Progress 2018

A special issue from the publishers of The Maryville Forum

PROGRESS 2018

TODD WEDDLE/NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY

What’s Inside Conference Center....... A2 Maryville Carbon Solutions........................ A3 Boulders Inn & Suites.. A4 Hughes Fieldhouse....... A6 Childhood Center......... A7 Horsepower Drive........ A8 NCED spotlights challenges to growth.. A10 Baker-Garrett Investments................... B1 Home by Sonja............. B3 Downtown Maryville... B4 Planet Sub..................... B5 Airport improvements. B6 Scooters......................... B8 The Kitchen & Bath Source............ B10

Northwest Missouri State University officials and construction team members stand beneath the steel skeleton of Hughes Fieldhouse, a $20-million athletics and special events venue being financed through a combination of university-raised funds and city revenues derived from a newly enacted municipal transient guest tax on local hotel stays. Such partnerships have been the hallmark for a number of major projects undertaken in the Maryville area over the past several months.

Partnerships lead to progress

By TONY BROWN The Forum

If any one word can sum up the progress in Maryville and Nodaway County, it’s “partnership.”

Millions of dollars in new projects either got underway or were completed over the past 12 months, and almost every one of them involved significant cooperation between government, the private sector, education, healthcare, economic development agencies and other entities.

One of the prime examples was the joint effort by Northwest Missouri State University and the City of Maryville to convince voters to approve a transient guest tax, or bed tax, on nightly hotel stays.

The tax measure passed in late 2016, and revenue, the collection of which began this year, will ultimately provide $3.5 million in vital funding for development of the Hughes Fieldhouse at Northwest Missouri State University.

With the bed tax now on the books, the city is in a position to subsidize center construction and maintenance by transfer-

MOZINGO LAKE RECREATION PARK

The new conference center deck is shown recently at sunset. State Sen. Dan Hegeman offered his thanks to the city and community for using local companies for much of the construction work on the new center. ring $150,000 a year to Northwest over 23 years.

A remaining $65,000 in annual revenue will go for other tourism and economic development initiatives to be carried out by the city in concert with the Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce, the Maryville Downtown Improvement Association, Nodaway County Economic Development, and Maryville Parks & Recreation.

Maryville City Manager

Greg McDanel said just before Christmas that implementation of the bed tax, which enabled the launch of construction of the $20 million athletics and events venue, is just one example of the way local leaders have been working together on all fronts to move the community forward.

For instance, the city also partnered with SSM Health & St Francis Hospital and the Northwest Missouri Regional Council of Governments to

secure more than $1 million in funding to assist in development of a new early childhood education center and daycare facility now under construction on the hospital campus.

Elsewhere, City Hall has continued to work with local businesses and industries, notably Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp., which provided $2.2 million in company funds for conSee PROGRESS, Page A11

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Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

Thursday, January 25, 2018

MOZINGO LAKE RECREATION PARK

The new conference center at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park is shown at sunset.

City completes lakeside conference center

By TONY BROWN The Forum

After more than 18 months of construction, the new $4.7 million city-owned conference center and golf course clubhouse at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park was declared essentially completed in 2018.

The two-level, 28,000-square foot venue hosted a couple of preliminary “shakedown” events in December, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony Jan. 2 where the City Manager Greg McDanel, Assistant City Manager Ryan Heiland as well as State Sen. Dan Hebeman and State Rep. Allen Andrews spoke about work it took to complete the center.

Considered the centerpiece of an ambitious program of development aimed at transforming Mozingo into a regional recreation destination, the center was financed with revenue from an existing half-cent sales tax supporting lake operations and an additional oneeighth of 1 percent sales tax narrowly approved by voters in April 2016.

Amenities at the new complex, which adjoins a privately developed Boulders Inn & Suites hotel, include a large modular banquet room capable of seating up to 500 people, a golf pro shop, golf simulator room, cart storage, offices, restrooms and other facilities.

The center also contains a privately operated restaurant owned

by Michael Foust, owner of a farm to table restaurant named The Farmhouse in Kansas City.

Passage of the sales tax paved the way for a construction project long labeled as a top priority by the City Council. In selling the facility to the public, municipal officials cited statistics from a city-commissioned feasibility study stating

SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM

The main conference room at the new center, can be split into four separate smaller conference rooms with capacity for 125 people. the complex could attract as many as 250 events a year drawing more than 20,000 people.

In order to turn those projections into reality, the city in July hired former Northwest Missouri State University staffer Ashley Barber to serve as an events coordinator.

In that role, Barber is responsible for keeping the center booked with everything from golf scrambles to corporate outings, weddings and fishing tournaments.

McDanel said recently that about 75 events have been calendared at the center for 2018, among them the annual SSM Health St. Francis Hospital Gala traditionally held in February at the Maryville Community Center.

Among other offerings, the conference center offers Mozingo patrons a much-expanded paved parking lot containing nearly 400 spaces, including extra-large slots designed to accommodate boat trailers and recreational vehicles.

Motorists access the lot from Liberty Road along Fall Drive, which is named for the late City

SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM

Local art and woodwork is featured prominently throughout the new conference center at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park.

SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM

Maryville City Manager Greg McDanel leads a tour Jan. 2 that includes members of the media along with State Sen. Dan Hegeman and State Rep. Allen Andrews at The Conference Center at Mozingo Lake. The group toured the facility before the open house event held later that evening.

Councilman Jim Fall, who, while in office, tirelessly worked to turn his vision of a conference center/

hotel complex at the park into reality.

The split-level, partially stone-

faced center offers an elevated panorama of both Mozingo Lake and parts of two golf courses.

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Thursday, January 25, 2018

Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

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PHOTOS BY TONY BROWN/THE FORUM

Bolder Industries managers, local officials and members of the Maryville business community posed for a group photograph in early February 2017 during a ribbon cutting ceremony at Maryville Carbon Solutions, a BI subsidiary that produces a trademarked form of carbon black from scrap automotive tires. Late last year, the company announced that it was adding more than a dozen new positions to its payroll in preparation for expanded operations and increased production.

MCS hailed as win for industry, environment

By TONY BROWN The Forum

MARYVILLE, Mo. — More than 100 Maryville officials, business representatives and civic leaders turned out Friday, Feb. 3, 2017, for opening ceremonies welcoming the city’s newest corporate citizen, Maryville Carbon Solutions.

The first manufacturing facility opened by Boulder, Colorado-based startup Bolder Industries, MCS, is housed in the former Carbolytic Materials Co. plant, which closed in 2012 after a troubled threeyear run that included an oil spill, two fires and eventual bankruptcy.

Like its predecessor, Maryville Carbon Solutions transforms scrap automotive tires into a trademarked version of carbon black, a coloring and reinforcing agent used to manufacture an almost endless list of rubber and plastic products from gaskets and wetsuits to conveyor belts to O-rings.

In addition to its primary product, “Bolder Black,” the factory also produces syngas — a type of fuel gas — and lubricant-grade oil through a process known as pyrolysis. It also recovers and sells the steel used in tire belting.

The oil is marketed as well, and the company has moved forward with construction of a small syngas plant on site designed to produce enough electricity to power the entire facility.

Pyrolysis, the key step in Bolder Black production, is accomplished by subjecting ground-up tire material to temperatures of around 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit in an oxygen-starved environment, what amounts to a huge oven designed to

Bolder Industries CEO Tony Wibbeler, right, gestures toward a conveyor as it moves shredded automotive tires slated for conversion into a substance known as carbon black, a coloring agent used to manufacture an almost endless list of rubber and plastic products from gaskets to wetsuits. Standing next to Wibbeler is Larry Rusco, a member of the Maryville Industrial Development Corp. board of directors. siphon off the oil and gas and leave behind a darkcolored solid that is reduced to ultra-fine powder before being mixed with water and formed into tiny pellets for shipment to customers.

During the plant’s public grand opening a year ago, which followed two years of upgrades and refitting at a cost of around $10 million, Bolder Industries founder and CEO Tony Wibbeler led a group of local residents through the factory’s shredding area where a huge grinder rendered tires into palm-sized chunks.

Tour participants also watched as machinery recovered steel belting and shredded rubber into ever-smaller pieces until it was ready for the pyrolysis oven, which makes up the factory’s technological heart.

“That’s where the magic happens,” Wibbeler said.

While the process is similar to the one employed by Carbolytic Materials Co., Wibbeler said a number of refinements have made pro-

duction cleaner and safer.

He noted that the entire process is designed to foster environmental sustainability while preventing thousands of tons of scrap tires from being dumped in landfills.

“We are very proud of what we have here,” said Ken Dunn, Bolder Industries’ sustainability director, who added that 300 million tires are scrapped each year, and that an increasing number of landfills are refusing to take them.

The result, Dunn said, is that about 50 percent of all waste tires are incinerated, a practice that has come under increasing scrutiny by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

At full production, he said, Maryville Carbon Solutions plans to process up to 1 million scrap tires a year, enough to produce 7 million pounds of Bolder Black, 1.2 million gallons of oil and 1,600 tons of recovered steel.

Compared to producing a similar amount of “virgin” carbon black from

petroleum, Dunn said, the Maryville Carbon operation will reduce carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by

480,000 tons a year, save 161 million gallons of water and produce 84 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually, enough to power nearly 8,000 single-family homes.

From a customer’s point of view, Dunn said major manufacturers — including General Motors and Ford — are increasingly interested in carbon black recovered from tires and other kinds of scrap rubber because it improves their environmental “scorecard” with regard to various regulatory requirements.

Another upside for buyers, he said, is that while the cost of conventional carbon black is tied to the price of oil, Bolder Black is produced from “feedstock” — old tires — that is essentially free.

This means Bolder Industries should be able to offer customers a fixed price over the term of multi-year con-

tracts regardless of how oil prices fluctuate.

As for local impact, Bolder Industries executives say the factory at full production likely will have a payroll of between 35 and 40 workers clocking in over three shifts.

During the February 2017 opening, local government and economic development officials praised Maryville Carbon Solutions for taking a community-centered approach to reviving a shuttered facility.

Josh McKim, executive director of Nodaway County Economic Development, described MCS as a win-win for the Maryville region, which now has a corporate citizen poised to generate significant economic impacts while generating products that help the environment.

See MCS, Page A11

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Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

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Thursday, January 25, 2018

GREATER MARYVILLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE PHOTO

Sharlet Dumke, general manager of the Boulders Inn & Suites hotel at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park, shown left holding scissors, cuts a ceremonial ribbon April 4 marking the opening of the new facility in spring 2017. The ceremony was attended by a large number of local officials and business leaders along with representatives from the Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce.

Boulders Inn & Suites opens lodge at Mozingo

By TONY BROWN The Forum

MARYVILLE, Mo. — Local businesses leaders, government officials and members of the Nodaway County economic development community attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony April 4 for the newly opened Boulders Inn & Suites hotel at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park.

The lodge, which conducted a “soft opening” during March, was developed by Iowa-based Boulders and a group of local investors.

It is located at 2 Fall Drive, which also serves

as the main entrance to the Watson 9 and Sechrest 18 golf courses.

The thoroughfare is named for the late Jim Fall, who, as mayor and a member of the Maryville City Council, led efforts to bring a hotel to the park along with a now-completed $5 million conference center and golf course clubhouse.

Embracing 40 units with a mix of king- or queensized beds, single rooms and suites, the hotel offers two handicap-compliant rooms on the ground floor and has a maximum occupancy of about 146 guests.

Other features include a large breakfast area fur-

‘Opening of the Boulders Inn & Suites at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park has marked the successful com‑ pletion of a five-year economic development effort to attract private lodging to the park. The hotel comple‑ ments all our park has to offer in creating a unique des‑ tination.’ ­‑ Greg McDanel nished with cafe tables, a sofa and easy chairs arranged in front of a large, stone-faced fireplace.

Besides a complimentary hot breakfast, the hotel offers patrons a pantry market selling snacks and convenience items, a fitness center with aerobic machines

and free weights, Simmons pillow-top mattresses, inroom 43-inch flat-screen televisions, Wi-Fi access and a business center.

The lodge, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is similar to other Boulders facilities in the Iowa communities of Denison, Lake

Maryville City Manager

View, Atlantic, Okoboji, Polk City, Newton, Fort Madison, Clarion, Holstein and Monticello.

It is the first hotel the company, which opened its original lodge in Denison in 2008, has built in Missouri.

“Opening of the Boulders

Inn & Suites at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park has marked the successful completion of a five-year economic development effort to attract private lodging to the park,” said Maryville City Manager Greg McDanel. “The hotel complements all our park has to offer in creating a unique destination.”

Assistant City Manager Ryan Heiland, who serves as the city-owned park’s chief administrator, added that the Boulders brand “aligns perfectly with the vision of the Mozingo master plan and the public conference center,” which was completed in Jan. 2017.

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TONY BROWN/THE FORUM

The Boulders Inn & Suites hotel at city-owned Mozingo Lake Recreation Park east of Maryville opened this spring after nearly a year of construction. Embracing 40 units with a mix of king- or queen-sized beds, single rooms and suites, the lodge offers patrons complimentary hot breakfast, a pantry market and a fitness center with aerobic machines and free weights. Other amenities include Simmons pillow-top mattresses, in-room 43-inch flat-screen televisions, Wi-Fi access and a business center.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

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Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

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Thursday, January 25, 2018

Hughes Fieldhouse takes shape MARYVILLE, Mo. — Northwest Missouri State University hosted groundbreaking ceremonies June 15 for its new athletics and special-events complex, designated Hughes Fieldhouse.

The name of the mammoth facility — designed to cover more than 137,000 square feet under one roof — honors Carl Hughes, a 1976 Northwest graduate and member of the Northwest Foundation Board of Directors, and his wife, Cheryl Deweerdt Hughes.

Carl Hughes earned a bachelor’s degree in business finance at Northwest, where he was a member of the Bearcat football team. Cheryl Hughes, who holds a degree in speech therapy from the university, was a Bearcat cheerleader and a member of the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority.

University officials said that in addition to making a significant gift in support of the center, the Hugheses played an important role in securing donations from others.

“During a time when all institutions of higher education are under budget pressure, the completion of this project demonstrates that Northwest is effectively preparing for the future,” Carl Hughes said.

“Whoever steps foot on this campus will be highly impressed. The university leadership has done an excellent job of creating broadbased support for the project — from alumni, students, the Board of Regents and the city of Maryville to local businesses and individuals.

The community should be proud.”

The $20 million project, a central priority for Northwest’s ongoing Forever Green capital campaign, received its official green light May 25 when the Northwest regents approved awarding a construction contract to general contractor E.L. Crawford Inc. of St. Joseph.

SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM

Under construction last year, the Hughes Fieldhouse is shown in the beginning stages of the build. In a partnership between the City of Maryville and Northwest Missouri State Unviersity the building is proof that partnerships work for progress.

When complete, the facility will contain a 90-yard practice turf, 300-meter indoor track, spectator seating, meeting rooms and a removable flooring system to accommodate special events such as trade shows and concerts.

The Hughes family served as one of four “team captains” heading up fundraising efforts. Other campaign leaders include the Mel and Valorie Booth family of Scottsdale, Arizona, the City of Maryville and Nodaway Valley Bank.

In addition to the “captains,” donors supporting construction with gifts or pledges of $50,000 or more are being recognized by Northwest as the Founding 50, though more than 60 such donors are already

committed to the project.

The City of Maryville has agreed to provide a portion of projected revenue from a voter-approved 5 percent “bed tax” on nightly hotel stays.

Additional support comes in the form of $13 million in donations and pledges to the Northwest Foundation, which serves as Northwest’s fundraising and advancement arm, and internal university sources.

A third-party economic impact study commissioned by Northwest claims the center could carry a regional economic development impact of $23.8 million, which the report described as the equivalent of 946 new jobs.

Real

Foundation board member John Moore, who graduated from Northwest in 1978, urged his fellow Northwest alumni and other supporters of the institution to get behind what he believes will be a landmark structure on campus.

“I think it’s just going to take people’s breath away when they get a chance to actually see the facility,” he said. “It’s going to create a level of energy and set the stage for the next step of success for this university.”

Northwest has set four goals for the center: “promoting health, wellness and engaged programming for Northwest’s students, faculty and staff as well as the broader community; providing a

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competitive advantage relative to Northwest’s intercollegiate athletics teams and overall programming; enhancing Northwest’s ability to recruit, retain and engage students; and providing enhanced community partnership opportunities and economic development outcomes.”

University administrators, along with local officials and civic leaders, have said the center will be used to host a variety of campus and community activities, including Northwest club sports and student organization events; Bearcat Marching Band rehearsals; intercollegiate athletics team practices; college and high school track meets; and community fun

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Thursday, January 25, 2018

Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

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TONY BROWN/THE FORUM

Maryville City Councilwoman Rachael Martin, center, poses for a photograph with her daughter Quinn and youngsters from the current St. Francis Preschool & Child care Center during groundbreaking ceremonies for a new $2.7-million center that will comprise 14,200 square feet and increase the number of children served from 67 to 136

Childhood center seeks to fill daycare gap

By TONY BROWN

grams as Maryville’s firstever early Head Start initiative for infants and toddlers A crowd of about 200 up to three years old.

SSM Health St. Francis Grispino emphasized that Hospital staff members, the center is intended to civic leaders and local ofserve the entire community ficials gathered on the hosand will offer sliding-scale pital’s west lawn on the tuition based on family inlast day of August during come level. groundbreaking ceremonies Other programs and famarking the start of concilities associated with struction for the new SSM the center are to include Health Preschool & Child practicums for Northwest care Center.

Missouri State University In the planning stages for students seeking four-year well over a year, the center, degrees in early childhood when complete, will help fill education, and, in coopa widely perceived need for eration with Maryville increased local daycare Parks & Recreation, a services and early barrier-free, wheel‘There were times childhood educachair accessible when we both thought, tional opportuniplayground that ties. will also serve ‘This just isn’t going to The facility as a municiwork.’ But we continued to will replace an pal “pocket existing daypark” after push forward, because we knew care facility hours and on — a converted one day it would all be worth it. weekends. ranch-style Additional That day is here.’ house — just partnerships, east of the main Grispino said, ­‑ Megan Jennings hospital building, will embrace arSt. Francis Development Officer doubling its capacity rangements with from 67 children to 136, major employers seekplus an additional 20 opening to provide affordable ings for as-needed “backup child care to working families. care.”

He said St. Francis plans St. Francis’ Vice Presi- for children ages birth to to work with companies in dent of Operations Frank three years.” an effort to offer priority enGrispino set the tone for When completed, the $2.7 rollment, preferred pricing the celebration by saying million, 14,200-square-foot and back-up care options the 120-year-old Catholic- center will comprise 11 for employees, along with affiliated institution has a classrooms, a gross-motor monthly family meals and mission extending beyond activity room (play and education nights. medical healing. exercise space) and other “We believe educational “The hospital can serve facilities housing such pro- opportunities and partnerThe Forum

the community in a number of ways besides just caring for the sick,” Grispino said, “and the child care ministry is certainly one of the ways we can do that. …

“Within the city limits of Maryville alone, there are 562 children under the age of 5, but only 187 slots available for early childhood education at licensed centers. Of these 186 slots, 150 are allocated for children between the ages of 3 and 5, leaving only 37 slots

ships like this strengthen our families and the economic development of our region,” said Grispino, adding that children who don’t receive early childhood education are more likely to drop out of high school, become teen parents and be arrested for violent crimes.

St. Francis Foundation Development Officer Megan Jennings said the vision for an expanded child care center began when she sat down for an informal lunch with Jackie Spainhower,

then executive director of the Northwest Missouri Regional Council of Governments.

Spainhower told Jennings she was thinking of applying for a $1 million Community Development Block Grant offered through former Gov. Jay Nixon’s Smart Start initiative, a program designed to expand access to early childhood education statewide.

The application process, both women remarked during the ceremony, was grueling and highly competitive.

“There were times when we both thought, ‘This just isn’t going to work,’” Jennings said. “But we continued to push forward, because we knew one day it would all be worth it. That day is here.”

In addition to the CDBG funds, St. Francis also received approval for the sale of up to $250,000 in Neighborhood Assistance Program tax credits, which will generate an anticipated $500,000 in funding for the new child care center.

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Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

Thursday, January 25, 2018

TONY BROWN/THE FORUM

Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp. President and CEP Masanobu (Matt) Kurushima cuts a ceremonial ribbon during dedication ceremonies for the completed 285th Street project, which created paved access to the Maryville factory’s loading docks and added a public southbound entry ramp onto Highway 71. The $2.2-million construction effort, 100 percent funded by Kawasaki has been named Horsepower Drive.

Horsepower Drive opens to traffic

By TONY BROWN The Forum

A pair of dignitary-filled Kawasaki Mule fourwheelers and a red, white and blue Keane Thummel Trucking semi-trailer rig were the first vehicles to roll down “Horsepower Drive” Aug. 29 following dedication ceremonies for a newly completed street and southbound Highway 71 entrance ramp at the south

end of Maryville.

The $2.2 million project, which transformed a partly paved and partly graveled portion of 285th Street, was completely funded by Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp. in an effort to improve access to the factory’s loading docks and ease traffic congestion at the beginning and end of work shifts.

Horsepower Drive and the new ramp were opened

‘They’re always a little jealous that we’ve got such a great corporate citizen.’ ­‑ Josh McKim, Nodaway County Economic Development Director to motorists shortly after the ceremony ended.

After the project moved from the planning stages into construction early in 2017, the effort was hailed by state and local government officials and economic development professionals as a stellar

example of corporate citizenship and public/private sector cooperation.

“I can’t emphasize enough how rare that is,” said Josh McKim, executive director of Nodaway County Economic Development, about Kawasaki’s decision to pay for what amounts to a major piece of public infrastructure.

Usually, McKim said, the formula works the other way around, as companies use their clout as large-scale employers and tax revenue generators to pressure cities into paying for improvements benefitting corporate operations.

After speaking with economic development peers in other cities about the Horsepower Drive project, McKim said he has encountered responses that border on envy.

“They’re always a little jealous that we’ve got such a great corporate citizen,” he said.

McKim also offered praise to the City of Maryville and, especially, City Manager Greg McDanel, saying it was unusual for someone with his job to “work with somebody in city government that really gets economic development.”

Other key players in the effort to turn the streetrebuild and ramp installation project into reality, McKim said, included state Sen. Dan Hegeman; state Rep. Allen Andrews; Polk Township officials, who surrendered a portion of 285th Street to city control; and the John Byland family, which owned a vital portion of right-ofway.

McKim also thanked the Missouri Department of Transportation for showing “flexibility” in supporting a project that was “a little outside of their wheelbox.”

Other speakers during the dedication included Kawasaki Motors Chief Strategic Officer Steve Bratt, who said the new road and ramp offers plant employees additional safety and convenience by making it easier for them to hit the road at the end of the workday.

He added that, from the city’s point of view, Horsepower Drive should ease traffic volume near the South Main/Highway 71 bypass intersection and facilitate planned traffic flow and pedestrian improvements along the South Main retail corridor.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

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Thursday, January 25, 2018

NCED spotlights challenges to growth Workforce, transportation among bars to Maryville region’s rise

By TONY BROWN The Forum

MARYVILLE, Mo. — When it comes to jobs, business startups, manufacturing and overall economic growth, community leaders tend to put the best possible face on things.

But in rural northwest Missouri in 2018, even the most determined optimist has to admit challenges exist, and that in terms of growth and development there is lots of room for improvement along Main Street of Small Town, USA. And not just Main Street, but other sectors of the heartland economy as well, including such major components as manufacturing, education, health care and agriculture.

Josh McKim, executive director of Nodaway County Economic Development, recently sat down with Forum reporter Tony Brown to talk about some of the problems — or opportunities, depending on how one looks at things — that need to be addressed in order to encourage economic growth during the new year and beyond.

What follows is a summary of McKim’s take on four basic issues, in order of importance, where change, innovation, creativity and a willingness to move beyond the status quo could make a big difference in terms of this region’s overall economic health and potential.

TONY BROWN/THE FORUM

Josh McKim, executive director of Nodaway County Economic Development, is shown at his desk in the Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce’s office suite across the street from Maryville City Hall. Looking at 2018 and beyond, McKim said he sees workforce development, transportation issues, increased funding for higher education and a renewed focus on agriculture as keys to northwest Missouri’s future prosperity. across the region. If you look at all 18 counties in northwest Missouri, it’s a trend across all of them.

“The truth of the matter is that we have to look a little beyond Maryville and Nodaway County, where there is some projected population growth. But the counties around us are not growing.

There is significant population decline. “… The population is falling all around us, and that is why we have to think more regionally, and then

major plant layoffs over the last year in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri, and we’re looking at how do we target those markets that are seeing layoffs in the fourstate area. We think it’s a reasonable assumption that we might be 1. Workforce able to draw somebody from that development area versus New York or Califor“The easiest thing to point to nia. challengewise is our labor force.

“So we’re doing that, and we’re We have a tremendously producdeveloping a website that will be tive labor force; we’re much more specific for recruitment of workproductive than the national and ers. It will have all of our busistate averages. And we have a nesses, all of our consistent workforce. manufacturers that We have all those good are participating … a things about our workwhole set of things tryforce except we don’t ing to convince people have enough of them. to look at Maryville.

“We have jobs right “… A big part of now at our manufacturthat, honestly, that we ing facilities, and we have got to wrap our have other operations heads around, is qualthat are also hiring that ity of life. Because you are not manufacturing can have a job availrelated that are having Josh McKim able for somebody, but trouble finding folks.

Nodaway County Economic Development Director that’s only one compoThe fact of the matter nent of their life. You is we’re struggling in that we have the jobs, we just don’t we have to figure out how can we have to have all the other compohave the people to meet those job try to recruit people — people that nents that they want. have the specific skill sets that we “They want to have recreational requirements to some degree. opportunities. Also, they need an “So what we’ve done is to tran- need.

“We’re trying to figure out how education system that they can besition — not away from recruitment (of new industry), we’re con- we do that effectively, and we’re lieve in, and they have to have a tinuing to do that — but toward working with our manufacturers to health care operation that they feel try to do that. We’ve got a couple comfortable with. So there are a workforce development.

“We do have the people, just that we hope will be coming out lot of layers to that, and we have to not enough of them, and that’s be- in the very near future that we can effectively market what we have cause of population decline. It’s kind of tout and show, but that’s here for education, for entertainsomething we’re facing in rural still in the development process ment and for health care. “… Traditionally in economic Missouri and to a greater degree right now.

“We’ve also identified all of the development, the idea has been to in northwest Missouri. It’s a trend

‘What we see is a $200 million industry, but so much of what we do locally is to raise and produce, and then to ship those crops and livestock somewhere else to add value to them.’ ­‑

recruit businesses and the people will come. Things have seemed to change where now we need to look at recruiting people and the businesses will come. That’s what businesses are telling us, and that is what consultants are telling us.”

2. Transportation “Railroads, highways, all of the above (are an issue).

“Some projects will not even consider a community that doesn’t have rail. You can talk to them until you are blue in the face, and tell them that you have the necessary transportation components for them. But if you don’t have rail they won’t listen to you.

“For lots of heavy industrial projects, rail is essential, and we don’t have that. It takes you out of the picture right away.

“Highway access is another concern. We do have a number of highways coming through here, but we only have one fourlane highway (U.S. Highway 71, which narrows to two lanes north of town). But product comes to and goes out north, south, east and west, not just south, and we have some two-lane highways, and that causes some issues. “… With that, anytime a truck goes to make a delivery there is a certain amount of dead-heading (trucks forced to run empty while proceeding to a destination where they can pick up a new load).

And you don’t want to run empty.

That’s money lost.

“Usually drivers will have to go

to Kansas City or Omaha, so you are looking at anywhere between 90 and 110 miles of dead-heading, or sometimes St. Joseph, which is 45 miles, and that’s just one way.

So that’s a problem. … Those are probably the two big issues, trains and the lack of four-lanes. “(But with regard to the return of rail service to the Maryville region) I have never heard of any movement or anything along those lines. I’d love to see it, but I don’t think it will happen. Highways, I’ve had some discussions with some of our manufacturers, and it’s just a lot of work.

“They try to tie in or partner together to some degree with their trucking, and once you have trucking how do we drop something off, how do we avoid dead-heading? So there is some coordination that goes on between some of our plants. … It’s a challenge.”

3. Education “Educational funding is a concern, and mostly on the university side. That has created a major issue.

If you look at our local economy, we have three things that really drive it or bring these dollars into our community. You’ve got manufacturing, you’ve got education, and then you’ve got agriculture.

Those are the three main drivers, the largest components of our local economy that bring in new dollars.

Education is number two.

See NCED, Page A11

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Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

Thursday, January 25, 2018

NCED

Continued from Page A10

“The decline of funds from the state to higher education directly impacts our community, and I think sometimes we don’t get that.

People may think that anytime you cut government funds it’s good, but it’s not when one of the largest components of our economy is negatively impacted, and that is what is happening right now.

“I don’t blame our local guys.

Sen. (Dan) Hegeman) and Rep. (Allen) Andrews work really hard to support our local businesses and our local educational institutions.

But for some reason (higher education) has been a major target for cuts from the state side.

“It hurts us. It brings fewer dollars into our community, and it is impacting the ability and other types of service industries to thrive. “… For us locally we’re anywhere from $300 to $350 million in state and federal governmental funding. The bulk of that is Northwest Missouri State University.

Then there is the correctional facility (Maryville Treatment Center), the U.S. Department of Ag-

Progress Continued from Page A1

struction of a new southbound ramp linking the former 285th Street — now Horsepower Drive — to Highway 71.

While the ramp improves access and enhances safety for big trucks and employee vehicles entering and exiting the Kawasaki campus, McDanel said the project is the sort of thing corporations typically demand that cities pay for.

Kawasaki’s willingness to invest directly in the community where it serves as the larg-

riculture offices and that kind of stuff. But the university is the largest component of that.

“I think having a state that has a favorable tax structure for business is not a bad thing. With that, reasonably conservative spending of tax dollars is a good thing.

There should be a high amount of oversight. I think the problem comes when we continue to cut one sector assuming that there is more room to cut without understanding what we are cutting.

“So before you continue to cut higher education, I think you need to take a long look at what these cuts are going to do. Are these cuts simply removing some waste, or now have we gotten past the point of waste, and are we starting to remove people from vital positions. And I’m afraid that that’s where we are going, and it’s time to evaluate that versus assuming there is more to cut.

“It hurts us, and whether we like it or not, that’s how it is. It’s hurting our local economy.

4. Agriculture “Our No. 3 industry in terms of bringing in new dollars to our community is agriculture. It’s anywhere from $100 to $200 million annually, and $200 million is

est employer, he added, is virtually unprecedented in today’s highly competitive economic development environment.

“The project involved private industry and local, county and state agencies and is a prime example of how partnerships can benefit the local economy,” McDanel said.

A final example of cooperation and partnership between local government, private business and public institutions is the recent completion of a $4.7 million conference center and golf course clubhouse at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park.

Key players early on included

probably more accurate.

“So looking at ag and the challenges that ag is facing, agriculture is tremendously technologically advanced, and all this technological advancement has allowed us to do more and more with fewer and fewer people. That’s just the fact.

“What we see is a $200 million industry, but so much of what we do locally is to raise and produce, and then to ship those crops and livestock somewhere else to add value to them.

“That means lot of dollars are leaving our community for stuff that we have raised locally to be processed, to be improved, somewhere else. And so one of the things we’re trying to figure out, and that we think is important for us moving forward, is how do we create more opportunities for that processing, that improvement locally. What can we do in Nodaway County and in northwest Missouri to do more of that here?

“Because the jobs that come from advancements in ag are not coming to rural Missouri. They are going to Kansas City or Omaha or Des Moines or other places like that. Or, frankly, they are going out to western Kansas and western Nebraska to feed lots. That’s where a

Northwest students enrolled in the university’s advanced advertising strategies course, who worked to rebrand the park as a regional tourist destination.

Multifaceted marketing, organizational and volunteer efforts at Mozingo have also led to the acquisition of the Boulders Inn & Suites hotel and the Watson 9 youth golf course.

“Completion of construction of the conference center in late 2017 marked the end of a fiveyear economic development mission,” McDanel said, “and a tremendous partnership along the way involving multiple agencies and the community at-large.”

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Page A11

lot of the jobs go, and that’s where we send a lot of our calves.

“In production of cattle, Missouri is somewhere near the top, but in the value of those cattle, we’re not even close to the top.

And the reason for that is we take them up to a point, and then we ship them somewhere else. “… This year we’re (that is, NCED) revamping our strategic plan to look at how we address this issue. This is a big industry that we have largely not been engaged with. So we’re trying to figure out what is our role. We need to figure out what we can do best. My office has got to understand what our role should be as an economic development organization.

Honestly, that has not been a traditional role for economic development. Our traditional role has always been (industrial recruitment), so now we are trying to branch out and say, ‘How do we impact our economy?’ and we’re finding that if we want to impact our economy we have to impact agriculture. “… Ag is specialized so much that for people like myself coming in from the outside it’s kind of this great big beast that you just don’t really understand. You don’t

MCS

Continued from Page A3

“There is social good in the business plan they’ve got,” McKim said. “It’s more than just a profit center. Lots of companies give lip service to that, but MCS has put their money where their mouth is.”

City Manager Greg McDanel, who along with McKim worked over many months to bring Maryville Carbon Solutions to Maryville, said challenges had to be addressed before a deal was struck, but that the company chose to “embrace those challenges and pivot toward the future and growth.”

And as MCS nears the end of its first year of production, that choice appears to have paid off.

say I’m going to be a retail economist, you don’t say I’m going to be a manufacturing economist, you don’t specialize over here in the rest of the world, but you do with ag. I don’t really understand why that is, but we’ve done that academically, so that almost becomes the practice as you carry it out. As economists leave the schools we now say, ‘I’m not an ag economist.’” “… But we (NCED) are going to try and focus more on agriculture. We’re in the process of revamping our strategic plan — it’s a little bigger issue than I thought it would be — to where ag is going to be a major focus for us. “… Our traditional economic development theory has focused on manufacturing. The reality has become much different than that, but that is what our traditional theories and planning have been focused on. … It’s a 50- or 60-year-old model, and what we saw here was that in the ’60s and ’70s it worked well.

But it’s not a model that works today, and it’s not a model that works for rural America.

“Now do we need to focus on manufacturing? Yes, it will continue to be a major focus of ours.

But we have got to incorporate agriculture.”

Near the end of 2017, Bolder Industries announced it was adding more than a dozen employees to the MCS payroll in both supervisory to entry-level positions.

The hires, according to company officials, are meant to prepare the Maryville plant for expanded operations and increased production.

In addition, in Dec. 2017, Bolder Industries was awarded a $50,000 grant from the Waste Tire Market Development Fund through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The company plans to use grant funds to develop specialty applications for Bolder Black, an effort that is to include the creation and testing of custom compounds promising a variety of new performance characteristics.

Page A12

Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

Thursday, January 25, 2018

State of Mozingo Lake Recreation Park With the start of a new calendar year, the City of Maryville would like to take a moment and reflect on all of the successes at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park. With continued citizen and visitor support, Mozingo Lake made great strides for the future of the community and the region.

Conference Center

On January 2nd, the Grand Opening celebration for the Conference Center at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park. Taking just over a year to complete construction, the Conference Center at Mozingo Lake is the newest affordable premier event destination in Missouri.

The facility and the park is the perfect venue for all types of events, from corporate retreats and regional meetings, to family reunions, golf tournaments, and weddings. Located on the shores of Mozingo Lake and adjacent to the Sechrest 18 and Watson 9 golf courses, the facility offers unparalleled views of the lake and beautiful natural settings. The Conference Center facility is flexible in its layout options and can accommodate small groups and large groups, with banquet seating up to 500 people. The facility is also equipped with a catering kitchen with a separate entrance. The Catering kitchen is a spacious area with everything caterers will need to provide final food preparation for events. Available this spring is the picturesque events lawn and event lawn stage that is located adjacent to the facility and overlooks both golf courses and Mozingo Lake. The events lawn is available for outdoor group events and ceremonies and promises to provide a unique and beautiful setting for any event. Guests will also be able to watch all of the golfing activities or just simply enjoy the beautiful sunset from the partially covered, wrap around deck overlooking the lake on the back side of the conference center.

Free wireless and a state of the art sound system are free to all event rentals and Boulders Inn & Suites Hotel is conveniently located immediately adjacent to the Conference Center facility. Additional onsite lodging opportu-

nities are also available through the eight (8) prior to playing the pristine golf courses at fully furnished cabins, RV campground, and Mozingo Lake Recreation Park. camping area located just seconds from the facility.

Restaurant

The Bays at Mozingo

The really exciting part about the Conference Center at Mozingo Lake is that it is really much more than an event facility, but it is an entertainment facility as well. Located in the lower level of the conference center is The Bays at Mozingo Lake. Equipped with two (2) top of the line simulators, The Bays at Mozingo offers an entertainment option not found anywhere is else within northwest Missouri. While primarily designed for golf, the simulators offer a fun and relaxed environment for golfers of all ages and skill levels.

With 63 golf courses to choose from, as well as driving range options and golf games, the simulators are the perfect low pressure environment for fine turning your golf game, junior and adult golf lessons, or for taking your first swing of the club. The Bays at Mozingo also offer an excellent venue for work parties and birthday parties. The simulators are also equipped to stream live TV, making The Bays at Mozingo the ideal venue for watching the big game with all of your friends and family.

The Bays at Mozingo are very affordable and can be rented on an hourly or daily basis by reserving through the golf pro shop.

Pro Shop

The pro shop is also located in the lower level of the Conference Center. With the increased square-footage, the new pro shop has an expanded inventory for all your golf needs and custom Mozingo Lake Recreation Park clothing items. The pro shop is conveniently located adjacent to both the Watson 9 and Sechrest 18 golf courses. Also available in the spring of 2018 is the newly designed driving range. With a new layout and improved access, the driving range is able to accommodate large tournaments while still providing plenty of room for daily golfers to warm up

Finally, the newest amenity to be introduced by the Mozingo Lake Conference Center is a restaurant located on the lower level. Scheduled to be opening in spring of 2018, the City of Maryville and Mozingo Lake Recreation Park is excited to provide the community and region a new experience in dining at Mozingo Lake. The restaurant space will be able to accommodate approximately 100 people inside and all tables will have a view of Mozingo Lake, as well as be able to view the action happening in The Bays at Mozingo. The restaurant space will also provide an outdoor patio that will have beautiful views of the Sechrest 18 golf course and Mozingo Lake. The outdoor patio area is the largest patio in the area and promises to a popular area during the warmer months at Mozingo Lake.

Let Us Know What You Think

This is an exciting time for Mozingo Lake and we appreciate your continued support of Mozingo Lake Recreation Park. A good source of information on park needs, improvements, or programs often comes from public input. Every suggestion will be considered and is appreciated. We urge all citizens and park users to contact staff as to provide feedback at 660-562-2323 or visit our website at www.mozingolake.com.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

Page B1

COURTESY OF BAKER-GARRETT INVESTMENT

Shown is the restored interior of an apartment owned by Baker-Garrett Investments, a new property acquisition and rental enterprise founded by boyhood friends David Baker and Tyler Garrett about a year and a half ago.

Rehab partners value Campus Town heritage

By TONY BROWN The Forum

MARYVILLE, Mo. — A pair of young men, friends since grade school at Worth County R-III in Grant City, are working to help transform the Campus Town special overlay district east of Northwest Missouri State University — long associated with aging, down-at-the-heels student housing — into a trendy neighborhood of modern, refurbished apartments carved out for single-family structures that now have a new lease on life.

The revitalization of Campus Town, designated as a desirable location for high-density housing under the city’s comprehensive plan, actually began several years ago with City Council approval of the Campus Town Redevelopment Incentive Program.

CTRIP, as it is called, offers fee waivers and other incentives to developers willing to tear down

decrepit residential buildings and replace them with new duplexes and apartments.

The program has resulted in a number of development projects in the area along with the demolition of several blighted structures.

While lauded as a success by the city officials and developers alike, CTRIP does not cover rehabs of existing buildings.

But that doesn’t seem to bother David Baker and Tyler Garrett, a pair of construction-savvy 27-year-olds whose company, Baker-Garrett Investments, is dedicated to bringing quality rental housing to Campus Town while preserving the area’s early and mid-20th century character.

Both natives of Grant City, Baker and Garrett bring solid credentials to their 19-month-old enterprise and have completed interior rehabs of four two-story structures located in the 300 blocks of West Seventh and West Third Streets.

That’s a total of 14 new Cam-

TONY BROWN/THE FORUM

David Baker, left, and Tyler Garrett sit in the dining room of one of their rehabbed apartments on West Third Street in Maryville. “With a little extra care, things don’t have to be knocked down and rebuilt,” Garrett said. “They can be preserved. It’s nice to be able to renovate housing that meets or exceeds the market expectations.” pus Town apartments, 13 of which have been rented.

Baker, who heads up the property management side of the business, is a U.S. Army National Guard sergeant who serves as a

battalion supply technician with the Maryville-based 129th Field Artillery Regiment. He also has a hands-on background in construction and is qualified as both a general builder and electrician.

His role dovetails nicely with Garrett’s background as a University of Missouri-trained civil engineer who has also studied arSee CAMPUS Page B2

Page B2

Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

Thursday, January 25, 2018 LEFT: Tyler Garrett, left, and David Baker, partnerowners of Baker-Garrett Investments, stand on the corner of Third and Mulberry streets, where they have rehabbed three of the four houses shown in the background along Third Street. Baker, a National Guard sergeant with a background in construction, and Garrett, an MUtrained civil engineer, say they are interested both in providing college students and others with quality rental housing and preserving the historic character of the Campus Town neighborhood. BELOW: This photo shows the kitchen in one of the central Maryville apartments renovated over the last year and a half by Tyler Garrett and David Baker. The Grant City natives, friends since grade school, say their business model places importance on the sentimental value older buildings have to residents of small towns who want to see the architectural heritage of their home communities preserved.

PHOTOS BY TONY BROWN THE FORUM

Campus Continued from Page B1

chitecture and worked for several years in the commercial real estate industry in Kansas City, where he still lives.

While Baker, a resident of Maryville, manages the properties, Garrett is responsible for the company’s asset management and acquisition operations.

The partners’ construction and design expertise is apparent when one walks into one of their four existing properties, each of which bears a name relating to its history or former ownership: the Thompson, the Gladstone, the Flanagan and the Winstead.

Baker said during the acquisition and rehab process, they discovered that one of the buildings is a former women’s dormitory once operated by Northwest. Another used to be a physician’s office.

Such details are important to Baker and Garrett, who say they are interested in both providing students and other Maryville residents with quality housing and preserving an aging neighborhood’s small-town, pedestrianfriendly character.

“We want to save the historical architecture,” Baker said. “There is a lot of value in that.”

Garrett added that having grown up in tiny Grant City, the partners are well aware of the sentimental value older buildings have to residents whose families have often called Maryville home across several generations.

Such houses, he said, reflect the core of the city’s identity and

need only a little loving care — along with up-to-code wiring and plumbing and considerable redecorating — to serve as someone’s cherished home rather than just a place to eat and sleep.

To help achieve the goal of modern, quality housing with a historical touch, Baker and Gar-

rett are also in the process of converting all their apartments into “smart” units that, where possible, incorporate energy-efficient lighting, appliances and thermostats in order to keep tenants’ utility bills as low as possible.

“With a little extra care, things don’t have to be knocked down

and rebuilt,” Garrett said. “They can be preserved. It’s nice to be able to renovate housing that meets or exceeds the market expectations.”

Baker said many people have simply come to expect off-campus “student housing” to be shoddy and substandard.

“Obviously we would prefer that not to be the case,” he said.

“When we show the apartments and sign leases, the tenants are very excited,” Baker continued.

“Sometimes they’re just blown away. We want our apartments to be as nice as new (construction) but still with that history.”

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Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

Page B3

Décor consultants help customers feel at home Home by Sonja helps customers open the door to gracious living

By TONY BROWN The Forum

MARYVILLE, Mo. — Since changing hands in late 2016, one of Maryville’s signature downtown businesses, the former Store of Colors paint and home décor shop at 103 S. Main St., has undergone a transformation while continuing to offer customers products and services associated with more than a half-century of success.

Now owned by Sonja Wolbert, who operated her own home decorating business in Maryville before joining Hineline Home Furnishings as a decorator and sales consultant, the renamed Home by Sonja offers products and expertise reflecting the most popular trends in gracious living.

Wolbert’s previous experience in the decor industry also includes a stint managing the Furniture Mall of Kansas store in Topeka, a $40 million-a-year operation with a staff of 25 salespeople.

“It was a good job — a great job,” Wolbert said, “but it was also a sevendays-a-week job, and I was yearning to come back to a small town where you really know your guests (customers). And I wanted to be closer to family.”

So, when the Maryville native and 1991 Northwest Missouri State University graduate was offered a chance to acquire the Store of Colors by former owners Elizabeth and Peter Kamstra, she leaped at it.

A former educator and community development professional, Wolbert ran the Parents as Teachers program for the Maryville R-II School District in the late 1990s and served four years as principal of St. Gregory’s School, which is operated by the local St. Gregory Barbarigo Roman Catholic Parish.

But she says interior design has always been her true passion.

Wolbert still recalls a Maryville High School English class in which she and other students were asked to create a collage illustrating what they would like to be doing in 20 years. Wolbert’s piece was all about paint, flooring, carpet, drapes and furniture.

But in the late 1980s,

TONY BORWN/ THE FORUM

Store owner Sonja Wolbert, seated, and Amy Schreck make up the design team at Home by Sonja, the former Store of Colors paint, flooring, and drapery business located at 103 S. Main St. in Maryville. Wolbert, who has an extensive background in interior decoration and retail furniture sales, has retained many of the store’s existing products and services while adding new lines, such as Bassett Furniture, a company that specializes in high quality pieces customizable in more than 600 fabrics. there wasn’t much call in rural northwest Missouri for interior design specialists, so Wolbert set her sights on what she thought was a more practical career.

Fortunately for her growing base of customers, however, what the teenage Wolbert wanted to do most ended up being what she does best. And these days she says her long experience both as a designer and in the retail furniture business has given her a unique feel for helping people create domestic environments that are both comfortable and deeply personal.

In approaching a home design challenge, Wolbert said, the best strategy is often to start where the customer is, meaning that when it comes to color, decor and furnishings most people have a pretty good idea about what it takes to make them feel at home.

“I like to try and use what people have but maybe in a different way,” Wolbert said. “Most of the time people have already purchased things they love in a certain style or color, things that bring them joy. But they don’t always know how to arrange them to get the look

that they want. That’s what we do.”

Founded in 1960 by Leroy and Shirley Wedlock, the former Store of Colors has always been one of the main places where Maryville homeowners and businesses purchase paint and other interior design products.

In addition to contractorprovided installations, the store continues to offer Benjamin Moore paints, Old Masters stains, window treatments, blinds, draperies, floor coverings, wallpaper and various decorator items.

Except for a picture matting and framing operation, which has been eliminated, Wolbert has kept that lineup of products and services intact while adding Bassett Furniture, a company specializing in high quality pieces that can be customized in more than 600 fabrics.

Home by Sonja also offers just about everything else homeowners might need to create the perfect look for any room, including tables, lamps, accessories, decorative pieces and art.

To this end the store contains a “foundation room” display space designed to

help people visualize various furniture combinations and decorator schemes.

More than just selling paint, flooring, window treatments and furniture, Wolbert said she is in the business of providing customers with the experience

of living in a welcoming space all their own.

“We want them to feel welcome and comfortable,” she said, “to walk into their home and absolutely love it.”

The Home by Sonja staff also includes Amy Schreck,

another local designer who worked with Wolbert during her Elements Interior Redesign days.

Together, Wolbert said, the pair offers customers an experienced design team capable of taking on just about any decorating challenge.

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Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

Page B4

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Consultant: ‘Cool factor’ a key for downtown

By TONY BROWN The Forum

On a day in late August, 2017, just before students started moving back to campus for the start of a new fall term at Northwest Missouri State University, a large crowd consisting of university employees and community leaders filled the Houston Center for the Performing Arts for a rally dedicated to town-and gown unity and a strengthened commitment to shared progress.

Generally referred to as the All-Employee Meeting, the traditional start-of-semester gathering was renamed last year to the AllEmployee and Community Meeting and included presentations by Northwest President John Jasinski, City Manager Greg McDanel and keynoter Ron Drake.

Drake, a consultant based in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, is an authority on the renewal and redevelopment of small-town downtowns and spent three days here last February meeting with Maryville officials, economic development professionals and business owners during a tour hosted by the Community Foundation of Northwest Missouri.

Invited back last summer by City Hall and Northwest, Drake once again laid out a future for downtown Maryville that envisions a vibrant commercial district filled with loft apartments, boutiques, clothing stores, restaurants and public gathering spaces.

To accomplish this, Drake called on local residents to work together with the campus community in an effort to think and act creatively while taking advantage of existing buildings, repurposed materials and an emphasis on what he calls “the cool factor.”

In Siloam Springs, Drake said, derelict buildings were transformed through adherence to a “work with what you’ve got” ethic used to carve creative spaces for living, socializing and doing business that feature bare brick walls, open ductwork, rustically preserved tin ceilings and restored hardwood floors.

The key, he said, is to “figure out how to do cool stuff for the least money.”

In just a few years, Drake said, Siloam Springs’ downtown went from a 30-percent building occupancy rate to nearly 100 percent and was declared America’s fourth-best downtown by Parade Magazine.

He said he is helping lead a similar effort in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, which, like Maryville, is a college town of around 12,000 people.

In working toward downtown revitalization in Maryville, Drake told his listeners it was essential to establish a core group of advocates and prime movers plus a second group made up of community leaders and officials.

Another crucial step, he said, was to encourage alliances and

PHOTOS BYTONY BROWN/THE FORUM

ABOVE: Downtown revitalization consultant Ron Drake, right, talks with La Chic Salon & Spa owner Jennifer Gillespie last February in the salon’s customer service area. During the discussion, which was attended by civic leaders from a half-dozen northwest Missouri communities, Gillespie talked about her efforts to have her building placed on the National Register of Historic Places. RIGHT: Downtown renewal expert Ron Drake speaks from the stage Aug. 24 during the All-Employee and Community Meeting in the Houston Performing Arts Center on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University.

In working toward the creation of a growing, vital central business district, Drake called on local leaders to form strong partnerships with Northwest while embracing the community’s identification as a “college town.” cooperative efforts involving city government, businesses, the campus and local organizations.

All of these groups and individuals, he said — to general laughter — should make it a point to “restore” the community’s “CAVE people,” an acronym standing for “citizens against virtually everything.”

“Maryville has an amazing downtown,” said Drake, who then posed the question, “But when you go downtown do you see blighted buildings or amazing opportunities?”

One of the central priorities for a vital central business district, he said, is the development of loft housing for students, young adults and even families.

“Do you want students to stay here after they graduate?” Drake asked. “Well, give them a place to live. … The best way to bring life to downtown is to bring lives to downtown.”

Other recommendations by the author of “Flip This Town” included creating gathering spaces that can be enjoyed by people from all social and income levels and an overall design that encourages pedestrians over automobiles.

He also said local businesses should recruit university students as interns and employees and set them to work doing everything

from designing attractive restaurant menus to taking on marketing and social media projects.

Such relationships can only strengthen Maryville’s relationship with Northwest Missouri State, said Drake, who urged business and civic leaders to forge connections with the university at every possible opportunity.

“You have to determine your identity,” he said. “Maryville is a college town.”

During remarks earlier in the meeting, both Jasinski and McDanel spoke to a number of cooperative ventures undertaken by the city and the university over the past few years, including completion of the Fourth Street pedestrian corridor and ongoing construction of Hughes Fieldhouse, a massive indoor athletics complex on the west side of campus.

Northwest paid for signage and other features incorporated into the Fourth Street project, and the city is contributing $3.45 million over 23 years in transient guest tax revenues that will be used to help build and maintain the $20 million fieldhouse.

“Our partnership has never been so strong,” said Jasinski, who added that it was time to take cooperation with the city and organizations like the Chamber of

Commerce, Downtown Maryville and Nodaway County Economic Development “to the next level.”

For his part, McDanel, a Northwest alumnus, said city managers often struggle to come up with a formula for “what makes a city special enough to call home.”

But in Maryville, he said, the answer seems obvious.

“To me, that is Northwest Missouri State University,” he said.

During his first visit a year ago, Drake cautioned business leaders that there is no “one-size-fits-all solution” for revitalizing small, rural communities, and that his mission in Maryville was to look for “connections and opportunities” tied to resources that already exist.

“Everything Maryville needs to have a great downtown is already right here,” he said.

Specifically, Drake addressed

the importance of establishing an effective “Main Street” agency, an effort already underway here in the form of the Downtown Maryville organization.

Drake said while Downtown Maryville’s current volunteer leadership is likely capable of making a good start, such organizations usually founder without significant funding and a professional executive at the helm.

At a minimum, Drake said, the group should probably have a budget of between $50,000 and $100,000. But he added there is nothing wrong with starting small.

He said Siloam Springs was spending around $16,000 a year on downtown revitalization before getting serious about renewal efforts, and that the annual “Main Street” budget there ultimately to around $250,000.

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Thursday, January 25, 2018

Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

Page B5

THE FORUM STAFF

Planet Sub general manager Christina Dulin takes an order from one of the restaurant’s first patrons back in mid-October. The restaurant is located adjoining the Student Body custom apparel shop in the 200 block of West Fourth Street near the east end of a recently completed pedestrian corridor designed as a practical and aesthetic link connecting Maryville’s central business district to the Northwest Missouri State University campus.

Planet Sub touches down on 4th Street

By TONY BROWN The Forum

MARYVILLE, Mo. — Planet Sub, located at 221 W. Fourth St., opened its doors to customers for the first time in mid-October, offering motorists and pedestrians along a newly streetscaped corridor connecting downtown to the Northwest Missouri State University campus a tasty assortment of sandwiches and wraps.

The 2,500-square foot restaurant adjoins the Student Body screen-printing and embroidery store, with Student Body owners Jim and

asking if we were open yet.”

One advantage from the start has been a staff that already has experience with how Planet Sub stores operate. Dulin said several employees at the Maryville location previously worked at the St. Joseph store before finishing high school and enrolling at Northwest.

Regional manager and St. Joseph store manager Matt Davis lent a hand on opening day, arriving at the store to greet its first patrons and stuffing a few sandwiches himself.

In addition to traditional sub shop sandwiches and sides, like cookies and chips, Planet Sub also offers a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine and six draught beers on tap. Dulin said the store may expand its alcoholic beverage offerings in the future.

After the lengthy period of market research, planning and construction, both City Manager Greg McDanel and Nodaway County Economic Development Director Josh McKim said they were pleased to see a new retail food location open its doors inside the city’s central business district and within walking distance of Northwest.

City Hall worked expeditiously to approve abandonment of an alley east of the restaurant, which enables potential customers to view the exterior from three sides. NCED’s McKim also helped the Goeckens and Johnson clear a number of bureaucratic hurdles.

“The City of Maryville is excited to welcome Planet Sub and increase the restaurant offerings available for citizens in downtown Maryville,” McDanel said.

“We appreciate the property owner’s existing investment along the Fourth Street corridor and willingness to continue those design characteristics with the expansion.”

McDanel added that the Fourth Street rehabilitation project was recently named

‘The City of Maryville is excited to welcome Planet Sub and increase the restaurant offerings available for citizens in Downtown Maryville.

We appreciate the property owner’s existing investment along the Fourth Street corridor.’ ­‑ Greg McDanel Maryville City Manager

A m y Goecken serving as landlords.

Franchise owner Shannon Johnson, who also owns a Planet Sub in St. Joseph, said the Maryville store had been in the works for months.

“It took us two years to finally find the right spot,” Johnson said. “I’m excited that we’re finally open.”

Restaurant staff includes about 20 part-time workers, mostly students at Maryville High School and Northwest.

Shortly after the eatery opened, general manager Christina Dulin said her crew was excited about the new location and ready to serve a growing clientele.

“We’ve been anxious to get going for a while,” Dulin said. “There’s been a lot of excitement, and when the signs went up we started getting people coming in

TONY BROWN/THE FORUM

Pictured is a portion of the exterior of Planet Sub, a new retail addition to the Fourth Street pedestrian corridor.

“The City of Maryville is excited to welcome Planet Sub and increase the restaurant offerings available for citizens in downtown Maryville,” said City Manager Greg McDanel. “We appreciate the property owner’s existing investment along the corridor and willingness to continue those design characteristics with the expansion.” a “Great Place in Missouri’ by the Missouri Planning Association.

For his part, McKim said the local economic development community is pleased to “welcome Planet Sub to our business community.”

He added that “continued commercial development in Maryville is indicative of our strong local economy.”

Planet Sub is now the fourth subway sandwich establishment in Maryville.

Competitors include a Subway store at North Main and West Sixth, a second Subway at Wal-Mart and a Jimmy John’s on the corner of South Main and East Lieber.

The Planet Sub chain began in 1979 as Yello Sub in Lawrence, Kansas, with the first Planet Sub store opening in 1998 in Kansas City.

Today, the franchise has more than 40 corporate and franchise locations with about 30 franchise units under development.

Open markets include Kansas City; Warrensburg; St. Louis; Topeka, Wichita, Lawrence and Emporia, Kansas; Des Moines, Iowa; Phoenix, Arizona; Austin, Texas; Oklahoma City and Owasso, Oklahoma; Dallas and San Antonio, Texas; and Omaha, Nebraska.

Johnson, who has owned the St. Joseph store since August of 2014, said expanding to Maryville was always part of his original franchise agreement. Now that the new store is a reality, he says the decision to grow was a good one, even though it means competing against two other established sandwich chains.

“What sets Planet Sub apart is that we’re known for making our bread from scratch each day, and we use the freshest ingredients,” Johnson said. “The majority of our subs are toasted, and we also serve beer.”

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Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

Page B6

TONY BROWN/THE FORUM

Early 2017 saw completion of a rebuilt runway at Northwest Missouri Regional Airport. The $3.4 million project, largely funded through a Federal Aviation Administration grant, also embraced a new lighting system and repaved taxiway. A separate $1 million project last fall included replacement of the airport’s aging apron, which serves as a parking lot for aircraft.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

FAA grants fund $4M in airport improvements

By TONY BROWN Staff writer

Maryville business and civic leaders gathered at Northwest Missouri Regional Airport on Jan. 27, 2017, for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and luncheon celebrating the completion of a $3.4 million runway reconstruction project.

State Rep. Allen Andrews, R-Grant City, delivered brief remarks to the group while standing on a refurbished taxiway. The lawmaker described the upgrade, funded largely through a Federal Aviation Administration grant, as an important card in Maryville’s deck of economic development incentives.

Andrews went on to say that businessfriendly legislation has positioned Missouri to attract new investment and industry statewide, and that communities with up-to-date infrastructure will be in the best position to recruit those enterprises.

While an airport equipped to handle small

jets and provide 24-hour service is not really a “deal-maker” with regard to economic growth, he said, the lack of such facilities can function as a “deal-breaker.”

“Don’t underestimate the importance of having an airport in your community,” Andrews said.

Assistant City Manager Ryan Heiland, who serves as the city’s lead administrator for the airport, said the facility serves as a “gateway” to Maryville and a “vital piece of infrastructure for the community.”

Not included in the rebuild was one of two taxiways and the southernmost 600 feet of the runway, which was added as an extension in 2008. The remainder of the 75-footwide strip, all of which was rebuilt, was constructed in the mid-1990s.

Formerly known as Maryville Memorial Airport, the airstrip, located west of town just north of State Highway 46, was built shortly after World War II and long served

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Thursday, January 25, 2018

Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

Page B7

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Rogers Pharmacy & Home Medical Equipment offers a complete line of home medical equipment, which has been providing the Maryville area customers since July of 2008, along with a full-service pharmacy.

Rogers Pharmacy was launched by Melvin Rogers in 1967 in Fairfax and expanded to additional locations in Mound City, Tarkio, Oregon, St. Joseph, and Maryville. The Fairfax and Oregon locations have since closed.

Rogers Pharmacy in Maryville is staffed by registered pharmacists Rick Carter and Julie Simmerman; and pharmacy technicians Deb Garrett, Tonya Runde, and Stephanie New. According to Carter, cus-

Rogers Pharmacy • 125 E. South Ave.

tomers kept commenting how convenient it would be to fill and pick up prescriptions and purchase durable medical equipment in one place. Rogers Pharmacy is thankful for their customers and invite the community to stop in to see how we can serve their healthcare needs.

“Now, it’s all in one place”, said Carter. “We’re a one-stop healthcare shop.

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and ready to serve your family. If we don’t treat you differently here, we’ve done something wrong.”

According to Carter, “Our Maryville location is a fullservice pharmacy with a drive-through window and we offer free delivery in the Maryville area.”

“We are open six days a week to suit the needs of the Maryville community,” he said. “We are open Monday through Saturday,

but not on Sundays.”

Hours are 8 am – 6 pm serving pharmacy and durable medical equipment customers. The pharmacy is open on Saturday 8 am – 2 pm. Customers may purchase durable medical equipment Saturday, but customization services are not available on that day.

Janice Fritz, Vicki Salsbury and Rick Frese comprise the staff on the home medical side of the busi-

ness, providing a complete assortment of durable medical equipment to meet patients’ needs related to mobility issues, oxygen supplies, and respiratory equipment. Selections of diabetic shoes, colostomy supplies, and mastectomy supplies are also offered.

Melvin Rogers continues to serve as president of the company. Benne Rogers is the owner and chief financial officer.

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Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

Page B8

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Scooter’s feeds city’s need for java

By TONY BROWN The Forum

MARYVILLE, Mo. — March 11 marked the muchanticipated opening of Scooter’s, a drive-through and sit-down coffee, breakfast and snack shop at 1308 S. Main St. just north of the Mary Mart Shopping center.

Franchise owners Lindsey and Blake Jochim arrived shortly before 9 o’clock for the Saturday morning debut, and a steady flow of both drive-through and walk-in customers started lining up to place orders moments later.

The Maryville shop is the second Scooter’s franchise acquired by the couple, who opened their first location in Nebraska City, Nebraska, about two years ago. Though both Jochims are involved in the business, most of the day-to-day management responsibilities fall to Lindsey while Blake handles the family’s 2,300-acre row crop operation.

Blake Jochim said he and Lindsey became Scooter’s owners because they were inspired by the story of the corporation’s founders, Don and Linda Eckles.

Native Nebraskans, the Eckleses were living in California when they became intrigued by the success of the specialty coffee industry there.

Convinced that the same concept would prove successful in the Midwest, the couple opened the first Scooter’s in Bellevue, Nebraska, in 1998. They named the business after one of their daughters, who earned the nickname Scooter for her skill on the softball field.

“They grew together,” Blake said of the Eckleses.

“We just appreciated their beliefs and what they stood for.”

As of early 2018, Scooter’s has nearly 200 locations in 16 states along with 135 franchise commitments to build new stores.

Blake Jochim said the stores succeed because of solid corporate support and a chainwide system based on “the three amazings”: amazing owners and staff, amazingly fast service and amazingly good service.

A fourth ingredient, he said, is the drive-through, a concept that has become a proven moneymaker for service businesses nationwide.

“The drive-thru concept works very well,” Jochim said. “We’re going to serve

Scooter’s employee Madison Yarbrough, an elementary education major at Northwest Missouri State University, waits on customers last March shortly after the South Main Street coffee shop opened its doors for the first time. Co-owner Lindsay Jochim stands behind the counter at right.

PHOTOS BY TONY BROWN/THE FORUM

The Scooter’s coffee shop crew poses behind the counter during the franchise’s opening day of business on March 11, 2017. Pictured at left and right are owners Blake and Lindsey Jochim, who opened their first Scooter’s about two years ago in Nebraska City, Nebraska. you in 90 seconds or less.

You’re going to get your order, and it’s going to be right.”

In moving to Maryville, the Jochims were fully aware that they were investing in a college town with plenty of competition as far as specialty coffee goes. The city already boasted Starbucks counters at Hy-Vee and Northwest Missouri State University in addition to self-service coffee stations at several convenience stores.

But the couple believed the Scooter’s combination of food, coffee and specialty beverages would still attract customers. The last 11 months have proven them right.

“Frankly, we feel like our stuff is better,” Blake Jochim said. “We were customers before we bought into the franchise.”

While Scooter’s has made a name with its drivethrough service, Lindsey Jochim said she thinks the inside of the shop appeals to customers as well.

“You walk in here, and it makes you want to smile,” she said. “It’s a happy environment. I wake up every morning excited about go-

ing to work. It’s just the best job. There’s so much more than just coffee, there really is. We have something for everybody.”

While the Jochims could have chosen just about anywhere in the four-state region to open a new Scooter’s, they said they picked Maryville because it felt welcoming and because they appreciated the smalltown vibe.

“We love this town,” Lindsey said. “There’s the college, and it’s got that small-town feel. Everyone has been so supportive, enthusiastic and excited, and that has made us excited. It’s just a very, very welcoming community.”

Housed in a former service station that had second and third lives as a quickoil-change business and telephone store, the Scooter’s building was virtually stripped to the frame and reconstructed by local builder Jeff Smith.

In addition to the food and beverage preparation area and drive-through service window, the shop includes several tables and booths.

So along with serving general customers, the Jochims

have made the space available for social gatherings and meetings. They offer catering as well.

Besides coffee, latte, cappuccino and espresso, the shop offers a full line of teas and specialty drinks, includ-

Where there’s good coffee, there’s cops. Maryville Public Safety Sgt. Wayne Wilson, left, and Officer Ken Garner stopped in for a java break on Saturday, March 11, shortly after the new Scooter’s coffee shop opened its doors for the first time just north of the Mary Mart shopping center on South Main Street. ing a caffeine-soaked Red Bull fruit smoothie.

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Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Page B9

TONY BROWN/THE FORUM

Local business and civic leaders, including state Rep. Allen Andrews, in topcoat at left, look on as Maryville Mayor Jason McDowell severs a ceremonial ribbon during dedication ceremonies Jan. 27 for the newly repaved runway at Northwest Missouri Regional Airport.

FAA

Continued from Page B6

as a fairly typical small-town aviation hub catering to hobby pilots and the occasional crop duster.

In recent years, however, the airport has seen significant improvements, including a new apron, essentially a parking lot for aircraft, also constructed in 2017.

Other features include a jet fuel

island that provides a low-traffic alternative for pilots seeking to skirt both Rosecrans Memorial Airport in St. Joseph and the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport in Kansas City.

The new runway and apron follow completion in 2007 of a terminal building equipped with a spacious meeting room, furnished pilots’ lounge, cable television, Wi-Fi, vending machines, and restrooms.

Crews from Ideker Construction of St. Joseph began replacing the old apron last fall. The $1 million FAA-funded project also included earthwork along the southernmost portion of the runway that created a graded runway safety area, or RSA, compliant with Federal Aviation Administration specifications.

The RSA acts as a buffer zone should an aircraft veer off the runway during a takeoff or landing.

Heiland said the old apron had many of the same problems that plagued the replaced portion of the runway.

Temperature extremes over the years, he said, caused both structures to buckle and crack in numerous locations, creating a hazard for planes.

As with the $3.4 million runway rebuild, the apron project was 90 percent funded by an FAA Airport Improvement Program grant. On

both projects, the city’s requisite 10 percent match was financed using a Missouri Department of Transportation Statewide Transportation Assistance Revolving Fund low-interest loan, a program known as STAR. In addition to a fresh concrete surface, the apron includes 12 three-point tie-downs designed to keep aircraft securely in place while parked in windy conditions.

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Maryville R-II is a comprehensive school system accredited by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and a member of the Midland Empire Conference. It is a designated A+ school and earned 98.2% on its most recent Annual Performance Report. The district serves just over 1400 students and employs more than 200 people. With a 98% graduation rate, the district sends over 65% of its graduates on to post-secondary education and training.

The district continually explores ways to improve learning environments. On the heels of the recent construction of a performing arts center and elementary cafeteria, the district added a FEMA safe room that doubles as a secondary gymnasium and opened a new library/media center and renovated space to add classrooms at the elementary.

In an effort to continue providing the best educational opportunities available, the district engaged the community in the development of a new comprehensive school improvement plan, effective this school year and spanning the next five. This plan prioritizes district needs and serves as a blueprint for district management and the following:

• Early Childhood Education • Career and Technical Education • Special and Alternative Education

• Athletic and Activity Programs • K-12 Education • Distance, Adult, and Community Education

EUGENE FIELD ELEMENTARY provides instruction for students in preschool through fourth grade. Preschool programs serve both 3 and 4 year old students and provides special education services as needed. Students in kindergarten through second grades are taught in self-contained classrooms. Grades three and four are departmentalized. All academic classes focus on litaracy in math and reading while incorporating other subjects and social skills.

Students have exploratory classes such as physical education, computers, library, art and music. For a nominal fee, before and after school childcare is also available. 660-562-3233

• Fine Arts Education • Practical Arts Education • Academic Enrichment and Acceleration Programs

have the opportunity to begin competitive sports and performance fine arts. 660-562-3244

MARYVILLE HIGH SCHOOL provides instruction for grades 9-12 through the traditional courses of study but also offers dual credit courses and AP for qualifying students. Students have the opportunity to participate in many organizations and programs such as National Honor Society, band, choir, journalism, drama, debate, forensics, academic bowl, and Hound Howlin’ City. There are many athletic options, as well: football, cross country, volleyball, golf, tennis, basketball, wrestling, track, baseball, soccer, softball, and cheer. Many unique programs are available to MARYVILLE MIDDLE SCHOOL houses recognize student achievements, also. 660-562grades five through eight. It is a “Leader in Me” school and promotes a schoolwide culture of 3511 leadership, character, and inclusion. Fundamental NORTHWEST TECHNICAL SCHOOL to this philosophy is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective helps students make wise career decisions by People. Each student is part of an advisory group allowing them to explore new and emerging that acts as a family unit to provide an avenue for mentoring and monitoring for academic and occupations. Hands-on training provides a social progress. Students at the middle school background of practical knowledge and skills. take the traditional core academic classes, as well Specialized classes and training is available in the as exploratory classes. In middle school, students following areas: health service, family & consumer

sciences, technology, business, building trades, childcare, agriculture, mechanics, welding, and auto collision repair. NTS serves area sending schools in these programs. It serves the community with classes that are available outside the traditional school day in areas such as personal enrichment, health, crafts, great outdoors, business, computers, etc. Flyers with current offerings are published periodically and always available. 660-562-3022 Through a partnership among school, home, and community, Maryville R-II strives to develop continuous learners of good character who positively contribute to society. Please join us in our efforts to provide a safe, caring learning environment where students can reach their potential. Your thoughts and input are always welcome: 660-562-3255 or albrecht@maryville. k12.mo.us. Additional information about our district is available on the school website at www. maryville.k12.mo.us.

Dr. Becky Albrecht

Superintendent of Schools

Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

Page B10

Bundt pans and mixing bowls, are shown Monday at The Kitchen & Bath Source in Maryville. The store offers Bundt brand cake mixes along with other gourmet food items. Owner, Michelle Wickersham said she may begin holding product demonstrations.

The Kitchen & Bath Source is located at 1315 S. Main in Maryville. Formerly Aura Designs, owner Michelle Wickersham said after the closing of Woodruff Arnold about a year ago, “it was a good time to make a fresh start, new name, new products, just kind of make a change.”

Thursday, January 25, 2018

KitchenAid items are displayed Monday at The Kitchen & Bath Source in Maryville. Store owner Michelle Wickersham intends to open the store on Saturdays in the near future, to give shoppers more opportunities to find gift items.

The Kitchen & Bath Source offers kitchen wares, gift ideas

By SKYE POURNAZARI The Forum

MARYVILLE, Mo. — The Kitchen & Bath Source located at 1315 S. Main, has undergone a few changes since its Jan. 1 opening, including getting a new name.

“When Woodruff Arnold closed a year ago, we just felt that it was a good time to make a fresh start,

PHOTOS BY SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM

Michelle Wickersham stands next to a spinning rack of colorful teapots on display in her newly designed showroom for kitchen wares and gift items Monday afternoon at The Kitchen & Bath Source in Maryville. Previously Aura Designs and part of Woodruff Arnold.

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new name, new products, just kind of make a change,” Wickersham said. “It just felt like the right time to do it.”

Previously, Wickersham’s business was called Aura Designs and a part of Woodruff Arnold. Now, The Kitchen & Bath Source is owned outright by Wickersham, but it still does See SOURCE, Page B11

Nordic Ware baking gear is shown Monday at The Kitchen & Bath Source in Maryville. The store owner Michelle Wickersham said the brand is classic and known for its quality. She is offering items that may help Maryville residents find wedding and housewarming gifts more locally, possibly save them a trip to St. Joseph.

Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Page B11

PHOTOS BY SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM

ABOVE: A kitchen display is shown Monday in the front of The Kitchen and Bath Source in Maryville. The business, though it has changed its name, will continue to offer cabinetry and counter tops. However, now with some gourmet foods and kitchen equipment offered in the store, owner Michelle Wickersham said she may begin to hold product demonstrations. BELOW: Mason Cash brand mixing bowls are shown in multiple colors Monday at The Kitchen & Bath Source in Maryville. The store owner intends to offer quality kitchen wares and even some gourmet foods.

Source

Continued from Page B10

what it used to with regard to designing rooms and creating stunning spaces, she said.

“We still are doing the things we were doing before, cabinetry, countertops, plumbing fixtures, flooring, those products, remodeling services, those products are all still here,” Wickersham said. “That hasn’t changed. The core purpose of our business is still here and has not changed at all.”

She said the addition of kitchen wares and gift items, is where the business has changed some. Since the reopening, she said a few people have come in to find the new items and see how the business has changed, but that she thinks most people don’t know that the business still is open.

“I think they’re waiting for a grand opening,” Wickersham said. “We’re getting

Specialty brand candles and other housewarming items are available at The Kitchen and Bath Source in Maryville.

there slowly but surely.

She said a grand opening will be held, but that more products are still being ordered and received for the new display area.

For the most part, the front for the store is still cabinets and countertops, but the back almost half of the store has changed dramatically with new displays and products.

“Back here basically is all of our kitchen stuff,” Wickersham said. “This will be a major focus. We’re actually going to move some stuff around and expand some more.”

She said another addition will be a few gourmet food products including: Rabbit Creek and Stonewall Kitchen products like soup mixes, muffin and scone mixes, jellies, crackers and dips. She already has cake mixes that go with the Bundt pans and Nordic Ware baking items.

“We’re trying to offer products that Maryville doesn’t really have already,” Wickersham said. “Something a little high-

er scale than something you would get at Walmart, and to just, maybe fill a gap that hasn’t been filled yet.”

She said it might save someone from having to drive to St. Joseph for a wedding gift or a house warming gift.

“Come spring we’ll get in more barbecue stuff,” she said.

Wickersham said the intention is to offer hands on, fun, but useful kitchen gadgets and even offer a bridal registry in the future.

“We’ve got butter churns, she said.

“We’ve got whipped cream makers all kind s of fun stuff, cold coffee brewers, a little bit of everything.”

She said she and others working at the store have discussed getting into cutlery and maybe some good quality paper products.

Another big change is the addition of Saturday hours. Wickersham said she’s not quite sure when it will happen, but probably after things are a little more settled.

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Progress 2018 • Maryville Forum

Thursday, January 25, 2018