Sheldon, Iowa — The LLRC at Northwest Iowa Community College was the site for the 2017 Partner Meeting of Northwest Iowa Development Wednesday evening.
Northwest Iowa Development is a consortium of development entities from O’Brien, Sioux, Osceola, Lyon, Plymouth, and Cherokee counties, along with Northwest Iowa Community College, who cooperate to foster economic development in northwest Iowa.
An awards presentation was part of Wednesday night’s meeting. awards were presented for some noteable development accomplishments.
The first is an annual award called the Kirk Grau Northwest Iowa Business/Organization Innovation Award. The award, named for former Osceola County Development Director Kurt Grau, is presented each year to a business or organization currently operating in good standing within the six county Northwest Iowa region. Two Kirk Grau awards were given this year. Winners were Mill Creek Machining in Paullina and Foundation Analytical Labs of Cherokee.
The Northwest Iowa Economic Development Support Award is given annually to recognize initiatives, programs, strategies or other activities condusted in northwest Iowa that have supported or strengthened ongoing efforts to grow the regional economy. This year’s winners were Rock Rapids Development Corporation, and Kelly McCarty of the Small Business Development Center in Spencer.
Two special Awards of Appreciation were presented at Wednesday evening’s meeting. Frank DeMilia, who has recently retired from Northwest Iowa Community College, and Mark Buschkamp who is retiring from Cherokee County Development, were presented with those Awards of Appreciation.
