Embarking on a journey through community development and endeavors, we have Jake Burroughs, the School Board President, providing us with exciting updates about the West Liberty school and the new athletic complex. Curiosity piqued about school district communication, the elections, or professional development? We're addressing them all here, complete with a nod to the county auditor for their commendable work.
As we move along, we plunge into city updates, elections, and a touch of festivity with fall events. Our fellow panelist, William, is all hands on deck preparing for a thrilling Halloween trail, while, on another note, we find ourselves knee-deep in strategic planning as the budget season looms. We also bring to light the challenges in nursing recruitment at the Simpson Memorial Home, discussing issues like workforce availability and agency wages. And if you've ever wanted to make a difference, learn how the community, volunteers, and even you can lend a hand.
Wrapping up, we delve into community programs and economic developments, highlighting a recent partnership with St. Joseph's Church for a noble cause - Lucha Antifraude. We then steer the conversation towards the Muscatine County Housing Summit and the crucial Muscatine County Housing Study. And for a fun twist, join us as we share a chuckle or two about German sushi and the amusing concept of a nursing home league. So, buckle up for an episode filled with hearty discussions, insights, and a dash of humor.
Embarking on a journey through community development and endeavors, we have Jake Burroughs, the School Board President, providing us with exciting updates about the West Liberty school and the new athletic complex. Curiosity piqued about school district communication, the elections, or professional development? We're addressing them all here, complete with a nod to the county auditor for their commendable work.
As we move along, we plunge into city updates, elections, and a touch of festivity with fall events. Our fellow panelist, William, is all hands on deck preparing for a thrilling Halloween trail, while, on another note, we find ourselves knee-deep in strategic planning as the budget season looms. We also bring to light the challenges in nursing recruitment at the Simpson Memorial Home, discussing issues like workforce availability and agency wages. And if you've ever wanted to make a difference, learn how the community, volunteers, and even you can lend a hand.
Wrapping up, we delve into community programs and economic developments, highlighting a recent partnership with St. Joseph's Church for a noble cause - Lucha Antifraude. We then steer the conversation towards the Muscatine County Housing Summit and the crucial Muscatine County Housing Study. And for a fun twist, join us as we share a chuckle or two about German sushi and the amusing concept of a nursing home league. So, buckle up for an episode filled with hearty discussions, insights, and a dash of humor.
Hey there, happy October. Welcome to Building Together a podcast all about how people, organizations, businesses and local government are working together to make the West Liberty Iowa area a better place in which to live, work, learn, grow and play. I'm Ken Brooks with Welead, the West Liberty Economic Area Development Corporation. When we come back in just a second, we'll go around the table and meet this month's panelists. Thanks for tuning in Music. Happy October. Let's go around the table and meet our panel. Let's start with you, jake.
Speaker 2:I'm Jake Burroughs School Board President.
Speaker 3:Hi, I'm Kara McFerrin. I'm a City Council member and Mayor Pro Tem with City of West Liberty.
Speaker 4:Hi, I'm William McFerrin and I have no job. I am only a child.
Speaker 5:Hi, I'm Clifford McFerrin, father of the child sitting next to me that doesn't have a job, so it would be nice if he got a job, but he is very community minded.
Speaker 6:Charles Brooke Chamber of Commerce. Chief Operating Officer.
Speaker 7:I am Crystal Leneer, assistant Retail Manager Midwest One Bank.
Speaker 1:And I'm Ken Brooks with Welead West Liberty Economic Area Development Corporation. Alright, let's dig on in, Jake, what's going on in your?
Speaker 2:world, ken. Thank you. A lot actually going on at the school. So you know they're finishing up at the facility. That's what is on top of everybody's minds. The ELC edition got completed before the school year started, so that was fantastic. We were able to get that going. There were some finishing touches that they wanted to change around and, you know, buff up once they got the students in. Those have all been rectified and taken care of and it was amazing that we were on time for completing that construction project, which doesn't often happen right.
Speaker 2:So the athletic complex top of mind for everybody. The football field is down, it's laid, we've got the turf down. It looks fantastic. It looks like a very expensive field I mean it was, but it also looks it right. That helps Absolutely and honestly you can see it from the road too in certain areas as you're going down Elm Street. So it has a presence and you know, even I, knowing that it was there, went by the other day and I was like holy cow, what is that over there? It looks like a college stadium. It looks fantastic. So we've got that going. They've already laid down the softball field. They're about to do the baseball field. They're getting the concession stands all done. They've got the drywall up. They're putting the finishing touches on that.
Speaker 2:And then moving to like professional development, sean is as always I sing his praises but you know he's one of the superintendents that we've had that has been very big advocate for professional development and he even took the time to go to what's called the SAI in Des Moines where basically superintendents meet up and they discuss issues in their districts, they talk through how to solve certain things and they kind of leverage each other's experience, which is fantastic. For you know, in his case he's a first time superintendent but a longtime educator that really helps out our district quite a bit, that he's seeking out that information. And then the ELSIAC group, the local school improvement advisory committee, which is comprised of administrators, educators, people from the community as well as board members from the Board of Education. You get together and kind of discuss topics. Well, they got together and they talked about the communications. As you know, that's been kind of a topic of discussion throughout the community of how does the school district communicate with parents, students and the community as a whole.
Speaker 2:So it was great to get that feedback from all the various constituents to discuss what they needed, to see what they wanted to see and what they liked seeing already and the changes. So also, ken, I will be a candidate in the election coming up. This is the end of my term here In November. We will have that vote and I'd like to see a big turnout. Actually, typically, we've seen over the last two elections for the school board about 1,300 votes each time and I think we could bump that up to 1,500 or even 1,600, which seems like a small incremental change, but that's actually a big difference from our community. So when you get that kind of turnout, you get really the representation of the community's expectations.
Speaker 1:Yeah, jake, just my personal opinion. I think you've been doing a fantastic job providing leadership to the school board here the last couple of years that I've been involved in anyway, so I was really excited to see your name is going to be on the ballot again. But I think what's most important is that the community has conversations with one another and that they speak with all of the candidates, learn what their platforms are and then show up to vote in.
Speaker 5:November and we're going to do that. Ken, Rotary is going to host a forum for the candidates. It's going to be held October 25th, 6.30pm at the West Liberty High School Auditorium. Thank you, Ken. Back to you.
Speaker 6:Thank you, cliff. So, like all of our other, elections are held at the community center. Is this held at the community center?
Speaker 2:Yes, it should be. So voting you go to the community center. Yes, it will be at the community center and the county auditor actually loves the community center's location for the proximity to the highway and also the accessibility for ADA compliance and actually just for the personnel. They love it there.
Speaker 1:So I'd like to give a shout out to the county auditor. Actually she is coming, speaking of Rotary, to the next Thursday evening meeting here in just a couple of days. The first Thursday of the month at 5.30pm out at the country club is when Rotary has their evening meetings and our county auditor is going to come and talk about the electoral process in Muscatine County and in the state of Iowa. So that's a free program that Rotary puts on, dinners included. Just let the folks know, Give them a call, reach out on Facebook, let them know you're coming so they'll have a meal for you. So to vote in the school board election, that will be on your ballot if you live within the service boundaries of the school district.
Speaker 2:The entire school district.
Speaker 1:So that's Adalisa Ann Nichols, ann West Liberty Ann Countryland in between, I think we'll talk about the city election here in a minute or two, but to vote in the West Liberty city election you have to live within the city limits of West Liberty, but all of our out of town folks get to vote for the school district election, so I encourage you to do that. Very cool. Thank you, jake Kara. How are you.
Speaker 3:Oh, great Thanks for inviting me, Ken, yeah you're welcome.
Speaker 1:Welcome back. What's going on?
Speaker 3:Well, happy fall. The weather doesn't seem like it's fall, but I'm sure we'll get there with some cool air. It still seems pretty much summer like, but yeah, leaves are changing, so we're getting there.
Speaker 1:What's going on in the city?
Speaker 3:I'm glad you asked me that, ken, because actually we are really regrouping a lot of things, trying to update policies, trying to update employee policy handbook. We're in the process of recodification so that we can really bring in the 21st century with our ordinances. We're really trying to make sure that we update everything. We've also got ordinances on the books, you know pre 1970s, so we want to make sure that we definitely update that. Otherwise, we're just we're gearing up for two major things that are coming up soon, and that one is the strategic planning we're going to be doing here in December. Of course it's always gearing up for budget season, so this is when everybody in their department comes together to submit budgets and then in the beginning of the new year we go through it and then by March we have to submit it so that it is on file and with Secretary of State.
Speaker 1:So I understand your term on City Council is up at the end of this year.
Speaker 3:Yes, it is. This is going to be the end of my second term. Very exciting, ken, very exciting. But I was really really debating whether or not to re-up my seat or not, because it has been such a long haul. But I do believe that I'm going to go ahead and go in for one more term. I was able to submit my submission on the deadline, so I'll be on the ballot for this year. Yeah, the election day is November 7. And we all will gather at the community center here in West Liberty I think it's West Liberty one and West Liberty two, which are um various aspects of the area. We'll gather and vote.
Speaker 1:Well, I also want to thank you for your service and putting in the long hours to serve the community. So thank you for that, oh sure. Thank you. I was excited to see your name on the ballot again too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, it is, uh, it definitely is a thankless position, but you know what you. You do it for the good of the community, the good of the people, and you really try your best to make sure that, um, you set up a good precedent for the future.
Speaker 5:So and Ken, I know you're buried to ask how can we meet the candidates? When is it possible for us to hear when the candidates might be discussing the issues? Well, I'm going to tell you, ken, it's going to be on November 2nd. It's going to be at the same location, at the West Liberty High School, in the auditorium.
Speaker 3:I'm excited to uh participate in the forum and um possibly renew my my new term come January, but we'll see uh. West Liberty definitely is a diverse population and so out of I think we have around 1200, 1200, 1300 voters within the city of West Liberty. You have to meet a certain percentage of of that in order to uh submit signatures, in order to be on the ballot. So that'll be nice that uh we'll get uh hopefully all of the eligible voters to be on uh in the community center voting Wonderful.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Kara. Thank you, Okay, William. What's going on with you?
Speaker 4:Well, not much, ken. Uh, I've been working on the steam engine lately, uh, painting it and getting it ready for the Halloween trail.
Speaker 1:Now this is the steam engine down at the Heritage Foundation campus. Correct, it is Okay, tell me more about that.
Speaker 4:Oh, so we've been paint uh by. We me and my father and friends have been painting uh one side and we still have to do the other side. But I haven't gotten to it because I've been sitting on the couch getting myself fatter. For Oktoberfest we are going to be getting a whistle for the steam engine and I came up with this cool idea about having like this sort of fun razor. Now we're doing a thing where you donate a dollar, you can come up and blow the horn once whistle, and hopefully our goal is to reach over maybe a hundred or so dollars by the end of the trail. Yeah, that's really exciting.
Speaker 1:So do you have the equipment already?
Speaker 4:No, we still have to buy it, sadly because we haven't gotten to it. It'll happen, it'll happen.
Speaker 1:So, uh, they're during the trick or treat trail. You can come and spend a dollar. Uh, for that dollar you get to pull on the brand new whistle right, correct, click. Happy October. Oh, thank you. Thank you very much, ken October.
Speaker 5:Has always been a fun month for me. Birthday is in October, october Fest, of course, at the end of September. Been been a lot of fun but got a lot of stuff going on. Help me understand October Fest in September. Well, okay, it goes way back to Prince Ludwig and his marriage to, um, this lady, not one woman. Uh, a woman. Um, they had a big celebration last at two weeks in Munich and the act it was. It was, it was a big celebration and the act it was the birth of the.
Speaker 5:October Fest, and it would be the last two weeks in September and usually runs into October, and since then what we've done is we've kind of turned it into a, a festival, a harvest festival for some of us, and that usually celebrates the harvest coming in October. So either have a big party before or have a big party afterwards, so it doesn't much matter, as long as you like to have a good time, meet some friends, meet some new friends and meet some people that will never be your friend again after you talk to them. Uh, it's a good time and I highly suggest you you get out and enjoy some, some heritage. But let me talk a little bit about what I got going on at the nursing home, cause I'm also the administrator of the local Simpson Memorial home here in West Liberty and our board of directors has been doing some uh strategic planning, as care had alluded to. The city is going to be doing and we're looking to uh rebuild, uh our nursing home and uh make a few other changes. And they finally settled on, I believe, some plans now and arrangements, and those are going to be announced coming up probably the next month or so. I hope to have something, a big announcement as to what we're going to be doing. Uh, I spent a couple of days with some fall education and Cedar Rapids learning about some of the regulations changes coming up.
Speaker 5:Cms the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services has kind of completed their um, uh, what do you want to call it? Minimum staffing requirements, something they've been working on now for a number of years. It disappeared uh Trump administration back with the Biden administration and it's an unfortunate time for them to come up with a minimum staffing requirement. Not that any of uh the facilities out there are opposed to that type of thing. It's good to have a minimum staffing. Uh, the problem is the timing at this point, where most facilities across Iowa and again you got to remember, we've had uh 16 to 18 facilities that have closed in the last two years in Iowa and they uh mostly closed because they can't get staff, and that's still a major problem across uh, across the region. You cannot get enough staff. So the timing and the release of this is they're going to give us a few years to try to figure out how to get a minimum staffer, like number of RNs, number of CNAs.
Speaker 5:Uh, we are very fortunate at Simpson Memorial home to be far, far better than any of the other facilities around the area, in my opinion, for a number of staff. And yet we still struggle. We still use agency staffing occasionally, um, but that's getting more and more. Uh to a minimum. Uh, we're getting a lot of our old staff back. They realized that, you know, when they left to go somewhere else, it would may not be better Even if they got offered a little bit more money. They still come back to where they get treated very well and their paychecks are always good and we've always got great equipment. We've got, you know, nice facilities and you've got a really, really great boss to work for. Um, a little unstable time to time, but I think I myself like to uh, you know, have a little bit of fun, as you can tell. So our group has a good time.
Speaker 3:You like to let your hair down, don't you?
Speaker 5:I do like to let my hair down, for those of you who've seen me with my mullets. Um, it's really, it's fun. So we're hoping this spring to get back up the rugby league again, because we've had a lot of talk about that in our activities department and our sports department, our physical therapy departments, really cranking up, uh, some special things for this spring so we can get into the first scrimmage. So stay tuned with that. Um, let me switch gears just a little bit. Um, put on my other hat for the Heritage Foundation, of which my son here has talked a little bit about the steam engine. We've got thank you, we've got a nice trail down here that the derigio of this spring hit, knocking some trees back and forth and over, and we had our first annual chainsaw party this last month and the Rotary Club and a few Lions members got together, a few other members from the community, along with a little support from the city, did help on getting a lot of the trees cleaned up and a lot of the trail over, some of the overhead trees, you know, cut down. We still have one segment, the north segment, to get done. I must admit though, if you didn't see it in the newspaper. There's still some photographs floating around the chamber.
Speaker 5:Director Charles Brooke was stunning when he got on the edge of the pickup truck and was standing on the edge of the prokaryously standing on the edge of the pickup truck Chain, saw in hand way above his head I mean way up there and he was cutting branches as we were driving down the trail. Nobody got hurt and I thought, my goodness, you know what a safety record. The first one, all, all hands, fingers, toes, eyes, everything. Nobody got hurt. Charles, did you have fun or what? It was a great time. Yep, you see that it's testimony. So I think if we do this again in the spring and we're going to try to maybe do another one late October and we'll make an announcement so we can get that north part cleaned up, come on out, because Rotary cooked hamburgers. We had a good time. Even Chef Phil Helm did some cooking while he was painting, so he didn't get the two mixed up. I don't think.
Speaker 4:Maybe that made it fun, maybe a little bit. Yeah, see which ones are burgers are done.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it was a char. It was a lot of fun and I highly encourage the community members that like to come out and use the trail. Come on down, volunteer. The trees get cut down, you guys. We just need help carting them away. You know, take them down, throw them in the truck, you know, put them in the chipper. The chipper was a lot of fun.
Speaker 7:I mean literally brought tears to my eyes.
Speaker 5:Anyway, ken, thank you for letting me have a few few moments of your time and I just wanted to reiterate again everybody, if you haven't already heard, that there's going to be a forums for the candidates. Rotary will be sponsoring them. The first one is the school forum and there are 19 candidates running for three open spots. Is that right? I think it's eight candidates, cliff, eight candidates for three spots, and that's going to be October 25th at the Westlubbie High School Auditorium at 6 30. So please come on down. And then the city is going to be having their forum on November 2nd at 6 30, same locale, the high school auditorium, and everything is brought to you by oatmeal, the delicious food that goes down soft and smooth and comes back up the same. So before you head down to the forums, grab a big old bowl of oatmeal and listen with confidence. Thanks, ken, back to you.
Speaker 1:Cliff, I want to ask a question about Simpson home. What do you think are the two or three biggest obstacles right now that are making it difficult to find the skill?
Speaker 5:staffing that you need. The biggest obstacle is there's just not enough of them. At this point. Nurses have retired due to covid and those that have retired there haven't been a lot to fill that gap. There is in the pipeline, works, but it's going to take three to four years before we really start to see the fruits of those labors.
Speaker 5:State money going in to you know help pay for people's educations, nursing programs, trying to get people working with the high schools, to get people on track for nursing. We work with the high schools a little bit. We have a lot of kids that come and work for us as aides and then a lot of those will groom into nurses and we try to retain those as they go along. So when they do graduate, boom, we've got some nurses. So the biggest challenge is just workforce has diminished itself and then those current nurses that we have floating around seem to have gotten into this pool of agency where agency is going to pay them a whole lot more money to go and just freelance.
Speaker 5:And you know, go around the state, go around, do different things, see different facilities and get a higher wage. Well, they don't get benefits with those with they don't get. You know consistency. You know they get different assignments and some of those nurses that have traveled are starting to come back now and say, hey, I like the consistency of having a regular paycheck. So I'm thinking labor is still going to be the biggest one. Pay also is a little bit, but that's kind of coming up. We of course have to adjust rates anytime we increase our wages, and so we look at that basically twice a year now to see if we're being competitive with everybody else. But wages are stabilizing now, so I'm hoping this is going to start to turn a corner.
Speaker 1:Everybody in West Liberty knows how well the staff at Simpson home is treated. I think Simpson, because of your leadership, because of the leadership of other managers there at Simpson, really embraces kind of the culture of West Liberty. It's a very small town. Friendly, flexible work environment is what I've heard. So how can the community support Simpson home and spreading the word and encouraging folks, whether they're nursing assistants or nurses, to come and have a discussion with your staff?
Speaker 5:Excellent question and I think the more the community is involved with Simpson Memorial home, volunteering or such, the more they become involved, the more that they see firsthand. And the word of mouth is our biggest, is our biggest marketing that we get, and we can advertise all we want, but really it's that one word from the one satisfied client or the one satisfied family member that saw how good their loved one was treated, that's the biggest thing. So all I can say is the best thing that people can do to help us is pass the good word, put the good review in. You know, instead of the bad reviews that it's so easy for people to post because the A don't understand or they just are angry about something and don't want to research it, they post it. If people would post the good just as much as they do the bad, that's going to help us the most. And then finding the best staff members to handle situations.
Speaker 5:I'm very proud of being able to find very good staff and I happen to bring one with me today. I think we'd like to all say here from our new maintenance director, magic maintenance, mike. He's here today. Mike, would you like to introduce yourself? He just started this week and we're very excited to have him right magic Mike.
Speaker 4:Well, thank you one and all for this pleasant introduction. I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 5:I'm glad that you are happy to be here because you bring a fresh, fresh air into the, into the organization. Now you're a welder by trade, correct? That is correct, good, and you're kind of a overall handyman by hobby, correct? I've been told yep, yep, and you're somewhat of a transplant of the to the community. But what? Our staff and we take time trying to find the right person, and both our staff and our residents found Mike to be very easy to talk to, very easy to look at ladies. He is pretty handsome. Now I think he might be dating somebody, but I'm not 100% sure on that one. Are you happy in your relationship currently? And watch I answer this one.
Speaker 4:I am more than satisfied with my current relationship okay, so the ladies off the market. I will like to tell the wonderful residents there at Simpson Memorial home that this is I. Candy only hands off, please, yep yep, I would agree.
Speaker 5:In fact, we had. We're giving a tour. There was one lady that was very complimentary to you and I thought that was absolutely wonderful. She you brought a smile to her face just by walking in the room. So, and so far, your, your skill level is is showing to be good and we're very excited to have you on board. I think you're going to be an excellent addition to the family that we have there, both staff and and residents. So welcome aboard thank you but you mentioned volunteers earlier.
Speaker 1:Is there a need for more volunteers?
Speaker 5:yes, there is a need for more volunteers again, we're not for profit and volunteers in the evenings and on the weekends for activities. When we take people out on events like today, let's see. Well, actually, no, that would have been Thursday. Last week they took a whole group of folks down to the giant watermelon in Muscatane. If you haven't seen this thing came out on a rail car and it is huge and it's a big slogan on that melon was, as kateens got the finest melons, and so we took a whole bunch of the residents down there and they're going to be hanging out around the big melon. We need volunteers. It was always good to have one on one, you know, if you got somebody to help pull people around, to push people around, my wife would like to someday be in the nursing home. No, that's not what you're signaling me for. No, yes, kara.
Speaker 3:I just wanted to mention that. It's funny. You mentioned volunteers. We're going to have three new individuals coming here to our little town here, west Liberty and Columbus Junction we've got three nuns coming up through St Joseph's Catholic Church through grant from the Catholic extension and the Hilton Corporation. Three nuns will be assigned to both parishes and they will be here to help out, volunteer and get to know the communities. So I think you should take advantage of that.
Speaker 5:Well, I think that's not horrific and I think they may be able to come up and also help at the nursing home. So we look forward to having the nuns.
Speaker 3:Yes, I believe one of them is involved with geriatric care and they are very, very much into like community-minded Volunteerism. It's wonderful.
Speaker 1:All right. So if anybody is interested in volunteering at Simpson, they can just stop by and fill out a Form at the desk.
Speaker 5:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I give a call.
Speaker 5:Talk to me, clifford talked our activities director, michelle Wheeler. Talk to magic, mike. Any of us would be happy to take, take some information from you, but do stop on in because it's it's a fun place to be and a fun place to work great Thanks, cliff, charles, how's it going?
Speaker 1:Happy October.
Speaker 6:Happy October. How you doing.
Speaker 5:How you doing.
Speaker 6:How you doing. Well, jumping right into October and October 7th it's a Saturday our own local business, west L, is re-grand, reopening, celebrating their four-year anniversary as well, but they've done some remodeling from the outside into the inside. They're also adding a new business, which they haven't announced yet, but they're going to on Saturday, october 7th, inside West L as well. Um, what is it they haven't said?
Speaker 1:Well, I don't know it actually ice cream shop, something that would fit so, charles, part of that big renovation that West L did, they did using a matching grant program through the City of West Liberty. Right, that is correct. You know we don't talk about that enough. The City of West Liberty created a program a few years ago and, kerry, you are the council that created that program when every year the city sets one hundred thousand dollars assigned to help local businesses make improvements to their buildings. That is Incredibly unique for a city the size of West Liberty. It's a program that large metro areas are putting on.
Speaker 1:But Because it's using matching dollars to really stretching businesses investment into improving the property, which makes the town look better, it makes the business More successful, it increases the value of the property in the long run, you know, over the decades, the city is going to get their investment back through property taxes, right, but we have so many Specifically downtown businesses that have taken advantage of this program here in the last three and a half years. It's really making a difference. West L, paul Revere's Pizza, let's see, you've got the recording studio on 3rd Street, you've got Sarah Sedla check's office In in the front and Liberty Public House in the back. Those are just a few examples of businesses that have taken advantage of the matching grant program through the city.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's absolutely great, ken Art. A little town has basically turned over. It's Kind of a sods because we've really given it a facelift. We've really been very Eager to participate in this renovation and I think that's why we're sort of offset from the rest of small towns. This is, we were able to sustain and then offer assistance to these Delapidated buildings or buildings that really need a lot of care and love to bring them up to date.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I'm gonna go ahead and mount something here for the first time, and this this program doesn't exist yet, so I'm trying to speak a life into it and Hold the, the community, accountable for it. We lead is working together with city manager League Gertz to put together a plan to bring before council here in the next few months to create a similar program that will be able to be used for homes for owner occupied Residences within the city of West Liberty. You know we have a lot of dilapidated homes. It's hard to keep up with some of these major projects with inflation and how expensive everything is right now. So we're working on putting together a plan that would use matching funds and we're far from having Complete details and a complete plan on this, but I feel very strongly that the plan will be successful and we'll have something good to bring the council here in the next, in the next few months.
Speaker 3:I hope so. I I'm looking forward to that. We've got kind of an aged Group of property owners here in town and they really need some help. You know that maybe they can't do on their own, so this is an excellent tie-in for them yeah.
Speaker 1:Charles, I didn't mean to interrupt, but that there was a great segue there. So what.
Speaker 6:What's next? That is that weekend, but I also know our first Friday is October 6th. Also on October 7th I'm still working with the communications and getting a hold of the owners. But a new business, the energy hut, is opening on October 7th as well. They're gonna have very early hours, 6 7 am, until the early afternoons. If you've not heard of them or heard of their product, they are energy drinks with some protein, caffeine, very popular in In the, the big cities. I was city I know has one soul in Muscatine, and now they've kind of progressed into West Branch and now West Liberty. So that is also happening on that weekend. So I hope to get a ribbon cutting on that Saturday, continuing until October.
Speaker 6:October 11th, downtown district is having a fall crawl on a Wednesday, which is including with the farmers market. So come on down. The shops will be open a little bit later and they're hoping to have some beverages. But truly, then we just get into the, the fall and we head straight to October 25th, which is the forum. But it is also the last Wednesday, the last Wednesday of West Liberty farmers market, so they'll include. I know they're gonna do a candy stop for progressing into Halloween, which is the next week, but you've got one more month of Wednesdays left at the farmers market.
Speaker 6:So, that, and then also October 28th we have the witches walk with the downtown district. Shops will be open from Well all day, but you can trick-or-treat, come down with your costumes. But also we will have a fall market. Here at the weed lead We'll have Lugo's popcorn pampered chef sincey, and also the library is going to be doing face painting for anyone that wants to stop in. And here, here, here, here, they're pretty good at it, yeah they were out during children's festival getting some practice.
Speaker 6:So and then to end October, the trick-or-treat trail chamber will be out there. I know a lot of other businesses will be out there in city. We'll start at one end of the high school and walk the whole trail. You'll be able to see the stadium and then we'll end with pizzas and you get a blow.
Speaker 5:Williams hard whistle whistle.
Speaker 3:That is. That is a fine tradition. It started in the recent past is the trick-or-treat trail, so we've just been keeping that up, so it is very popular in a big shout out to our park and rec department. Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 5:Working with some of the other local businesses, the heritage foundation and such. They have really knocked it out of the park with that. Now it's an expected, now it's a. It's a West Liberty tradition.
Speaker 1:Yeah, huge shout out to Nick and his team with the city parks and recreation.
Speaker 6:Yeah, yeah, that's a bunch of guys, let's stay tuned for next months. We lead Podcast because I'll be talking holiday open house.
Speaker 1:Thanks, charles, krista, how's it going?
Speaker 7:It's going. How are you Ken?
Speaker 1:I am great. Thank you for asking. Happy late birthday.
Speaker 7:Thank you very much. It was a great day.
Speaker 1:Awesome what's going on in your world.
Speaker 7:Um, we started out October with run for the schools. They started the high school and then ended at the high school and we they passed every school in West Liberty. We are actually selling half-sold our Florida branches, both of them to a credit union. So it's everybody is gonna keep their jobs, good news. But we are using those funds to purchase more advanced Technology so that Midwest one can stay competitive with other branches. We are also using some of those funds to purchase additional branches in Denver.
Speaker 1:So the bank of Denver.
Speaker 7:Yes.
Speaker 1:That's exciting.
Speaker 7:It is exciting exciting indeed.
Speaker 1:Thanks, krista. You know we leads had a lot of exciting stuff going on here the last month. We've been busy. There are a few things just from the past couple weeks that I wanted to mention. A couple Sundays ago, we lead was excited to partner with St Joseph's Church and the Dicies of Davenport, along with Lulac and the Iowa Insurance Division, to bring Lucha Anti-Frauday, a Spanish program that talked about financial fraud, how to identify it and what to do if you fall victim to it. This was all provided in the Spanish language, which was so important. We had a great turnout. We had about 30 people from the community that came and participated in that and learned to recognize the signs, and they took a lot of material away with them too. All of this financial fraud has been getting worse, I feel like in the past few years. Statistics show that our Spanish-speaking population is more at risk. They're more at risk for being taken advantage of and they're less likely to report it if they are taken advantage of. This was a really important service that we lead I was excited to partner with other community organizations in providing.
Speaker 1:Also, just last week, we lead was happy to participate in the Muscatine County Housing Summit. That was the third annual one. It's a program that the Community Foundation puts on and it brings in housing developers, it brings in government representatives, it brings in community organizations and interested parties that really want to provide housing opportunities in Muscatine County. The Community Foundation did a fantastic job in bringing in a selection of speakers for that. It's just a good opportunity for folks to get together and bring storm on ideas and get rejuvenated for the next year of home building. That was a great program out there.
Speaker 1:We've been talking about for the last couple months the Muscatine County Housing Study and how important that is. Muscatine County and the cities of Muscatine, wilton and West Liberty are all participating in that. We've asked you to go in and click that link. It takes less than 10 minutes to answer their questions. Initially that was supposed to be over at the end of last month, but they've extended it two more weeks. I think they're taking responses all the way through October 15th. If you haven't yet done that, please go to the we Lead Facebook page. That's probably the easiest place to find the link. You can stop in here on 3rd Street at the we Lead office. We have a QR code that you can scan. Takes less than 10 minutes.
Speaker 1:It is really important that we have as many different perspectives from West Liberty as possible concerning what type of homes you think we need. I think it's pretty apparent we need all kinds of homes. They're so important for the health of our community. Housing continues to be one of the primary responsibilities here at we Lead. It's our job to foster home growth. We do that by working to make the community more appetizing for builders to come in and build, but we're also working directly with those developers to see what kind of resources they need to get the job done.
Speaker 1:West Liberty is in a unique position because we already have more people wanting to move to town than we have homes available, which means that we could use homes with all kinds of price points and all kinds of sizes. That's where we are today. Charles mentioned one specific new business that will be opening here in the next week or so. We Lead is working with five additional businesses that are planning on opening up in West Liberty within the next year. Those businesses are going to bring employment opportunity, which means we need homes to house these folks and their families in. For every two people that you bring to town, you're actually providing work for one other one. That's a fun thing to think about. For a family of four, you actually need to be providing for an additional family of two in the service industry to help support that family of four.
Speaker 1:More people in town, more homes in town, more business in town need more tax dollars that go in the bucket, which means we have more money to spend on parks. We have more money to spend on walking and biking trails. We have more money to spend on roads. We have more money to spend on improving the quality of life here in West Liberty, which is a benefit not just for the folks moving to town but for the ones that have been here their whole lives too. This is a really exciting prospect and we're excited to get these homes built.
Speaker 1:I want to thank all the panelists for their time this month we couldn't do it without you and to our listeners thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to catch up on what is going on in and around West Liberty. We'll see you next month. The Building Together podcast is a service of we Lead the West Liberty Economic Area Development Corporation and is brought to you by West Liberty Auto Parts and the Good Fellows Club and from generous support from listeners like you. Thanks for spending time with us. We'll see you next month, building Together. Dream it, plan it, ken, is this tour 謝謝.
Speaker 5:Okay this is dope brother, hahaha.
Speaker 4:Hahaha, hahaha, hahaha, bill Hill, bill Hill. Yes, hans, how are you doing today? I'm doing good, hans.
Speaker 5:How are you? Oh, wonderful, wasn't the Octoberfest just wonderful this last weekend? Yes, it was, hans. Oh, my goodness, I haven't danced and ate so much. What was your favorite part, bill Hill? It was the ha. Hahaha, haha, I think you were very pretty. Yes, yes, I know. And the singing and the carrying on and such things. Have you seen my auto? It's on the fritz. I'm not in the front, I'm holding a lava fritz Front line.
Speaker 3:Yeah, front line. No, it's fritz the front line. You better get it off of fritz, that front line.
Speaker 2:Whoa okay.
Speaker 5:I'm half German, half Scat-Syri, so I'm kind of screwed when it comes to you know, I drink a lot Most of the time. Cut that out, because that sounds really bad, Hahaha.
Speaker 1:I just kept watching you go down a hill.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, pull up, pull up, pull up.
Speaker 5:To my board of directors, that wasn't me. No, I mean, if you think about it, the Oktoberfest and St Patrick's Day and our family were the two big holidays. Christmas kind of came in between and was just kind of inconvenient. So we had a lot more fun at the other two holidays. So Kev.
Speaker 3:I love cucumber.
Speaker 1:I'm hungry, sushi yes.
Speaker 5:Janksy, janksy, janksy.
Speaker 7:Wow.
Speaker 4:We've become very close. You got that right folks, Sushi is the dinner tonight.
Speaker 5:German sushi.
Speaker 4:It's mostly sausage.
Speaker 2:Schnitzel sushi. Thank you for the weather update. Ma'am, Over to you, Cliff, with sports Hahaha.
Speaker 5:Nursing home league we've got, and we'd like everybody to show up for that. That segment will be brought to you by Oatmeal, the delicious food that goes down soft and smooth and comes back up the same. So before you head to the forums, grab a big old bowl of oatmeal and listen with confidence.
Speaker 3:You have another baby, hahaha.
Speaker 2:Oh, I only have four kids.
Speaker 1:I'm a little scared.
Speaker 7:I'm a little scared. One wife, four kids.
Speaker 2:I believe that he I'm speculating that he probably doesn't want to be associated with Tom Fulver, that is, us, uh-oh.
Speaker 1:You mean, we have a reputation? I don't know.
Speaker 2:That's just. There's probably a reputation. He's careful.
Speaker 3:Are we just a niche of a borat?
Speaker 1:No, oh we're full borat I am.
Speaker 3:I can't admit it. I have T-Rex syndrome.
Speaker 4:Well, can I? I haven't really thought this through, Hahaha Say contact us.
Speaker 7:Woooo, woooo, ouch.