The West Liberty Business Association held its quarterly meeting Friday, Aug. 11, but a different format.
Instead of having a guest speaker a roundtable session was held to discuss what business leaders would like to see in the future for West Liberty.
“West Liberty is growing and that’s not a surprise,” WeLead Executive Director Ken Brooks said. “It’s something we’ve been talking about for a while now.”
Brooks told the business leaders in the room the focus needed to shift from getting bigger to where are we going.
“Bigger is better,” Brooks said. “Sure, but what does that actually mean?”
The groups were divided into three groups. People who worked for large companies, people who worked for small companies and people who were retired or were volunteering in the community.
“There are two things I’m hoping to get out of this exercise,” Brooks said. “The first honestly is data. We’re (WeLead) really interested in hearing what you have to say but the second is for you. We’re interested in providing this as an opportunity for you to have discussion so that you can learn things from your neighbor about what they would like to see.”
Or some new and fresh ideas could come from the discussion, he added.
Some of the questions in the packet were: what type of new industry would fit in well in West Liberty? What does the ideal trail system look like in West Liberty? What does the aquatic center look like to you? What factors limit our growth in West Liberty? Is West Liberty prepared for a natural disaster?
West Liberty Public Library Director Allie Paarsmith said she would like to see a youth center in town. The only place for youth to go to is the parks and the library. West Liberty Communications Specialist Brittany Woodson said there was a nice skateboard park at Dunn Park but there wasn’t an easy way to get to it currently. She also mentioned she would like to see a better trail system. She currently goes out of town to ride her bicycle when she’s not working.
The exercise lasted for about an hour.
Brooks said he will compile the answers on the packets and will have them available online. He would like other community members to be able to answer the questions the groups did that day as well.
The next WLBA business meeting will be held in November at the West Liberty Community Center.