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Imagining Oxford’s Future
Town Hall Meeting, September
7, 2006
Setting
Priorities for Community Improvement
The
Heartland Center for Leadership facilitated the
Appreciative Inquiry process during a Town Hall
meeting in Oxford, Thursday, September 7, 2006.
This meeting was sponsored by the South Central
Economic Development District, Inc., Nebraska
Department of Economic Development, and Oxford
Chamber of Commerce. A total of 23 people participated
in the meeting.
Appreciative
Inquiry encourages patrons to look at past successes
in the community and use the lessons learned from
these successes to propel the community into the
future. The process leads participants through
developing priorities, implementing plans, building
consensus and collaboration and increasing visibility
of community projects.
Following is the input provided by the patrons
as well as the priority goals established by the
group. |
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Success Stories:
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- Memorial
Day Event Downtown
-
New Theater
- Downtown
Appearance Good
- Good
streets & infrastructure
- Past
manufacturing plants
- Library
- Disc
golf
- Turkey
Days
- Park
clean-up
- Golf
Course
- Gupton
Building Facelift
- Duckwalls
- Revitalize
Chamber
- MNIS
- Oxford
Cheese evolves to Merrick’s
- Bringing
manufacturing to town (filling existing
buildings)
- Downtown
plant trees (Town Appeal Improvements)
- Southern
Valley School Merger
- Retaining
Medical Clinic
- Granada
Theater
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Discovering
Oxford’s achievements and successes
– Lessons learned: |
- Vision
is needed
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Committees are important
- Persistence
(funding projects)
- Communication
with outside sources
- Volunteerism
is a strong asset
- Follow
through with a plan
- Cause
or crisis/vision
- Cooperation
- unity – work together
- Money
- Celebrate
success
- Success
breeds success
- Acceptance
of New Ideas
- Long
term acceptance
- All
working together
- Cooperation
of volunteers
- Community
leadership
- Help
from outside resources
- Hard
work, dedication, being open minded
- Good
presentation of proposals
Top |
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| Dreaming
future possibilities for the community
– 20 to 25
years into the future what do you want
for Oxford: |
- Fill
all vacant buildings with viable business
- Create
industrial area (park)
- Make
Oxford a nice place to retire
- Better
community appeal, get rid of distressed
property
- Have
a town full of young adults and families
- Higher
than average family income
- Expanding
downtown business area
- 1201
happy people and rich
- Population
1200
- Higher
end housing area, better draws for higher
income
- workers/retirees
- Retired
people have option to stay in town (retirement
home)
- Biodiesel/biomass
plant in area
- Promote
Oxford as a “green community”
- Better
first impression entering town from
all directions
- Abandoned
properties cleaned up
- Larger
tax base=greater community possibilities
- 1200
population
- Downtown
buildings full
- Hospital,
retirement complex, elder-care
- Something
new in old high school
- Industry
with good paying jobs
- More
families and housing
- 2
baseball fields-tournaments
- Rodeo
grounds
- After
school programs
- Bigger
4-H group
- Youth
center, run by youth
- Support
our local businesses
- Promote
wild-turkey hunting
- Tourism
development
- Medical,
living, social needs of the elderly
- Small
business growth
- Larger
employers ie: Biofuels
- Increase
population by 75, new families
- Improvement
of water issues
- Still
have feeling of a small, safe town.
- Call
center
- Agri-Tourism
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| VISION
STATEMENT: |
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A place to go, a place to grow.
My
vision for Oxford would be more industry/good
paying jobs to increase population to 1200 people
by 2010. We need tourism to attract people to
visit Oxford and youth programs, and elderly
housing.
Observant
to needs
X-itement
Forward
Thinking
Open
to change
Ready
to act
Determined |
Designing
the future through priority goals for community
improvement:
Short term (1-2 year) goals: |
- Downtown
businesses filled and thriving
- Nurture
and maintain present business
- Promote
tourism, hunting, etc.
- Clean-up
of tax burdened properties, possibly replaced
with low/moderate income housing
- Habitat
for Humanity
- Gov’t
funding for low income housing
- Improve
first impression of town
- Promote
hunting and tourism (new CREP acres, etc)
- Improve
softball/baseball fields
- Explore
ways to promote shopping in town
- Promo
program through DED
- Industry
– Bio-diesel
- Fill
big buildings
- Housing/Elder-care
& young couples
- Tourism,
youth center, rodeo
- Free
lots
- Develop
industrial site
- Assisted
living/golden generation
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Top |
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Committees were established
to address the top five priority goals.
Committees and their members follow:
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Housing:
Who Else: Zoning board members
Focus: pursue free lots
Members: Lisa Rhynalds, Jim Cooley, Barb Knuth,
Susie Peterson
Recreation:
Who Else: Sharon Luedke, Student Council at SVHS,
skateboard park kids
Focus: Youth center/fitness center – tied
to business class at high school
Members: Anne Paine, Rich Carpenter, Roni Lewis,
Neal McInturf, Jordan Paine
Business
Development:
Focus: Keep existing businesses; promote seminar
“What business should I start?”
Next Mtg: 4:00 PM, Wednesday, September 13, 2006
at Village Office
Members: Duane Hoffman, Dee Lewis, Sheryl Vollertsen,
Verlyn Lewis, Kathy Schluntz
Tourism:
Focus: Hike Bike Trail from Orleans to Edison,
agri-tourism, hunting
Next Mtg: Cornhusker Club, September 28, 7:00
PM
Members: Jennifer Luther, Nancy Knuth, Danny Brown |
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PHOTOS
compliments of Sharon Hueftle
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©
Copyright 2006-2008 Oxford, Nebraska.
All rights reserved. KSI
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