The Greene County Development Corporation held its Annual Community Event Monday night where an individual was given a distinguished honor.

GCDC Past President Sid Jones announced the Service Recognition Award recipient was Jim Daubendiek. He mentioned that Daubendiek was retiring from the GCDC Board after 30 years, going back to when he was an original member of the predecessor to GCDC, known as Jefferson Industries Incorporated. Even though Daubendiek was stepping down, he commented on how inspiring the GCDC Board is today.

“It’s been really fun to watch all of you in the past few years because everything has been amped up and activity is really super. So all of you should be congratulated on everything that you’ve done here.” 

As part of the evening, GCDC Executive Director Ken Paxton reviewed some of the accomplishments over the past year that GCDC helped with, as well as other community projects that were highlighted. Those included the establishment of the Highway 144 and Highway 25 Corridor Housing Initiatives on the west and east bordering communities in the county, housing projects from Andy Rowland of Rowland Construction Company, additional apartment project assistance with Antony Minnihan in Churdan, providing funding for Vive Chiropractic to move their business to the downtown square, the renovations for ReMax Legacy and Midwest Behavioral Health, Midwest Mission leasing the former Aueron building that GCDC owns, as well as a couple of future projects including a high tech training business that is possibly move into the former Forge and a business incubator business from Carroll to be located in the East Business Park along Highway 30. 

Two additional presentations were made from the Multicultural Family Resource Center with Director Sara Huddleston who gave an update on her progress from the last three months. She has been working with employers to find individuals to interview for open jobs, and the Greene County School District with translating for families of other cultures. The other speaker was Tim Hesiterkamp who spoke about his building renovation project of the former Homestead Coffee and Bakery building in downtown Jefferson where he is moving his Journey Financial business.

Scott Weber is finishing up his first year as Board President and had this say about his executive board that helps drive their organization.

“What I’m most proud about is just other folks stepping in. You know we have a community that’s full of talented people and brilliant people. And for people to step up into these roles and want to see great things happen for Greene County is just great to see. Shout out to Sid. If I’ve had questions or whatever, he’s been right there to help us through it all. So I appreciate all of his support as we move forward with some new leadership.”

Weber was also appreciative of the full GCDC Board and is looking forward to announcing when a couple of projects are finalized and see those through to completion.