Job training and transportation issues were discussed Wednesday when local leaders and federal officials met in Washington, D.C.
Those meetings filled the first day of an annual lobbying trip to the nation's capital by leaders of Fort Dodge and Webster County government, Iowa Central Community College and the Fort Dodge Area Chamber of Commerce.
''Us coming out as a united front has really helped,'' college President Dan Kinney said.
He and Jim Kersten, an associate vice president of the college, began their day in Washington talking with staff members from the departments of Commerce and Labor.
Kersten said they briefed Department of Labor staffers on plans to begin retraining the employees who will lose their jobs when Electrolux closes its plant in Webster City at the end of the year. He said the college will apply for a federal National Economic Grant in the next few months to pay for job retraining programs.
At the Department of Commerce, they discussed plans to apply for a $2 million grant to improve access to the Webster City Industrial Park, according to Kersten. He said at that session he was representing the Mid Iowa Growth Partnership, a regional economic development organization.
''We're all in this together as a region,'' he said.
Railroad service to the North Central Ag Industrial Park was the focus of Webster County Supervisor Kim Motl when she met Wednesday morning with U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin and some of his aides. She said the county is seeking $10 million from the federal government to pay for a new rail spur in that park, which is the site of the Valero ethanol plant and the dormant Tate & Lyle starch and ethanol plant.
Not all of the meetings were with federal officials. Fort Dodge Mayor Matt Bemrich and City Manager David Fierke met with executives of Delta Air Lines Inc. about service to Fort Dodge Regional Airport.
Bemrich said the Delta staffers indicated that the switch to nonstop flights from Fort Dodge to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is ''on the very, very near horizon.''
The mayor added that Delta plans to replace the two-engine propeller planes now used at Fort Dodge during the third quarter of 2011. Those planes will be replaced with jets, although the airline personnel didn't say exactly what kind, Bemrich said.
On Wednesday afternoon, the local delegation visited with U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley in the Hart Senate Office Building.
Fort Dodge City Councilman Kelly Hindman, who's taking part in the annual lobbying trip for the first time, said he was impressed to find that city staffers have built some good working relationships with congressional aides.
''You really get a sense that there's some value to that,'' he said.
Today, the local officials plan to meet with congressional staffers to discuss specifics of the various projects for which they're seeking federal money.
Contact Bill Shea at (515) 573-2141 or bshea@messengernews.net