West Plains Economic Development Corporation (WPEDC) held their monthly meeting on Tuesday, November 10, 2020 at the West Plains Public Library.
As part of the meeting, West Plains Economic Development Director, David Bossemeyer, provided a report on the following topics:
Economic Development Director Report:
- Latest Lighthouse campaign circulated 4,000+ emails and resulted in 105 potential leads. Dave will initiate contact.
- Harbor Freight: lease negotiations continue. Tentative open date June 2021.
- Birks: lease has been accepted. Tentative open date June 2021.
- 360-degree filming: Two bids were received from Golden Shovel and World Travel. The sub-committee favors Golden Shovel. Filming would begin mid to late April 2021.
- CGI Video: CGI has approached the city offering to develop four 3-minute video at no charge to the City. CGI accepts responsibility with identifying and securing sponsorship to cover the cost of the videos. Videos are utilized to promote the city.
- City Cleanup: Dave will be working with the Housing and Beautification committee to develop a plan for city wide clean up prior to filming.
Other business conducted by the Executive Board included:
- Annual Fundraising: Myles informed three pledges have been received since last meeting and he is in the process of determining how they will be applied as there were outstanding pledges from previous campaign. He informed only two executive board members have selected potential donors to provide follow up contact and needs more assistance in this area. He needs full board involvement to reach out to these donors now that they annual campaign has been mailed. He offered brochures to all those present. Myles will email board members again with annual campaign information.
- Board Member Nominations: Mike informed that Johnny Murrell will be replacing him in January as representative from City Council. Sonja informed she has gathered seven potential names for nomination. Two have elected to remain on the advisory council. The remaining five will be reviewed and selected to replace outgoing members at the December meeting.
Anyone interested in serving on one of the committees may contact Tom Stehn at the West Plains City Hall or Myles Smith at Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative.
The West Plains Economic Development Corporation, was formed as a public/private partnership to boost the economic development prospects in the area. The board consists of representatives from the business sector, the community, and the City of West Plains – all of whom will work closely with Dave Bossemeyer on economic development projects for the area.
