ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT/ Town makes technology part of revitalization
Like many small, agricultural communities, Manning, Iowa, was suffering from a decline in population and industry. To reverse that trend, the Manning Area Development Corp. (MADC) developed several revitalization projects to renovate the downtown area.
“When I was out recruiting [businesses], things looked bad,” says Joan Phillips, coordinator for the MADC. “It was apparent that we needed a facelift. The sidewalks were bad. Streets needed to be repaired.”
The organization’s first step in revitalizing the downtown was to improve the appearance of the area. In 1996, an $850,000 renovation project that improved the sidewalks, streets and lights on four-and-a-half blocks of the downtown area got under way.
Community groups helped design the area, using traditional elements that complemented the city’s German heritage. Features included 13-foot-wide sidewalks and a 6-foot apron adjacent to the brick streets that created better drainage for stormwater and improved parking. The city used a general obligation bond of $650,000 and property owner assessments to fund the project.
The next step for the MADC was to bring the town up to date with technology. “All rural states are having the similar problem of a digital divide,” Phillips says. “We knew if we were to survive we had to overcome it. Everyone wanted a business to come in and [handle the problem], but businesses were not doing it in small towns. So we knew we had to do something ourselves.”
The locally owned electric utility is-sued $2.265 million in bonds, and, together with the natural gas utility, it loaned the town the money to set up the Manning Municipal Communication and Television Utility (MCTU). The MCTU provides downtown residents with high-speed Internet access, cable television and improved telephone service. Additionally, Manning Betterment Foundation, part of the MADC, bought several buildings that it rehabilitated and retrofitted with wiring. The foundation transformed a vacant grocery store into a downtown mall that is now completely occupied.
Because of the renovations, Des Moines-based Enterprise Corp. International, a company that offers software for electronics manufacturers, moved to Manning. “[The company] would not have relocated here if we didn’t have modems and high-speed data transmission,” says City Manager Don Luensmann. “We’ve seen a number of businesses decide that Manning was the place to locate because of what we were able to offer.”
