The future of an Air National Guard unit and the potential growth of an ag industrial park were subjects of conversation when local officials met U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

The meeting with the Republican senator capped two days of visits on Capitol Hill in which representatives of Fort Dodge, Webster County and Iowa Central Community Coll­ege outlined local priorities and projects the federal government could help with.

Keeping the 133rd Test Squadron of the Iowa Air National Guard in Fort Dodge is one of those priorities.

Mayor Matt Bemrich said there is some concern about the unit potentially being relocated to Sioux City in the future.

Ernst is a veteran of the Iowa Army National Guard and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, so the delegation made sure to discuss the matter with her.

“She’s definitely going to look into it,” Bemrich said. “A lot of those decisions are made at the governor level, but if they do try to move it there would be some federal money involved.”

“We think she’ll be a good advocate for us,” he added.

He said the squadron, which specializes in testing electronics and radar equipment for all branches of the military, is a “good economic driver in the community.”

He said it has a payroll of $4.5 million.

The squadron supports the community by providing honor guards for special events, and supporting the state softball tournament and cross country meet. It also helps with the departure and arrival of Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight jets. Squadron members would also respond to any emergency at Fort Dodge Regional Airport.

The delegation also asked for Ernst’s support for any future upgrades at the ag industrial park west of Fort Dodge called Iowa’s Crossroads of Global Innovation.The park is the site of the Valero Renewables, Cargill and CJ Bio America plants.

Expansion of the park would cause the city to upgrade its water and wastewater treatment capabilities. If that were to happen, the city would likely look to the federal government for financial help.

Iowa Central President Jesse Ulrich said he learned that Ernst and U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, also a Republican from Iowa, will introduce a bill today that would help community college students by changing a burdensome financial aid rule.

That rule would require small business owners and farmers to count all their land and property as assets that could be used to pay for college, thus reducing the amount of financial aid that they could receive.

“That would have a definite negative impact on our small business and farm families who are trying to come to college and better themselves,” Ulrich said.

He said the Ernst-Grassley bill would eliminate that requirement.

Other topics

Some of the group members met with representatives of the Economic Development Administration, which is part of the Department of Commerce. They discussed infrastructure projects, downtown redevelopment and planning initiatives.

“We’ve been successful with EDA grants,” Fort Dodge City Manager David Fierke said.

He said the water and sanitary sewer lines to the ag industrial park were paid for in part with EDA grants.

For the first time in some 20 years of making trips to Washington, some of the local group met with officials from the National Endowment for the Arts. Fierke said the meeting was focused mostly on learning what programs that agency has to help local communities. He said the potential redevelopment of the former Sacred Heart Church is one project that might someday benefit from a National Endowment program.