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Dirck Clark of Heartland Regional Medical Center attributed the community's "unique" ability to come together quickly and act in unison to a specific set of realities: namely that it has one medical center, one college, and one chamber. "It is very simple for us to come together quickly and solve problems." "You can't do this in every community," agreed Michael Meierhoffer of Meierhoffer Family Funeral Services.
Partnerships
If the foundation for unified action is organic, the will to act inevitably comes through leadership. "My sense," said Patt Lilly "is that we now have people in positions of leadership that are willing to take the lead and use the political capital to move the community forward."
As Mayor Jones attested, the leadership manifests itself in and through "partnerships." The effectiveness of these partnerships, agreed Lilly, enables the community "to get people around the table quickly." Vince Capell of the city of St. Joseph described these as "some of the greatest partnerships I've seen anywhere." Tom Lesnak believes that the active partnership among the chamber, the county, the city, and the other economic development entities in the region "is the reason St. Joseph is successful."
Agreed Pat Conway of Buchanan County, "We have the ability to work together." Conway argued that the city as a whole has been willing to support the public entities. "On some instances," cautioned Mayor David Jones. From his position in the trenches, Jones has seen an instance or two where vocal minorities have waylaid progress.
For all of that, as Missouri Western's Ron Olinger noted, "St. Joseph is a very adaptable community. Offered Michael Meierhoffer, "Anytime we need to get people together to accomplish something, we can do it." The Chamber's Brad Lau cited the community's "perseverance" as among its virtues. Whatever the problem, said Lau, "We keep working at it."
Added Terry Steinbecker of the St. Joseph Industrial Foundation, "When opportunities present themselves, not only do we have partnerships, but those partners understand what is necessary to be successful." Through the combined leadership of the city and county, affirmed Dirck Clark, "We're starting to pull our plans together and get our priorities aligned."
Family Friendly
When asked to cite community assets, participants returned time and again to what Missouri Western president Jim Scanlon called St. Joseph's "family-friendly" environment. As a father of four, Cort Hegarty of UMB Bank has a keen sense of this reality. "The one thing that sticks out with me," said Hegarty, "is that St. Joseph a great place to raise a family."
Stet Schanze, the father of three, agreed that the "family aspects of the community" made it an excellent place to live. The Chamber's Cyndra Lorey cited the community's "warm and caring people" as one part of the reason why St. Joseph had emerged as "a wonderful, safe place to raise your children."
Mark Woodbury of Shugart, Thomson argued that St. Joseph has all the amenities for raising a family without the problems. As a result, "A lot of people come here from other communities and, a lot of them end up staying." St. Joseph is a "wonderful place to raise a family," affirmed Dan Colgan, adding, "It's also a wonderful, wonderful place to retire."
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