The Rugby JDA board of directors and staff will be reviewing their 2010-2015 strategic plan that will include evaluating the goals under each one of our guiding principles:

1. Agricultural Value Added Diversification: Agriculture is the main economic enterprise in Pierce County, and directly benefits our community.

2. Health Care Sustainability & Expansion: The Heart of America Medical Center is the largest employer in Pierce County, and is essential to the sustainability and potential growth of our community.

3. New & Existing Business Retention, Expansion & Entrepreneurship: The JDA continues to provide information and resources to our existing businesses through various forms of communication avenues, and continues to provide information to companies that are actively looking at Rugby as a place to do business.

4. Tourism, Cultural & Recreation Enhancement: Provide information concerning local and state resources to promote tourism, recreation and our natural heritage using sustainable economic and community development strategies that encourage people to visit our community.

5. Education and Workforce Development: The JDA is committed to leading workforce development efforts in Rugby and Pierce County by providing training opportunities to low-skilled workers that would provide them with an opportunity to increase their wage-base and assist our employers who need skilled workers.

6. Infrastructure Development & Social Capital Development: Social capital is the ability of people to work together for common purposes in groups or organizations and also relates to trust and cooperation within our community, and, more specifically, when working on projects that would increase the infrastructure needed for the community of Rugby to grow in the future. If we don’t plan for the future of Rugby it may be planned for us and maybe not to our liking.

Working together as a community will eventually build trust, which in turn will increase cooperation within the community. The more a community gains, the more everyone gains. The benefits of a healthy economy accrue to our citizens when the economic programs revitalize our community and bring high quality jobs to our community. Communities that are distinctive and attractive tend to retain their economic vitality over time, and are more likely to survive in a good or not-so-good economy. We have an opportunity to capitalize on the location of Rugby, and when the Comprehensive Land Use Plan is presented to the community we will see that now is the time to come together and work together to grow our community in a way that makes sense!

George Bernard Shaw once said: “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

If you are concerned about the Centre Cinema and would like to be a part of the discussion to “Save the Centre Cinema”, please consider coming to the Otter Tail meeting room on Tuesday, November 27th at 7:00 p.m.