Imagining the future

It takes everyone in a community to make it successful, but someone has to take the lead.

In Lindsay, that’s LAD.

The Lindsay Area Development has a resumé of accomplishments beyond its 5 years of existence, with much more on the horizon.

In 2017, a group of friends started talking about their community, what they would like Lindsay to look like, and decided they should do more than just talk about it.

“There had been lot of different conversations around the community that we need this and we need that, and there just wasn’t an avenue to go to or a real strong avenue to go to,” Micaela Wegener, LAD president, said. “So when these thoughts started developing, and when Aaron (Reichmuth) and I ultimately connected, these thoughts just sort of blossomed. We didn’t have a vision of what Lindsay was going to look like, it started around our dining room table. Brian (Wegener) and Aaron and I said OK, if we’re going to do something we need to be involved, and where do we start.”

She said they decided early on LAD should be diverse and represent all ages and all facets of the community.

“That, in my opinion, helped us early — to get into all the groups or niches in the community and say hey this is what we’re trying,” Wegener said.

She said the original group, of which Reichmuth was president, were on the same page.

“Everyone on that first group was not satisfied with the status quo, but knew if you didn’t like how things were you can’t sit back and complain, you have to do something, so everyone was very willing to be the doers, and say let’s figure this out.”

Jenny Korth, secretary/treasurer, said, “It’s not only if you didn’t like something, but if you have that vision for a stronger, more sustainable church, school and community, what does that look like, and having the motivation of a team to accomplishment that. I would say there’s a lot of things we weren’t content with, but is that sustainable. So, rewind five years ago, the conversations around the enrollment in the school was a big deal, and the conversations around the parish clusters was a really big deal. All of those things play into we need to revisit how things are done, and how we can make things better.”

For Reichmuth, he believed Lindsay had a lot going for it because of its peopl and just needed to mine those talents.

“I always felt Lindsay had a lot of untapped potential for a community with 300-and-some people and 500 jobs,” he said. “I felt like there were a lot of things the community could have, and I always felt from a small community perspective if you’re not progressing you’re regressing.”

He said school enrollment numbers had been decreasing, and he realized something needed to be done to try and keep families here and attract others.

For Amber Klassen, vice president, getting involved was expected in her hometown of Howells, and that carried over when she moved to Lindsay.

“I wasn’t part of the founding group, but my motivation is I came from a very progressive community, I was very passionate about it, and was on committees, so when I married and came to the community, I wanted to find something so I could have a purpose,” she said.

One of LAD’s first acts was working with the Lindsay Village Board of Trustees to have the Northeast Nebraska Economic Development District conduct a community survey to allow residents to prioritize what community improvements they would like to see.

That led to a town hall meeting in which the public identified a number of projects that since have been completed or are in the works.

Among those projects identified are housing, small business development water tower/infrastructure, walking/biking trail and community center.

LAD prioritized those survey results with input from the town hall meeting, and looked at what it could handle and what the Village of Lindsay was best suited to tackle.

This also led to the creation of the Lindsay Area Investment Club (LAIC), spearheaded by Reichmuth, because there needed to be a funding agency for the projects the community prioritized.

LAD looked at the what should be handled by the Village of Lindsay, what should be handled by LAD and what LAIC can take the lead on.

Infrastructure is the Village’s responsibility, business development, community development and housing fall under LAD, and for-profit ventures are LAIC’s responsibility.

“We have these buildings that are on main street, we want business on main street, so that fits better with that for-profit entity to purchase, lease out, sell or renovate,” Wegener said.

Korth said initially LAD chose projects that could be done for fewer dollars and could be done fairly quickly “To create some energy around the group and drive the fund-raising efforts. So that is how we set our priorities, and we look at that every year. When we set up our nonprofit (LAD) our mission was really centered around maintaining the strength and existing ability of the community, so we really wanted to center on a strong church, school and business, but also have reasons to bring people to Lindsay from the tourism aspect.”

That strategic plan was one of the top priorities for the group when LAD was forming.

“We went from the community survey with NNEDD, to us developing a strategic plan to action,” Reichmuth said.

The survey identified housing as one of the biggest community needs, but also it needed funding to address anything it wanted to accomplish. That is why Arrowhead Ridge Housing Development — Wade Pfeifer’s project and assisted by LAD — is so vital to the community.

Ask those residents who have been around a few decades, and they will tell you the need for housing dates back more than 20-plus years.

“Progress breeds progress, and I think you’re starting to see that,” Wegener said.

LAD and LAIC are only as strong as their members, and membership has grown, and needs to continue to grow in order for Lindsay to grow.

“We’re definitely open to more members, were always looking for more hands — there’s a lot to do,” Korth said. “We do get strong support for events like Pivot Days, we’ll get a lot volunteers, there’s always a lot of work to do.”

Wegener said they are working to be more visible by informing people what LAD and LAIC do, and that they are separate entities.

Recently they have been posting information on the LAD Facebook page, and a brochure will be released during Easter weekend.

“Something that gets discussed a lot around our table and the community is legacy planning. I know we’re trying to educate more on what these groups do, how are they funded, and now we’re taking steps to explain how can people create that legacy. In some of our more recent communications we’ve discussed different estate planning techniques so people can give. It can be giving to these groups that are promoting the stability of the community you know and love, and it can also be given to your children as well,” Wegener said.

She said there has been talk about an endowment fund, so people can give and donors can earmark those funds for something they want to support in the community.

“There’s these avenues to contribute, and we really are a nonprofit business, and we have the accounting that allows for all of that and the regulations to protect those funds for what you want to earmark them for,” she said.

The LAIC has seen some new members join, but Reichmuth said since it started from scratch it took time for enough money to be raised to support community projects.

“There wasn’t a lot of excitement in the investment club the first few years because we really didn’t have anything to show for the dollars that were being invested each month, but now projects are starting to happen and that might help membership,” Reichmuth said.

LAIC has 36 members, but a majority are couples, so about 70 people, and everyone contributes $1,200 a year, which brings in $43,200 a year, and that money is used for Lindsay projects, including the newest project, a medical clinic.

The Columbus Community Hospital and LAIC created a partnership to bring a clinic to Lindsay. The back half of the former 5Fers building is being renovated into a clinic, which is slated to open in August.

The front half, along Pine Street, is available for another business to utilize that space.

“One of the priorities the community identified was access to medical services,” Korth said. “Sometimes it’s all about being in the right place at the right time and we’ve been making connections and working on building that network the last couple years, including working with Amy Blaser, (CCH vice president), and she was great to work with,” Korth said.

Wegener said they researched area providers, and Columbus Community Hospital was as excited to come to Lindsay as Lindsay was to have it.

“Columbus Community Hospital was very accessible, but they also have, not only a client relationship with a lot of people in the community, but they also have a relationship with Lindsay Corporation,” Wegener said. “Amy matched our energy level early on, and it was really fun because it has blossomed into more than even bigger than we imagined, and I think there’s a lot more to come.”

The largest endeavor is still being discussed, planned and strategized, and that is a community center. LAD and LAIC are still putting together information — and there’s a lot of information to figure out — before it has anything definite to present to the community, but it hopes to make a presentation sometime this summer.

“We don’t want to have all the answers, but we want to have enough information so that when we bring it to the community we can have a good conversations,” Wegener said.

What makes these accomplishments and future projects even more impressive is it is all done by a group of volunteers whose only payment is pride and satisfaction. They have families and jobs, and still make Lindsay a priority.

“All of us are full-time other things,” Wegener said.

But while members of LAD and LAIC are on the front lines, they emphasize nothing could be accomplished without the involvement of the Village of Lindsay and community members.

“It isn’t LAD that had accomplished all these things,” Reichmuth said.

“It’s the partnership with the Village and the people in town that makes these things happen. A lot of things that have happened are a combination of that.”

“The dollars, the time, the expertise, it literally is everyone,” Wegener added.

Five years has gone by pretty quickly (three years for LAIC), and in that time a lot has happened.

“I always say I’ve had some very wise people tell me you will overestimate what you can do in a year, but you will underestimate what you can do in 10,” Wegener said. “I know when I look back on the last five years I feel good, and if you cannot only replicate that, but keep the snowball rolling down hill … I think the next five years are going to be fun. I look forward talking in five and saying I’m retiring.”

That leads to the reality, new members are going to have to step in and participate if the snowball is to keep rolling and gaining momentum.

“We know that one thing that can make or break is funding, and we want to take the burden of funding off the donation aspects, so one thing that is important to us is that legacy or endowment, so the next group won’t have to face the same challenges, so the transition of these roles can be a lot more simple than they were to create,” Wegener said.

“There’s more and more young people around all the time, so that gives me hope,” Reichmuth said. “Not just more young people, but talented young people, so that gives me confidence that some day we can step aside and let the next group run with it.”

Wegener said one of the best experiences is the number of people who contact her with ideas for the community, either events or businesses.

“I’ve learned so much about individuals in the community about their work or their education or talents and we can channel that into a sustainable idea or business,” she said. “No one would have talked to me about that if they didn’t have that outlet.”

“I think LAD and LAIC give people an avenue, to have that initial push,” Klassen. “There’s a lot of people in our community who are doing these projects or assist with them, and I think we’re just the initial group that helped push them along. I think it just takes someone to take the initial action, then the others are not afraid to take the big step because they see opportunities coming to the community.”

Korth added, “I think we do a good job of painting the vision of the potential of Lindsay, and what it can do and create that excitement and willingness for others to say, hey we can do that, and then they have the confidence to take the leap.”