The Greater Fremont Development Council Annual Meeting was a Great Success

The Greater Fremont Development Council (GFDC) recently hosted our Annual Meeting. It was a great success, well attended and allowed us to showcase the amazing activities taking place within our region. In Fremont “We Don’t Coast” - was a message that was loud and clear during Board President, Bill Vobejda’s speech. We have momentum and will continue to build upon it to strengthen our regional economy.

Here are some important excerpts from President Vobejda's speech -

2017 by all measures was a very solid year for us and our community.  Our focused attraction, retention and expansion efforts continue to pay dividends and the activity for future job growth remains high. We remain well ahead of where we thought we might be at this point in our five year 2020 strategic plan – with many of our targets already met.    

Costco was a major highlight for 2017 – the groundbreaking ceremony and the start of the construction was a big win for our region and provided a backdrop to celebrate the efforts to make this project a reality.  The Costco project will bring in more than 50 – possibly considerably more than 50, who will work in managerial and professional jobs with a starting wage above the $72,000 a year mark.  We also welcomed several new leaders hired by Lincoln Premium Poultry to our community – those who will operate the facility.    

Another major highlight at GFDC for 2017 was the hiring of a new Executive Director. Garry Clark has hit the ground running and has been a tremendous hire for our community and helping lead the efforts we are focused on in 2018.  There were many other great accomplishments in 2017 like our focus on workforce development, the real estate site and speculative building program and the county-wide housing study. All of these efforts are critically important to ensuring a growing and prosperous community and have helped set the foundation for our accelerated plan of work for 2018.

GFDC 2018 Goals

2017 was an incredible success. We are focused on continuing that success into 2018 and building upon it. Here is what Bill had to say about our 2018 goals -

The 2018 plan includes putting greater attention and resources into key quality of life programs while also continuing our business attraction and retention efforts. These plans include:

#1. A marketing reboot program

It has been well over 6 years since the Pathfinder Branding project was launched in our community.  It’s time to refresh or reboot or simply extend further our storytelling efforts and marketing the many points of pride and positive aspects of living and working in our area.

#2 A Talent Readiness Initiative

This is aimed at understanding and filling the gaps for employment, helping employers navigate a growing community with a competitive marketplace and ensuring that we have the talent we need when we need it.  

#3 Micro-loan and grant program

This is to support small business designed to boost further growth like new technology, improving a facility or façade or possibly start up assistance for new or growing programs.  

#4 Dodge County Housing program

This is the establishment of a county wide housing committee under the umbrella of GFDC.  Ultimately this program will include a manager to help shepherd these efforts and will likely include a workforce housing revolving loan fund to help support development efforts and a local rehab and demolition fund.    

Join us Next Year

If you missed this year’s annual meeting, we invite you to join us next year and to also participate in GFDC’s 2018 plan. Contact us to learn how.