The power of collaborative rural development partnerships

A simple question, posed nearly two decades ago, started it all.

George Lake, serving as director of a then-newly established Buchanan County Economic Development Commission, was making the rounds in 1998 - visiting town and city councils in hope of learning what, if anything, local communities needed in order to thrive.

Many topics were discussed, but one discovery stood out. Four of the county's 11 communities had access only to well water. And, for at least two of those communities, the situation was getting dire.

'The water in the area of Aurora was particularly bad,” said fourth-generation resident and former council member Bret Kivell. 'It had a high iron content and was extremely hard. Also, depending on the particular well, it could have a high manganese content as well. It was a topic of conversation for years and was one of things that was brought up when George visited with us.”

In Quasqueton, a storage tank at the town's only gas station leaked and contaminated a number of wells near downtown. Even before the leak, a major fire had polluted some wells. Rowley, located near Quasqueton, was plagued with issues similar to those in Aurora.

'I became mayor in 2000 and had been working on the local water issue as a part of the city council for about six years before that,” said Rita Knutson, who has been a resident of Rowley for 38 years. 'We knew there were issues, and we knew they weren't getting any better.”

The town had sought federal funding for water service twice, but was turned down both times.

Without help, there was no way the small community could raise the millions of dollars needed to address water issues.

Working through the county economic development group, the towns were able to work together to secure grants that allowed them to provide water for their residents as well as those living in nearby unincorporated areas. It was a multiyear endeavor that began under Lake and was continued by his predecessor, Brenda Dryer.

And it's a shining example of the way collaboration can help smaller communities provide critical infrastructure to enhance residents' quality of life and enable economic sustainability and growth.

As Doug Elliott, executive director of the East Central Iowa Council of Governments, recently told us: 'The extent to which the communities can meet these needs through cooperation with other entities only increases their probability of surviving.”

'No community is an island unto themselves,” he added. 'Local economies are intrinsically intertwined.”

PRIORITY STATUS

Last month, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the implementation of a 2014 Farm Bill provision aimed at encouraging regional partnerships and strategies. The new Regional Development Priority policy establishes a system that favors and encourages collaborative rural development efforts.

Lawmakers hoped the change would continue to spur economic growth in rural places while providing taxpayers a more effective return on investment. The Farm Bill also expanded rural credit, implemented new markets for rural products and renewed investment in infrastructure, housing and community facilities.

Under RDP, communities with multi-jurisdictional economic development plans can request funding priority when applying for loans and grants in four USDA programs used to finance infrastructure, business and community development - the Community Facilities Plan, Business and Industry Loan Guarantee Program, Water and Environmental Program and Rural Business Development Grant Program.

Priority consideration is determined by how well a funding request supports the region's existing development plan and how well the larger plan addresses regional collaboration and considers other funding sources like philanthropic groups or other federal programs.

Elliott says the Hawkeye State is well positioned to take advantage of new USDA opportunities. Currently, 17 Council of Government agencies serve every area of the state except the Polk County region. They exist to provide added capacity to city and county governments in services such as grant writing, planning and zoning or housing improvement projects.

CAPACITY FOR GROWTH

According to Iowa Workforce Development, about a third of Buchanan County's 21,000 residents commute outside the county to work. In a time when most of Iowa's non-metropolitan counties are losing population, the county is also one of only 19 in the state that is estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau to be increasing in population - growing about 1 percent since 2010.

The continued appeal of the area, according to Lake, is largely due to that sometimes loosely defined concept, 'quality of life”.

'Rural America will always have an attraction to a core group of people, and Buchanan County embodies that attraction,” said Lake, a 1972 graduate of St. John's High School in Independence.

'I know this because I moved back here with my family after being elsewhere for more than 25 years.”

Still, defining 'quality of life” can be difficult when the target keeps moving. For instance, access to broadband, which wasn't on the radar of rural communities two decades ago, is now often considered a deal-breaker. Families that may once have been content with well water that was safe to drink - even if that hard water felt gritty or left rust stains on fixtures - now expect water service with fewer drawbacks.

'It seems like a little thing,” Knutson confided, 'but it's nice when the water keeps running even when the power goes off.” Families using well water need to plan ahead for power outages because the pumps rely on electricity.

Even the most picturesque and safe communities suffer when local infrastructure doesn't keep pace. Local housing stock deteriorates. Businesses suffer. The local tax base shrinks. The vicious cycle can be nearly impossible to reverse.

When looking at water specifically, University of Iowa Professor of Environmental Engineering Jerry Schnoor says that some portions of the state are already working against a stacked deck.

'Many areas in Iowa are known to have water that is not very suitable for use as drinking water,” Schnoor told us. 'If you are fortunate enough to drill a shallow well, it might be more influenced by precipitation and be of descent quality. However, if you begin to pump it down, especially as you have more and more people using the same aquifer, then you are going to have trouble with the well yielding enough water. And you also might get to the point where you reach a deeper source of water that could be naturally contaminated.”

PROGRESSIVE IDENTITIES

The benefits of water service in Rowley, Quasqueton and Aurora might not seem obvious to outsiders, but they've made residents lives better. Rust stains, of course, are no longer an issue. People like Knutson have developed new confidence about the purity of the water flowing from their tap. Appliances like washing machines last longer. In-home water softeners are no longer a necessity. All three communities have new and public symbols of their progress: A town water tower.

'When we didn't have a water tower, even though we were just off Highway 150, people didn't know where Rowley was,” Knutson said. 'But now as people travel 150 or other area roads, that water tower shows clearly where we are. It is proof that we are here and that we are progressing.”

'For me, the water tower is a type of status symbol,” said Aurora Mayor Jean Kivell. 'There's a lot of pride around it. It's one of those things that other towns might take for granted, but here it is an identity. When people drive through, they can see it and the town name on it.”

Because of the regional partnership that made it possible, that pride extends beyond town limits.

'The difference within the communities between now and then is simply night and day,” said Lake. 'With rare exceptions, the communities now recognize that a regional approach to economic development benefits everyone. To extrapolate that, Buchanan County recognizes that if a new business goes into Black Hawk County, we're going to benefit. If a new business goes into Bremer County, our communities are going to benefit. There really is a greater sense of awareness that the community exists beyond the city limits or the town boundary.”

There is no hard data to directly tie the towns' water service to economic growth. Challenges remain. All three communities have some concern regarding the future of their sewer systems. Fire protection is a constant need as existing equipment ages.

Even so, updated streets will greet visitors to Rowley Days next month. New playground equipment was installed after the town received a community foundation grant. Growth of an ag implement business in Aurora shows promise, and the city park continues to outshine many maintained by larger communities. The new street lighting Quasky is lined with American flags, and the bridge at the edge of town has been updated.

Perfection may be an unattainable goal, but individual and regional progress is well underway.

Town leaders remain hopeful their town pride, quality of life and expanded capacity for growth will help their communities thrive - independently, and together.

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