Charles City applies to continue being an Iowa Great Place

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Think Charles City is a great place? City Council members and the Floyd County Board of Supervisors do, and they hope the state continues to agree with them.

Both public boards passed resolutions this week supporting efforts by Charles City Community Revitalization to apply to the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs to again be designated as an Iowa Great Place.

Mark Wicks, Charles City community development director, appeared at both the Board of Supervisors and City Council meetings on Monday, explaining the reason for the application.

“Charles City was designated as an Iowa Great Place back in 2007,” Wicks said. “That came with a sunset. That is actually expiring and we are in the process of reapplying, which is due May 1.”

Wicks said the designation is valuable to the community.

“It’s pretty important that we have this, … because it gives us a lot of exposure in the state,” he said. “We use it in all of our marketing and promotional materials, not only in the state and the region, but nationwide when we go to particular events.”

Wicks said being named an Iowa Great Place also improves the community’s chances of getting funding for some projects.

“It moves us up on the food chain as far as our grant applications,” he said.

“In the past we’ve utilized Iowa Great Places funding for the riverfront development project, as well as the Carrie Lane Chapman Catt Interpretive Center. Right there you’re talking 250,000-plus in actual dollars we received being an Iowa Great Place,” Wicks said.

“It also played into our scoring criteria for other grants we get through the state,” he said. “It’s a pretty important designation for us. It’s not just a nice plaque or certificate you hang up on your wall.”

If approved, the designation will be for another 10 years, Wicks said.

He said the application process is pretty involved and the community must show evidence of its activities.

“We’re proud of the fact that we qualified before, and we obviously believe we’re even better now because of the things we’ve done,” Wicks said.

He noted that there is a character limit on the online form used to apply for the designation, and Charles City has so many activities, events and developments that it could use to qualify, that there isn’t room to list them all.

“So we really have to prioritize,” he said. “It’s a nice problem to have. You really don’t realize how many things we’ve done until you put it down on paper.”

Wicks said Charles City is also reapplying to be designated a cultural and entertainment district again, and the City Council also approved a resolution Monday supporting that effort.