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Work is underway on the north side of Manning and the landscape already looks a lot different with the removal of the old mill in the location which will become Milwaukee Trestle Park. In October of 2014, the City of Manning began development of a master plan for the new park that was based on recommendations from Iowa State University. City Manager, Dawn Rohe said they also relied on community input for what the residents would like to see for improvements.
The results became part one of the five pieces of their Great Places applications for funding, which was successful and started the clock running on the project. They are now under a deadline to have this done by the end of 2017. In the meantime, the historic commission was approached by West Central Cooperative (Landus) on whether or not they would be interested in the gift of the land where the former Manning Ag building sat after they removed the old buildings.
All of this has put the project about a year and half behind schedule according to Rohe.
With the buildings removed, the city has scheduled concrete grinding to use the leftover building materials for any places they would put crushed rocks. At the same time, an engineer is doing topographical work in conjunction with a dirt mover to manage water movement and the community visioning project is underway and will provide input on the park. Rohe said Manning Main Street has become involved to help with funding and provided a board member to serve on the project.

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by Aaron Sarno
Though many colleges now offer public relations courses and majors, PR as a field requires more professional experience than what’s taught in school for the best results. Internships represent an important part of the PR student’s education and bring lasting results if companies key into the skills students have acquired.
Boosting ManningThis is Manning’s goal. They are a small city in Iowa hoping to make the news for good reasons this year. The city wants to attract new employees and become a popular destination for tourists vacationing away from the hustle and bustle of urban life.
Drake University students began studying Manning’s goals for a year to see what strategies could make them a reality. Now, Brennan Haymond, a graduating senior at Drake University, plans to spend eight weeks in Manning over the summer, putting plans in place that students drafted during their year of study.
The PlansThe students suggested regional partnerships to provide access to more attractions tourists might enjoy while visiting. The city also hopes to offer discounts to tourists from restaurants and other local businesses as well as other incentives to drive repeat business and encourage people to visit from other communities and from out-of-state.
The city also intends posting job vacancies publicly around the state to attract more employees.
Benefits to the StudentsHaymond came out on top as the student implementing real world strategies. However, all the students in the study benefited from hands-on experience, while working with Manning.
This experience taught them what it’s like to work with clients in achieving goals. While hypothetical projects in school create a similar effect and teaches similar lessons, nothing beats experience in the field.
Benefits to ManningThis study and the opportunity to work with Haymond also benefits the city. PR specialists can boost visibility, and help manage crisis situations.
These services can be costly, and often because of the cost, can turn public opinion against the entity. Taxpayers would rather see money poured into infrastructure and education than hiring PR experts.
Manning’s two-year partnership with Drake University allows it to use the expertise of students and instructors for a fraction of the cost. This keeps PR costs low, markets Manning as a city where graduates have opportunities for success, and contributes to the education of its youth.

What more could any city ask for – large or small? The opportunities are endless.

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The public has spoken through a community survey, and Manning will be renaming one of their streets later this year. City Manager, Dawn Rohe said 311th Street runs east and west in front of the Hausbarn and the future Boulders Inn Manning, and plans are in the works to pave a section of the road. Last month, the community was asked for input and the overwhelming winning name selected was Heritage Drive. Rohe said the city council will be making the change effective later this year. In addition, Rohe said they were informed last Tuesday that the city had been approved for a Revitalize Iowa’s Sound Economy (RISE) grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation. This funding is to help extend a small portion of Commercial Street on the west side of town.
The roadway will be extended a little over 1,000 feet and will be useful to present and future businesses. Audio Construction on the RISE project is expected to be completed in November of 2017, and the city will be running water loops to the location while the site is open.

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Carroll Daily Times Herald   Rebecca McKinsey

A year-long study of Manning’s goals will solidify when a summer intern helps implement strategies to bring employees to the city and make it a popular destination.
Graduating Drake University senior Brennan Haymond will spend eight weeks in Manning this summer to help execute plans a Drake senior capstone class spent the past academic year drawing up for the city.
The plans will address the city’s goals to make Manning a weekend retreat through use of the Hausbarn Heritage Park and other tourist attractions, to present the city as a mid-week retreat destination for businesses and schools, to attract employees and employers to the city and to bring alumni back to Manning, among other goals.
A comprehensive plan put together by the class offers a wide variety of ideas for the city, including creating regional partnerships to offer a wider variety of linked activities and attractions for visitors.
Those can turn into concrete ideas such as a “passport” that invites visiting families to complete a certain number of activities in the area or visit a certain number of places; once they get each point stamped on the passport, they could receive a discount at a Manning restaurant or store that invites them either to come back or to continue their day in the city, Haymond said. The city could also recognize specific alumni and offer them shopping or dining opportunities in downtown Manning to encourage them to return for a visit, he added.
Other ideas address housing and health care.
The city has already begun to implement some of the class’s ideas, including by forming a housing committee that will look at ways to offer more places to live for those who do move to Manning.
Other ideas the city could implement easily include posting open Manning jobs on Iowa job sites, said Ron Reischl, Main Street Manning board president.
Haymond will begin working with the city May 23 to help put into action some of the class’s ideas. Main Street Manning is funding the internship, but he will work with the City of Manning as well.
The work with the public-relations class is one of several projects spurred by Manning’s two-year relationship with Drake University.
Others include having web development students create websites for Manning businesses, a boot camp for female entrepreneurs held in Manning, and an upcoming visit to Manning from a group of young African professionals because of Drake University’s involvement with the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.
This fall, the city hopes to work with art students at Drake, Reischl said.
Haymond will be a good force for the city, he added.
“We’ve gotten to know the students individually, and (Haymond) was one that was kind of a fireball,” Reischl said.
His background in a small Iowa community — Haymond is from Winfield, in southeast Iowa — is a plus as well.
Haymond, 22, is graduating this spring from Drake University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications, with a major in public relations and a minor in international relations.
After spending the summer in Manning, Haymond will spend a year teaching conversational English to college students at Sichuan International Studies University in Chongqing, China. He’s excited about the contrast of living and working in a town of fewer than 1,500 residents, followed by one with more than 9 million.
Working with Manning throughout the last year gave the students a hands-on idea of what it was like working with a client as a public-relations professional, Haymond said.
“This is an amazing town that is small-town Iowa — it still has that feel — but it’s wanting to grow and be a holistic community,” he said.
Haymond, who said he loves the relationships that can be built through public relations, hopes to take the ideas he learns and implements in Manning back to his own small Iowa town someday.
“Manning gives me hope that small towns are (the place for) the next generation of young professionals,” he said.

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The county-wide housing assessment is available. The City of Manning already has a group of people in place to design a public-private partnership. This team will design a solution or solutions for Manning's housing shortages. The catalysts for this effort are the housing study and a recommendation from the Drake University study.

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After a five month delay, the three entities who spent $10,000 each to develop the Carroll County Housing Assessment, received the first printed copies of the report drafted by RDG Planning and Design of Omaha, Neb. and Des Moines. Shannon Landauer, executive director of the Carroll Area Development Corporation (CADC) was joined by members of the technical committee to provide an overview of the 100 page document to their partners, Carroll County and the City of Carroll in several meetings over the course of the day on Monday. The assessment, which was commissioned in August of 2015, is meant to be a factual representation of where the county is, said technical committee member Jim Auen. This is a snapshot of where we are and not a compilation of opinions.
The committee was unanimous in saying the most notable surprise was the parallel between what young professionals and seniors are looking for in housing. From the pool of over 1,500 survey and public meeting participants, members in these categories said they were looking for low maintenance properties with specific finishes. Carroll County Supervisor, Gene Meiners pointed out another surprising result.
Auen and the rest of the committee said the assessment highlighted the fact that there is not a housing crisis, but there are definite needs. In addition to being an invaluable tool for each community to develop their own housing plans to meet their vision, this will also be a critical resource for developers and investors to use for evaluation of current and long-range opportunities over the 10-year predicted growth and housing needs that are clearly defined in the assessment. Though no long-term goals have been set by this committee, they will remain intact to benchmark housing changes and growth as it emerges from this data. Auen said they are not gatekeepers in telling people how to use this information, in fact, he believes it will be a source for great dialogue. Committee member and Carroll County Supervisor, Neil Bock said the team is there to support and help explain the document.
The next steps for the committee will be working with communities in the study to define responsibilities and goals and to assist with implementing the ideas that work best for them. Most importantly, they want to get the document out into the public to start generating that out-of-the-box thinking and dialogue. Copies of the assessment are free and available to the general public in hard copy form at the Carroll Chamber of Commerce offices, or a digital version can be downloaded from the Chamber’s website at Click Here. On Tuesday, May 17, Amy Haase of RDG Planning and Design will hold public forums to afford everyone the opportunity to ask questions on the assessments. There will be two sessions, the first beginning at 4 p.m. and the second at 7 p.m., both taking place at the Harold Bierl Community Room at 407 W. 5th Street. Members of the CADC and the technical committee will also be happy to answer any questions people have on the study.

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Twenty-six self-described “city kids” worked for eight months on strategies and tactics to attract visitors, businesses and residents to Manning. They completed their Drake University senior capstone project at the end of the semester by presenting these ideas to community leaders. Main Street Manning Board President, Ron Reischl, said everyone was thankful for the students’ wonderful work and the city is already looking at implementing many of the recommendations as soon as possible. “Everyone was very impressed with the caliber and quality of the work they have done,” Reischl said. The senior public relations students conducted original research to develop their comprehensive plans aimed at helping Manning thrive and grow, working in partnership with the Iowa Economic Development Authority. The plans were completely created by the student teams and include all the tools necessary for Manning to initiate the tactics. According to Dr. Kelly Bruhn, the associate professor of journalism and dean of Drake’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, this type of service learning provides the opportunity to apply what is learned in the classroom while also bringing value to community partners.

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Carroll Daily Times Herald   Rebecca McKinsey

Manning will be included in the itinerary for a group of young professionals from Africa visiting the United States this summer.
About 1,000 young professionals visiting from Africa this summer will complete the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, a six-week academic and leadership institute sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, according to a news release from Drake University. The Des Moines school, which is in the middle of a two-year partnership with the City of Manning, is one of 36 colleges and universities across the country that will host the visitors.
The fellowship is the flagship program of President Barack Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative, according to the news release.
Topics covered during the six-week institute will include public management, civic leadership and energy. Drake University will host 25 young professionals between the ages of 25 and 35 starting in June with an institute emphasizing business and entrepreneurship.
“(The institute will) cater to fellows aspiring to become leaders in the private sector or to start their own business ventures in Africa,” the news release states.
As part of that goal, on July 23, the group will spend the day in Manning.
During their visit to the U.S., the professionals will learn about various themes each week — the week that will include the Manning trip will focus on rural vs. urban economic development.
Topics that will be covered during the day could include a tour of Puck Custom Enterprises, an overview of the city’s three-year downtown revitalization project and a wrap-up of the city’s hotel project, said Ron Reischl, Main Street Manning’s board president.
“It’s an opportunity for them to learn about economic development in rural Iowa, and for us to get exposure to 25 business leaders from Africa,” Reischl said.
The visiting fellows are “young leaders from Sub-Saharan Africa who have established records of accomplishment in promoting innovation and positive change in their organizations, institutions, communities and countries,” the news release states.
They will meet with Obama during the Presidential Summit in Washington, D.C. Some members of the larger group of fellows will spend their six weeks completing professional training with non-governmental organizations, private companies and government agencies in the U.S., according to the release.
The Manning visit is a result of the city’s ongoing partnership with Drake University, which has also spurred a women’s entrepreneurship boot camp held in Manning and new websites for many Manning businesses designed by students in a web development class at Drake.
“We wouldn’t normally get this opportunity,” Reischl said. “This came out of our two-year partnership with Drake and gives us the opportunity to portray Manning as a progressive community to African leaders. It’s not likely to result in a business partnership — but you never know.”

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On Friday evening, April 29, nearly 450 individuals from communities across Iowa came together in downtown Des Moines to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Main Street Iowa. During this celebration, local Main Street innovations, leaders, entrepreneurships, private investments along with the catalytic power of the Main Street program were recognized. Gov. Terry Branstad and Director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA), Debi Durham, presented several honors to area recipients. “The Main Street program has a far greater impact than we ever could have imagined in 1985,” Branstad told those gathered. “This anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on challenges overcome, the successes and the areas of opportunity that exist on the horizon.” The community of Manning came away from the evening with the Game Changer Award for their comprehensive façade improvement initiative. Leadership Awards were also presented to those community leaders who have made significant volunteer contributions to their local Main Street program’s downtown revitalization mission. Winners include: Dale and Debbie Menning of Guthrie Center; Chris Heisterkamp of Jefferson; Dawn Rohe of Manning; and Bobbie Wells of Sac City. Three local communities also reached million dollar benchmarks with Jefferson attaining $3 million; Manning reaching $2 million and Guthrie Center hitting the $1 million milestone.

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Carroll Daily Times Herald    Rebecca McKinsey

Manning's Game Changer award. Competing against all Main Street communities formed since 2008, this award was for "inspirational, catalytic 'game changers' that have occurred at any given time during the life of the program". Manning's award submission portrayed Manning with and without the downtown revitalization.

If not for a years-long, 17-building downtown revitalization project in Manning, Deb’s Corner Café might no longer exist.
The Market Place, a popular downtown store and coffee shop, might never have been devised.
New businesses might never have considered Manning a place to land.
Many benefited from the three-year, $800,000 project that restored 17 building facades in downtown Manning. That project received a Game Changer Award at the annual Main Street Iowa awards held Friday night at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines.
The award recognizes “inspirational, catalytic occurrences or influences that have left significant and lasting impacts on the Main Street programs and Main Street districts.”
In applying for the award, Manning officials presented the city as a contract between “Manning without downtown revitalization and Manning without downtown revitalization,” said Ron Reischl, Main Street Manning’s board president.
The difference was stark.
“Without the downtown revitalization ... Deb’s Corner Café might very well be a pile of bricks,” Reischl said. “It literally was ready to fall in.”
Many other Manning businesses have similar stories, he added.
This year marks 30 years for the Main Street organization, which started as a small group of people and expanded into a statewide organization dedicated to downtown revitalization and economic development that has a role in more than 50 cities in Iowa.
“They build on each other’s strength,” Main Street Iowa State Coordinator Michael Wagler told Herald Publishing Co. Friday night. “We’re celebrating the past, but we’ll spend a lot of time tonight looking at the future as well.”
That the size of the community doesn’t matter — Dubuque’s almost 60,000 residents or Manning’s 1,500 can make a difference with the Main Street model, he said.
Iowa Economic Development Authority Director Debi Durham addressed Main Street communities’ persistence and dedication during the award ceremony.
“Each community demonstrates the ability to grow, adapt and meet the community’s needs,” she said. “We know when communities invest in Main Street, they continue to see outcomes.”
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad also spoke at the ceremony, tracing Main Street Iowa’s trajectory from a few families with an “untested model” to a thriving organization in more than 50 cities.
“Main Street Iowa continues to drive innovation in downtown revitalization tactics,” he said. “The Main Street Iowa approach is a program that builds resilient communities.”
Manning, which has been a Main Street community since 2008, also was recognized for reaching the $2 million mark in private investment for downtown economic development and projects during 2015, and Manning City Administrator Dawn Rohe received a leadership award during the ceremony.
The downtown-revitalization project has been recognized various times, including with several Challenge Grants from Main Street Iowa for various aspects of the renovations and statewide recognition from Main Street Iowa and Preservation Iowa, Reischl said.
“Manning would be much less vibrant (without the revitalization),” Reischl said.

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