Business View Civil and Municipal | May 2021

102 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL MAY 2021 offerings and “focus in on manufacturing, industry and housing” in a plan to address the community’s population decline and workforce shortage, which in the last 10 years have been moving south and out of the Midwest. “We have made it a priority to attack that problem,” says Gross. “To clean up slum and blight, to add amenities to our community, and to reach out to developers.” The city’s first course of action was tackling the housing shortage by conducting a comprehensive housing study and providing a tax incentive program for developers. Now, four housing developments are in progress, three of which began six months ago. One of the new developments on the north end of town called Sunset Meadows will add 140 homes and senior housing with 40 units. Another development is next to the local golf course. Next was the school system, which the city is currently overhauling. The city constructed five