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The Greene County Development Corporation Board met on Tuesday.
The meeting started with a presentation by Loren Brawn, the operations manager for the Iowa Bureau of Refugee Services. He said they are projecting to help resettled 2,400 refugees this year alone in Iowa, compared to just 396 last year. He believes most of those refugees looking to resettle this year in Iowa will be from Afghanistan and Ukraine. Their program can also help employers recruit refugees to work for them. This was also in relation to help drive more employees to Greene County and the Diversity Project.
During reports, County Supervisor Pete Bardole said the Supervisors voted 3-2 against a letter of support for a federal grant of $500,000 through GCDC toward the Diversity Project. He noted push back from community members, as well as no set number of employees and what has been done to make it a success so far.
Wild Rose General Manager Travis Dvorak reported that this year is the second best year they’ve had for revenue at this point, compared to the best year in its history last year. Also, he pointed out this past March was the second best March ever on record. The casino’s three sports books were the second best performing in the state so far.
Finally, GCDC Executive Director Ken Paxton reported that they will be applying for that federal grant on April 19th. He also attended the first community meeting about the possibility of building an attached indoor pool to the Greene County Community Center. He said a steering committee is being established to gauge more community feedback. He added that GCDC also received $100,000 from Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation for their special projects account.