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by David Barajas, Jr., Executive Director OEDC
Just like anything else in life, a successful economic development program doesn't just happen overnight...it takes much preparation, a little luck, and a lot of working together. How do we Prepare To Succeed here in Ottumwa? We Prepare To Succeed in various ways.
We build or upgrade infrastructure throughout the community. Whether its sewer or water lines, or electrical or natural gas infrastructure; or having roads that handle semi traffic, or having rail lines/rail yards capable of handling a certain number of rail cars, etc.; having an up to date infrastructure system throughout our community and region is an important foundation to build on as we Prepare To Succeed here in Ottumwa. For example, the water main work along Business Highway 63 and Highway 149 on the north side of Ottumwa is critical to the continued economic growth at the Ottumwa Regional Airport. This new water main infrastructure adds more capacity for the businesses currently at and near the Ottumwa Regional Airport Business Park; and also provides more opportunity for us to work to attract other businesses to the Ottumwa Regional Airport. The new water main also adds water infrastructure redundancy for safety reasons in case of a fire. This important infrastructure project also will serve the new Federal Job Corp facility which is scheduled to become operational later this spring.
The building or upgrading of infrastructure sure isn't glamorous work, but it sure is necessary as we are Preparing To Succeed here in Ottumwa. Building and upgrading infrastructure isn't an inexpensive proposition either; in fact it's a very expensive but necessary proposition.
Another form of infrastructure that we are beginning to analyze is our fiber optic infrastructure throughout Ottumwa. I don't profess to being a real technology guru, because I'm not; but I do understand the importance of having a strong fiber optic infrastructure in place as we work to retain and attract business opportunities to our community. So the conversation has begun regarding our technology readiness from an economic development standpoint. Are we Prepared to Succeed from a technology readiness stand point? If not, what do we need to do to better prepare ourselves? The answers to those questions are important to consider as part of our overall infrastructure upgrade strategy throughout our community.
Just as important, a strong fiber optic/technology infrastructure also is important to our younger generations that are growing up in today's society. I will discuss the importance of retaining and attracting the younger, educated generation to our community and region in another future article.
How else do we Prepare To Succeed? We work together and we provide support to each other. Whether it's City Hall, the County, Ottumwa Economic Development, Ottumwa Main Street, Ottumwa Chamber, Ottumwa Convention and Visitors Bureau, Bridge View Center, Indian Hills Community College, Ottumwa Public Schools, Ottumwa Private Schools such as Seton Catholic and Ottumwa Christian, Iowa State University Extension, Ottumwa Family YMCA, Ottumwa Regional Legacy Foundation; I can go on and on, but I think you get the point. We work to understand what each of our organizations is focusing on so that we can be supportive of each other's efforts, because when one of our organizations succeed, we all succeed. A big part of Preparing To Succeed is being Prepared To Support and Help Others To Succeed.
More specifically at the Ottumwa Economic Development Corporation (OEDC) we are getting quite busy in our Preparation To Succeed. As with many organizations, one of our biggest marketing tools is our website. In the weeks and months ahead we will be making various changes and improvements to our OEDC website to make it easier to navigate, to provide some more interesting information, and to keep our site more fluid and up to date.
In the mean time we are also getting busy working on potential business/job opportunities for Ottumwa and Wapello County. I truly enjoy being busy and I can say that the new job has definitely provided me an opportunity to stay busy!
In some future "Connections" articles I will discuss some of the economic development tools that we utilize to retain and attract business opportunities to our community; and I will also discuss some of the economic development tools that budding entrepreneurs can utilize as they begin their ventures.
Those of you that I have had the pleasure to meet thus far I'm sure have heard the excitement in my voice when I talk with you about Ottumwa and the directions that we are heading; those that I have not has the pleasure of meeting, I look forward to that opportunity in the future. Remember, north side, south side, east side, and west side...we are all "One Ottumwa"!
04 2011 - Letter from the Director
02 2011 - Letter from the Director
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