MONROE CITY COMMUNITY BETTERMENT ASSOCIATION
CORE GROUP MEETING – 10/14/09 – 7 P.M. - COUNCIL CHAMBERS

Attendance: Michelle Kendrick, Jennifer Turpin, Brian Hays, Neal Minor, Phil Whelan, Janice Schnitzler, Dorothy kern, Steve Buckman, Jackie Buckman, Loree Quinn, Kathy Anderson, Jennifer Quinn, Gene Howes and Jackie Pangborn

Beautification – Janice stated that her group is active and is a very good group. Some have particular interests and are pursuing those. She said they felt good about the Good Neighbor Day - there were some improved areas in town from this day.

Community Garden – Steve Yates is following through with the Community Garden in the Spalding area by Mosswood. Dennis is putting money into this project, he has four sections worked up with grass area in between the sections so people can more easily take care of their gardens. He will pay for seeds (not plants) and asks that if they plant a vegetable garden, he wants flowers planted as well. It would be nice if a person from the Ag department would take this on as a project. She stated that they may need a culvert from the City and possibly a water hook up.
Make a Difference Day is October 24th. She stated that the Sheltered Workshop will take all items but glass, they will also have about 20 of their people and supervisors working that day. They have about 45 jobs line up at this point. The headquarters for workers to meet is the Nutrition Center. There is an ad in the paper. The Fire Department is taking care of a project as well. Neal Minor stated that there is a demolition list. Neal said that the City bought the Lance White house on Second Street but when you purchase things at a tax sale you are somewhat limited on what you can do. He is going to get a copy of those on the demo list and see if he can get some things cleaned up.

Recreation – Jennifer Turpin stated that their group has been meeting and have several ideas underway. They would like to see new recreations as well as enhance what we currently have.

Tennis Courts – Pfaffs would do the asphalt work & we would need volunteers to help with the labor. The school would purchase the nets.
Movies – There wasn’t a lot of interest in the movies – didn’t want to split up the crowd between us & Shelbina.
Bike Trails
Pool – They have several ideas on getting the attendance up at the pool, would need marketing. They will need a proposal to the Council, possibly split the passes up between family type passes and punch card passes. Possibly rent out the room for parties.
Sports Equipment Exchange – People donate the stuff (bats, gloves, shoes, sliding pads, etc.) that they don’t use, want or need and then those that do need it can use it. The drop off will be at LOI. They will be advertising this.
Fall Festival – We currently have nothing. They’d like to try & revive the fall festival/homecoming. Jenny Quinn and her sister Lindsay would like to take this on. We need to get enthusiasm back into the arts – possibly combine this festival with Arts in the Park.

Marketing – Loree Quinn provided an update with her committee.

Web Page & Brochure – She is partnering with the High School on the development of a MC CBA web page and a brochure for Monroe City.
Brochure – We have a lot of photographers in the area and it would be nice to have a contest for prime photos for our brochure.
Facebook – There is a Monroe City facebook page. So far we have 480 friends. This is a way to outreach to all of Monroe City alumni and encourage donations once we obtain 501c3 status.

It was mentioned that there was a Tri-State Summit in Iowa which we may want to look at attending next year.

New Business – Steve & Jackie Buckman gave an update on this. They have had a lot of discussions and they are trying to put together the qualifications on the workers that we have in Monroe City. They also are looking at doing the mailboxes for the graduates.

Resource – Jackie stated that the purpose of their group was to develop a listing of what to do if you want to start a business in Monroe City. They currently have stopped meeting for two reasons. Charles Holland of the University of Missouri Extension Office in Paris will walk people through what they need to do if they want to start a business. We didn’t feel we needed to re-invent the wheel if it was already being addressed – it just needs to be advertised more. Secondly, Trulaske is working on a strategic plan of Monroe City and it should be completed in December. Once that has been completed, it will hopefully give us ideas of how to proceed in some areas. Jackie also provided a sheet of information on grants, meetings, etc. that were coming up and websites with the respective information.

Monroe City Blog – This should be up and going – trying to add a calendar of events.

501c3 Status – The letters were sent to individuals on the Monroe City Special Projects group but little response has been received. Therefore, letters requesting their signature will be hand delivered to those in the area & mailed to the others with self-addressed, stamped envelopes.

Organizing & posting groups activities – It was stated that we are a clearing house for all of the civic organizations and we need to try to keep everyone updated on what is going on. We need to use the blog, try to put regular information in the paper and keep track of what the committees are working on. Jackie did send a letter to the editor providing information and dates of upcoming meetings.

It was questioned whether or not anyone followed up with Ed Brown regarding his interest in expanding his business – Neal would follow up on this.

Discussion was held on the status of Intermet & Pace.

Neal stated that Robert Hawkins gave us money & would like it to be a charitable contribution to our group – we are still pending 501c3 status.


In follow up to some of the above information:

Neal & Jackie attended the MCB Awards banquet on October 19th in Jefferson City. The Monroe City CBA received a Certificate of Merit which was a very nice plaque. The plaque has been hung in City Hall with plenty of space so that others can be added. The project book is also at City Hall so that we can keep those for future reference as well as to build on our history. We had enough donations from different business for two baskets to be auctioned off. Those donating were LaRue Insurance, See Real Estate, Abels, Dr. Hull, Ben Franklin, Shelter Insurance, HNB Bank, Alliant Bank, Monroe Cit Fire Department, CW’s and the Applebee Tree. Thank you notes will be sent to each of those businesses as well as Harold and Sue Garner for allowing us to use their vehicle when showing the MCB judges around town.

Jackie attended the Highway 36 Heritage Alliance meeting in Chillicothe on October 27th. It was an interesting meeting. She did arrive in Chillicothe a bit early and drove to their bowling alley/recreation building which was owned by the City. She talked with a lady there and the building was put up in 2005 but the City ended up taking it over. Jackie was given the name and number of the attorney that is on their board and she stopped by his office but he was gone. She will follow up with this for additional information. Most likely it is a similar type of venture that the City of Monroe has with Mosswood Golf Course. An update will be provided at the next meeting.

Make a Difference Day was a huge success. There 72 volunteers ages 7 to 75 and 41 projects that were completed. All food and supplies were donated. They will have a follow up meeting on Wednesday, October 28, 2009.

SCHEDULE OF UPCOMING MEETINGS . . .

Beautification Meeting – None scheduled at this time.
Recreation Meeting – 3rd Wednesday – 5:30 p.m. – LOI Building
Econ Dev – Last Tuesday - 7 p.m. – Nutrition Center
Core Group – 3rd Wednesday of each month – Council Chamber – 7 p.m.

Economic Development - 9/21/09

Becky Cleveland - Econ. Dev. Dir. of Brookfield, Missouri did a presentation with citizens last night. It was very beneficial and a lot of knowledge was gained. Minutes will be sent to those that I have e-mail addresses for. If you would like to be included on the e-mail list, please contact me -- 573-735-4585 ext 224 or via e-mail at jpangborn@monroecity.org.

Good Neighbor Day

Saturday, September 26 has been designated as Good Neighbor Day in Monroe City. We would like for everyone in Monroe City to participate in some way to put Pride into their Neighborhood! Perhaps as individuals you can help a neighbor with lawn chores or washing windows or simply taking them a plate of cookies. As a group you may want to help a neighbor paint a garage or trim shrubbery. All projects, large and small, are just a way of being a good neighbor. While September 26 is being designated as Good Neighbor Day, we hope you will take the initiative to be a good neighbor all year long. Look for flyers and ads in The Lake Gazette.
Also, October 24 has been designated as Make-A-Difference Day. This activity has been going on in our community for the past few years. We hope you will participate on this day as well. More information will be forthcoming.
Thanks!

Economic Development Follow-up

Tonight, August 10, 2009 a follow up discussion was held regarding economic development in Monroe City. As was discussed in the town hall forum last week, several main areas of work are needed.

1. Developing an entrepreneur and (existing and new) small business resource center.
2. Compiling a community wide asset list.
3. Exploring development opportunities at Mark Twain Lake.
4. Marketing and advertising our community and assets.
5. Recruiting new business to town.

Approximately 30 people attended tonight's meeting and joined one of three committees to address the above topics and develop specific actions to move forward.

If you were not there, but have any interest or insight and would like to contribute to your community's future, please watch this blog for future meetings, or email me personally at neal.minor@hrhonline.org and I will put you in touch with the committee chair.

Progress is certainly slow and feels a lot like baby steps, but we refuse to go down without a fight. In the future, we want to be able to tell our children and grandchildren that we did everything we could to rebuild and preserve their hometown.

The rebuilding has begun

On August 4th, 2009 the citizens of Monroe City, MO met to discuss the future of our community. The meeting was diverse and the ideas broad on what direction our town should take. Certainly, there is no one path that will rebuild this once thriving and still proud community.

Our days as the die-casting capital of North America may very well be coming to an end. However, there is still some hope that we can preserve a small portion of the nearly 2,000 die-casting jobs that Diemakers and Khulmans were once responsible for. That fate, we are sure, is mostly out of our hands.

What we know for certain is that collectively we have the brain power, ambition and motivation to save ourselves. But, it's going to take a community effort. Who's going to be there to assist that young entreprenuer while they turn their idea into a viable business? Who's going to ensure that recreational opportunities exist for both current citizens and newcomers? Who's going to keep our town beautiful and visually appealing? Who's going to reach out to the next generation of business owners and community leaders?

We will! And if we think that someone else is going to step in and throw us a lifeline then we've already accepted our current reality as our fate.

The showing at the town-hall forum on the 4th was promising. I ask that everyone who attended stay involved and at the next meeting, bring a guest.

Town Hall Meeting

The Monroe City Community Better Organization invite citizens of Monroe City and the surrounding rural areas to a town hall meeting on Tuesday, August 4th at the Monroe City High School. Do you have ideas for our town? Economic Development? City Beautification? Education? Youth Activities? Downtown Rejuvenation? We would like to hear what issues you would like to addressed at our town hall meeting. Please post your ideas by clicking on the comments link in the green bar below.