Elma, IA

A joint meeting of the six Elma Horizons Committees met on Thursday, February 21, 2008 to update and seek guidance from our community coach and the Elma Horizons participants.

The four of the committees reported substantial progress in their objectives were:
Elma Early Childhood Education
Elma Memorial Hall Improvement
Elma Main Street/Busti Avenue Project
Recreational Trail Project

The two committees that reported having difficulties in progressing in their objectives were:
Clean-up/Fix-up Committee
Medical/Dental Clinic.

Brenda Schmitt, our community coach, continued to provide positive feedback to the various committees. Elma’s projects require substantial commitment and a long-term “horizon” and not necessarily immediate results. For example, the Medical/Dental Clinic committee has in place the site for a medical clinic.

One suggestion to the Clean-up/Fix-up Committee was to implement a small project and build upon the success.

A joint committee meeting is planned for May, 2008 for another update.

Interested parties from Elma, Riceville, Howard County Conservation, Mitchell County Conservation and others met in Riceville to prepare for a Spring, 2008 Community Attraction & Tourism Grant application.

The plan is to prepare for the completion of the recreational trail from Elma to Riceville to the Minnesota border near Taopi, Minnesota.

Two voting delegates and two alternates will be named from Elma. Three of the delegates/alternates will be from the Horizons Program - Visioning phase. The final delegate/alternate is yet to be determined but will likely a citizen interested in the history of the Elma area.