Falk- President, Joyce Crowley- Vice President, Kari Nelson- Secretary, Megan Kroneman- Treasurer. The budget for 2018-19 was unanimously approved with a voice vote. 

General discussion about the Chamber’s calendar was had, and members were encouraged to spread the word about all the activities the Chamber has a hand in throughout the year. Individual membership is $25, businesses with one employee $50, and businesses with more than one employee, $100. 

Stay in touch with the Chamber by following their Facebook page, St. Ansgar Community Chamber. 

Ivan Wold, President of the St. Ansgar Economic Development Committee (EDC) called their annual meeting to order after the Chamber meeting concluded. 

Officers elected were: Ivan Wold, Tim Halverson, David Falk and Luke Porisch. 

Mayor Norm Johnson was present and spoke on some infrastructure issues the City was addressing with sewer lines in industrial park, and the group discussed the partnership with the council’s task force for housing and commercial development, made up of Councilpersons Ben Walk, Paul Groth and Mike Juhl. 

The EDC is looking to secure funding from the county’s commercial construction incentive program for assistance with workforce and housing. Wold said a goal to build 67 bedrooms, 40 of those beds would be rentals. 

The group spoke on the successes of the EDC’s work with the industrial park and the seasons development, would like to this year begin plans for revitalizing Main (Fourth)Street. Interest in another spec building project was also raised, as St. Ansgar has had the most success in the county with speculative building projects, the last commercial spec building being sold and occupied within a year. 

The EDC meets every last Tuesday of the month at City Hall starting at 7AM, and the public is welcome to attend.