Dakotafire Get your spark here.
We asked mayors from North and South Dakota to answer this question.
Want to answer about your community? Go to www.pie4.us.
“Agar’s role in the region is to provide housing for area ag workers. Only a dozen or so people commute to Pierre, Onida, or Gettysburg for work. The rest work in town or on farms surrounding town. Agar works to retain the small businesses it has. Its fire department is strong, with a new fire hall and young volunteer fire fighters.
– Steve Mikkelsen, Agar, S.D.
“Armour’s role in the region is to serve as a hub for medical care, manufacturing and agricultural trade. We are fortunate to have a hospital, nursing home, clinic, assisted living, pharmacy and home health agency serving Armour and the surrounding area. We’ve recently started working with an economic development coordinator to further our goals and focus our efforts.”
– Susan HofFmann-Lout, Armour, S.D.
“Cavour serves as mostly a ‘bedroom’ community for Huron, DeSmet and beyond. There are few options for employment in Cavour itself, so nearly all of our residents commute to other towns for work. However, the Cavour Development Group hopes to change that. We are hoping to bring businesses to town and keep them there. Ultimately, we know many businesses are not sustainable in a town our size, largely due to the short distance to Huron. We do feel that there are businesses that would do well, if not better, in our size of town.”
– Lisa Gogolin, Cavour, S.D.
“Our role … is to provide jobs, housing opportunities, recreation, youth programs and a swimming pool.”
–Dick Brink, Corsica, S.D.
“Cresbard’s role through this is the money that is brought in from hunting is paid out to their local employees.” (Cresbard has three businesses, an insurance business, Pheasant Fest hunting, and a restaurant, I.D.K. The town also has a branch of Dacotah Bank. There are nine hunting houses available to rent in town, with hunting being the main source of revenue throughout the year.)
– Gene Toennies, Cresbard, S.D.
“I think our role as an agriculture community is to help support our businesses so that they will be here for us in the future.”
– Mae Gunnare, Delmont, S.D.
“To provide opportunity for new business and growth. To support and coordinate new ideas and innovations of others.”
–Craig Schroeder, Doland, S.D.
“Ellendale is a tech-savvy bedroom community—a place where people can live in a safe, value-filled environment that is within easy reach of larger urban centers, contains a well-balanced public education system and a private undergraduate/graduate school and has a technological infrastructure capable of supporting the most advanced telecommuter.”
– FORMER Mayor Don Flaherty, Ellendale, N.D.
“We are a community that is not afraid to confront our future head on. From past projects such as our new hospital, to current projects—the new jail that will be built in 2016—to a future school project, we are a community on the rise.”
– Slade Roseland, Faulkton, S.D.
“Ipswich is an agricultural-based community with businesses catering to those needs. Ipswich provides a safe, affordable place for people who want a small town atmosphere to live. Ipswich is the hub of several businesses that provide regional services to the ag community.”
– LeRoy Kilber, Ipswich, S.D.
“One of our roles in the region is to provide services to the region such as shopping, agriculture and vet services. Miller also provides great employment opportunities to the region. We are a medical hub providing emergency services and our schools provide a balanced education for the community. Connecting to other communities was made much easier by the newly constructed airport runway.”
– Ron Blachford, Miller, S.D.
“Onida’s role in the region is to provide homes for people that work in the area to live, services like groceries, gas, parts, whatever they need so they don’t have to drive 30 miles to get them, and the safety and security of a community.”
– Gary Wickersham, Onida, S.D.
“Our role in the region is agriculture, pheasant hunting and family. As time goes on as a community, we have the responsibility to identify and meet the ever-changing needs of current and future residents and businesses.”
– Jim Thiry, White Lake, S.D.
