Fort Leonard Wood, MO – March 16, 2006 ---- The monthly meeting of Missouri’s Fort Leonard Wood Region (MFLWR) was held at the Lebanon/Laclede County Public Library, Lebanon. Norm Herren, vice chairman of the MFLWR, welcomed all to the meeting and thanked Lebanon for their hospitality. Steve Ehrhardt, America’s Heartland Economic Partnership (AHEP), welcomed everyone to Lebanon.
Sue Halter, Deputy to the Garrison Commander of Fort Leonard Wood, provided the FLW Update. She said that on Saturday night (Mar 11) Fort Leonard Wood was hit by several bad thunderstorms, some with baseball size hail. Their initial damage estimate is about $2 million. House roofs were damaged, and windows were broken. Many vehicles were extensively damaged.
She said that all construction projects on post are on schedule. The first homes to be constructed under the Residential Community Initiative (RCI) are due to be completed in April. The new post exchange, in spite of the small fire last month at the construction site, will still be completed in July with grand opening in September or October. The Chemical, Biological, Radiation and Nuclear (CBRN) Responder Training Facility is under construction. It is scheduled to be completed in April 2007.
The instrument landing system is now complete and tested. The system will be operational on April 13 after the FAA publishes the system availability. Once published, the regional airport at Fort Leonard Wood will become the only all-weather airport between Springfield and St. Louis.
A ceremony will be held on April 10 for the transfer of the land from the Army to the State for the new veterans’ cemetery near the West Gate. US Representative Ike Skelton will participate in that ceremony. The change of command for Colonel JC Abney, the Garrison Commander, will be June 27. His replacement will be Colonel John Megnia, a Chemical Corps officer.
The arrival of the 94th Engineer Battalion from Germany is still scheduled for June and July. Over 700 soldiers plus their family members are expected to arrive from Germany and other locations during the spring and summer. .
Dr. Duane Widhalm, Superintendent of the Lebanon school district, gave the schools’ report. He reported that the tornados had thankfully gone around Lebanon this last weekend. He stated that once again the Lebanon District schools were accredited with distinction. The school year is in its final quarter, and for the second year in a row, it looks like the district will have had no snow days. The school district has seen a steady growth of about 100 students per year and has hired a consultant to begin looking at long term improvements to the district’s physical plant.
Ron Selfors provided a summary briefing on the regional workforce study. He said the study has now been briefed in each of the counties. He reviewed some of the key findings of the study related to workforce availability and quality. The three county reports clearly document that the counties are competitive in quality and availability of the workforce and highly competitive with respect to labor cost.
The principal investigator for the study, Ed Martin, Growth Services, emphasized that the reports are of value to current employers in the region, companies considering the region, and the region’s cities and counties as they look at ways of reshaping the workforce in response to industry needs. The county reps indicated that they intend to share the results with the companies who participated in the surveys to get their comments and suggestions. The report will also be shared with the Education Committee of the MFLWR to help assess current workforce training programs.
Bruce Harrill provided the Airport Committee report. He stated that the Joint Airport Board, which includes St. Robert and Waynesville, has met with Fort Leonard Wood officials to discuss acquiring more land for the commercial side of the airport. They have visited the Lebanon airport and see it as a good model for what they want to do at Fort Leonard Wood.
Elizabeth Bax reported on the progress by the Jeff City Presentations Committee. The first visit by the region was on March 8 when the region had a display as part of the Phelps County Day at the Capitol. A number of state legislators and other state officials visited the display. In the spring the committee is planning a region update briefing in Jeff City to the Department of Economic Development leadership and staff. They are also proposing a Day in the Fort Leonard Wood Region for key state decision makers in the legislative and executive branches. The invited guests will start with breakfast at one end of the regional corridor, have lunch in Pulaski County and wind up at the other end of the corridor for dinner and a final social event. During the visit the guests will get a first hand feel for the opportunities and challenges that the region faces and the region’s great potential to become a major economic engine for Missouri.
Ron Selfors reported on the status of the region’s website (www.MidAmericaLocations.org). Site traffic reports indicate that all of the major search engines have visited the site, and the February traffic is over three times the January traffic. This month Ron developed a draft webpage set for St. James and provided it to the Rolla Regional Economic Commission (RREC) for finalization.
Steve Ehrhardt said that the AHEP website is now online at www.HeartlandJobs.org. It provides a great introduction to the Lebanon/Laclede County area for site selectors. The MFLWR website will be linked to it shortly.
There was some discussion over the announcement that commercial real estate listings will now be available over Missouri’s Location One website. The MFLWR website is tied to Location One and uses Location One for its site and building listings. This should provide a great improvement in the amount of information available.
Steve Ehrhardt announced that the new economic development director for AHEP will be announced on Tuesday, March 21.
Missouri’s Fort Leonard Wood Region is a not-for-profit association which promotes economic and community development in the Fort Leonard Wood Region. The region extends along the I-44 Technology Corridor from Lebanon to Rolla/St. James. It includes the three counties of Laclede, Pulaski and Phelps. Its membership includes cities, counties, school districts, utility companies, businesses and other associations. Fort Leonard Wood, University of Missouri Rolla, United States Geological Survey, the regional planning councils and the Missouri Department of Economic Development also participate.
Fort Leonard Wood Region meetings are normally held on the second Tuesday of the month, and the public is always invited. The next regular meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 11, 1:30PM in Rolla. Call 573-329-8505 or visit the news section of the website (www.MidAmericaLocations.org) to confirm time and place.
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