Frederick, SD

Monday, Nov. 26, the Frederick Horizons group continued the journey to develop a strategic plan. Through the course of the evening, it was evident that we’ve learned a lot through the process as we were able to offer ideas, mold and tweak them into concepts in black and white that we can use to make our community better.
With recent developments in Aberdeen, people may chose to live in Frederick. We talked about the services people would need — an eating place and a gas station topped the list.
Suggestions were offered to bring area business people into the group and offer them help in revitalizing our small town.
With the use of the laptop computer, it was a dynamic process that offered opportunities to change and modify our ideas. We got about two-thirds of the way through our plan. We’ll continue to work on it, finalize it on Dec. 17 and present it to the community at a special event in January.
There are many in the community who have stepped up to the plate to help in this process. Input continues to be needed. Just because you haven’t been to all of the meetings doesn’t mean you can’t help out now. With your help, we can tackle these projects and make the Frederick community a welcoming place to live and work.

Survey feedback from citizens that was gathered for the Horizons Program showed that the two top concerns for Frederick were for, first, to re-open the gas station and, second, to re-open the cafe.  The gas station has been closed for many months and the cafe has been closed since May of this year.  While there are many factors that affect the possibility of having either of these businesses open again, efforts on finding a use for the existing cafe property have our attention at the moment.  A few citizens — who also happen to be members of the Horizons Leadership group — jumpstarted what is now an official Horizons project to work with the Frederick Lounge Board of Directors.  The purpose is to encourage and support the Board members in seeking a solution to a series of unsuccessful business ventures using the Frederick Lounge building.  Right now, Horizon members are scheduling a series of clean-up days at the Lounge building.  The building will be used for a community Cookie-Walk and Tour of Homes on Sunday, December 9th, times pending.  The building will also be used for the Frederick Lounge shareholders meeting expected in early December, as well as a Holiday Craft Fair in December.  So, even though we don’t have a decision on a cafe, the building is being used for community events.  This makes it imperative that we have a clean space.   Contact Janet Burkhardt, 329-2191, to find out when the next clean-up is planned and how you can help.

Want to get involved? The next Frederick Horizons meeting is Monday, Nov. 26 at the Frederick Community Center ag 7 p.m. We want to plan for ways to improve our community. Come voice your thoughts.

You may have seen the streets torn up and piles of strange looking things around town, or your water has been shut off for a period of time. Well that is all because the city is replacing water lines and installing new water meters. The city water lines have needed replacing or updating for a long time. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the progress of this you can contact any of the town council members, they are Dennis Kinslow, Tom Meyer or Scott Campbell.

A group of Frederick Horizon Leadership members spontaneously contacted the Frederick Lounge Board Chairman and offered to help however they could to ready the building for the shareholders meeting planned for early December.  The Board was happy to welcome the help, since the building had been sitting idle since May of this year.  Within 8 days of the first contact, four of the group — Janet Burkhardt, Marilyn Podoll, Pat Mikkonen and Valerie Nixon — worked to toss all compromised foodstuffs and obvious trash left in the building.   Gary Peterson from the Frederick Board had done preliminary work to prepare the building for cleaning, and worked with the group the entire morning.   All papers or materials that need to be reviewed by the Lounge Board or the American Legion management are piled on tables in the former dining room.  See next post for official Horizons Project designation of this project.

NEEDED: Cookie makers for the GREAT Cookie walk and Tour of Homes on December 9, 2007. This event is a fundraising activity for the Frederick Area Historical Society, Emma Burnham Library and the Horizons economic developmen projects. If you are willing to make about 3 dozen cookies of your choice and donate them for this event let us know. Donna @ 329-2462 Gayle @329-2367 Your help is greatly appreciated! If you want or need some different recipies, go to this site and check out the wonderful selection of cookies, www.northpole.com/Kitchen/Cookbook
Watch for more info on the Tour of Homes and Cookie Walk

Remember those “FUN” pre and post surveys that the Horizons Staff had you take during Study Circles and LeadershipPLENTY?

Believe it or not - it was for a purpose!  Those pre and post surveys help us to understand how much your community learned about poverty and about leadership by your participation in those specified curriculums.

As a result, we have assembled a community profile with the results of the pre and post surveys for both Study Circles and LeadershipPLENTY.  Check out your community results by clicking on the links found under “Survey Data” on the right hand side of your community blog.   

Unfortunately, I had to miss the blog training but hope that I can learn from Donna and Shriley. I’ve also had experience as a blogger for the American News Garden Gurus It sounds like the training was wonderful. Looking forward to reading about what other communities are doing to help stimulate us to action. Go bloggers!

Survey’s??? What do they tell you? Do you just fill them out without giving them much thought? Do you remember the PRE and POST survey you completed for the Horizon Study Circles and Leadership Plenty Groups? Well check out what your friends, family and neighbors think about your community. Then go visit with your neighbors, friends and family and see what can be done about those topics and then attend a Horizon community meeting and get your voice heard.
To see the result click on the link under Survey Data on the right hand side of the blog site.