Officials with the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce recently met with Cass Atlantic Economic Development Corporation and the City of Atlantic to discuss next steps for overall business/community development in Atlantic. Chamber Executive Director Ouida Hargens says “In efforts to better understand our current community and future needs we will be meeting with Jim Thompson, Business Consultant, Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) on Tuesday, November 24th from 9:30 – 11am at Cass County Health System in conference room #2.”

Hargens says during the first portion of the meeting, Thompson will be presenting and reviewing the ESRI executive summary for the Atlantic Area, provided by the IEDA. The summary covers items including: population, median age, households, median/average household income, etc. It also contains a retail market profile demonstrating our retail supply, demand, GAP, etc. The second part of the meeting we will discuss what action steps to take next. Please join us for as much as the meeting as possible.

The Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, according to Hargens,  is working to coordinate efforts to create an economic restructuring/business development committee. The group’s focus will be assessments of the current community and downtown district. This will help Atlantic know and better understand the community and downtown district’s needs. The group will also focus on business retention, expansion, property development within the business district and recruitment.

The public is invited to attend this open community meeting to help us grow and support our community.