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Webster Co. supervisors show support for Main Street Iowa

Fort Dodge to apply for competitive economic development program

The Webster County Board of Supervisors gave its approval Tuesday to an effort to get Fort Dodge back into the Main Street Iowa program.

The city and the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance have been partnering to explore joining this program for the last six to eight months, said Jill Nelson, community development director for the Growth Alliance.

Fort Dodge was in the program before in the 1980s and ’90s, Nelson said.

“We are now a much different community than we were at that time,” Nelson said. “We’ve gotten quite a bit of support to move through the application process, in hopes that we’ll be selected as a community.”

New communities are accepted into the program every two years and a maximum of three cities are admitted each time. There could be up to five communities applying this year.

Part of the application process requires a resolution of support from both the city and the county. Nelson said the economic development gained from the program should help the whole area.

Main Street Iowa is called economic development in the context of historic preservation, she said.

Supervisor Merrill Leffler, whose district includes Fort Dodge’s main street, will sit on the local nonprofit board in charge of the city’s Main Street program.

“I was invited to be a participant in some of these early planning meetings,” Leffler said. “I think it’s a good program.”

The city’s application for the program is due May 18. Local representatives will make a presentation to state officials in charge of Main Street Iowa in June. The state officials will announce their decision in August.

There are 52 communities in the program in Iowa, including Sac City and Hamilton County as a whole.

The Fort Dodge City Council has yet to vote on the idea. The Self-Supported Municipal Improvement District board approved a resolution of support for the application last week.

In other business, the supervisors approved rates for freedom of information requests to the Planning and Zoning office.

Costs for requests to the department will be:

• $50 per request plus $25/hour of time spent to acquire and compile the requested information up to 2 hours;

• $50 per request plus $20/hour for time up to 8 hours;

• $50 per request plus $15/hour if more than 8 hours; and 10 cents per sheet of paper to fulfill the request.

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