Welcome Dollar General! Wow, it was open until 9 pm last night. Color me impressed! As Sonya and I were talking today, it doesn't take much to excite us! A Dollar General....a store! Whoo hoo!
I remember how sad it was to see them tear down the old Baker house that I sold a few years previously, to make way for this store. Kind of mixed feelings, a nice piece of real estate going commercial. But as time went on and you could see the workers out there transforming the lot, it got exciting. You see, we don't get to see alot of buildings going up here. Our changes are very slow. Some who come back once in awhile to their hometown, see little changes, but never big ones. Change is exciting. Not the "time for a change' change, but new growth, new stores, new vendors.
We also have a pharmacist wanting to come to town. We have a new thing available that we could take advantage of to get him here. It would raise the sales tax a smidge, but it would bring in funds to build up our city. It would bring in funds to build or purchase property for expansion. It would give us a leg up to get monies coming in to generate and propigate growth. It is called the CID (Community Investment District) and the city can collect it through the sales tax so not just residents that would help build our city, but people passing through as well.
Since I am on the Economic Development Board, as well as the Harper City Council, this looks like a great thing to get going. Anthony, Ks is doing this to rebuild their downtown that was devastated by fire this year. Harper would really benefit from this program. BUT, when Mike Lanie, our Harper County Economic Development Director volunteered to come to our town for a workshop, only 3 council members showed up along with our Mayor and City Administrator. We have 7 council members. Mike believes in this program as well and is in the middle of it in Anthony. He thought it would benefit our community in Harper. I agree. But how do you present an idea to people when they won't even come to the meeting? Sad.
I didn't even bring it up at the last meeting. The handwriting is on the wall at city hall. There is a keen interest in finding fault in staff right now, so council is into "research" right now into who screwed up, how much, and how can we nail them? I am not sure how this got started but I can tell you about when it all started coming to a head. All based on rumors. Circulated by clueless people who are out to do damage and as much as possible.
But back to happy thoughts. Growth, good for a city, good for it's people, good for existing business. If any investors want to contact me about getting this pharmacist to come to town, let me know. I will do what I can to help. We can work with Economic Development and Harper City Staff and Mayor that wants to see progress too.
Mary Welch Broker/Owner Preferred Choice Realty Harper, Ks.
Harper County Economic Development Board Member