After making it past the first round of qualifiers for a new program, the City of Jefferson made a formal presentation to a state entity.

Iowa Economic Development Authority and the Iowa Finance Authority have created the “Iowa Thriving Communities” designation, where urban and rural cities can receive certain incentives to entice housing developers to build additional housing. The group that represented the City last week included Jefferson Matters Executive Director Matt Wetrich, Peoples Bank President and COO and Greene County Development Corporation Board Members John Rigler, III; Jefferson City Administrator Scott Peterson, Community Leader and Engineer Chris Deal, Mary Nieto with Greene County Medical Center and Kristin Russell with American Athletic Incorporated. Wetrich reflected on how he thought their presentation went.

“We had a half hour to do our pitch about the things that Jefferson is doing for housing and the creative things that the City, and the (Greene) County, and GCDC (Greene County Development Corporation), and the employers in town are doing to help encourage housing developments, helping their employees to find housing. We really kind of demonstrated all the neat successes, and we showed this list of close to $130 million worth of projects that have happened in the last five years. But for a community this size and a county this size, that’s an incredible number, and so that shows those partnerships of success.”   

Jefferson City Administrator Scott Peterson is not surprised that the City qualified for the next round of this designation process. 

“Being new to the community, I see all of the great things that are done in town and can compare them to other communities and how other communities work. Jefferson has just an excellent track record on economic development projects and a lot of things pertaining to housing, some really unique things, whether it’s the downtown stuff, lot of stuff on neighborhood stabilization and acquiring properties, and get some of the bad ones taken care of so that you can put new ones (on). I think Jefferson’s got a lot of great projects to hang your hat on.”        

Peterson adds the City will be notified within the next couple of weeks if they are selected as an “Thriving Community” and will then get to do another pitch at a statewide housing conference next month. He says if the City doesn’t get the designation this year, they can reapply next year.