The Kirksville-Adair Community achieved numerous accomplishments in 2001. There are four areas - the Central Business District, Transportation, Housing and Education. The accomplishments from each of these areas are highlighted below. In 2001, the community took strides toward implementing the Downtown Redevelopment Plan that had been completed in the previous year. The Plan was completed in August of 2000 and is now serving as a guide for the community, as improvements and development occur within the Central Business District. Copies of the Plan have been distributed throughout the community to insure a broader understanding and acceptance of the Plan. As a result of the Plan, a Tax Increment Finance District was established to help cover the costs of redevelopment. The incremental increase in property taxes and ½ of the incremental increase in all local sales taxes will go to the TIF to pay for public improvements to the Plan. An eight-screen movie theater opened its doors in April of this year within our downtown area. This had been the first development to occur within the downtown area in over 20 years. As noted in the previous year report. The theater has helped to bring more traffic downtown, and is serving as a destination point. Local residents are able to see first run movies on their release dates instead of having to travel elsewhere. The City also completed improvements to two downtown parking lots providing new paving, layout, lighting, sidewalks, landscaping, etc. The renovation of the Baxter-Miller building was completed adding 12 new apartments to the downtown area. The Downtown business owners are continuing their efforts to bring people downtown. Some of the events that have taken place downtown include Red Barn Arts Festival, Autumn Fest, Holiday Celebration, Great till Eight on Friday Nights, Concerts on the Square. These events and others have been made possible by the initiative of local business operators, and by interested community volunteers. Positive strides were again made in the area of transportation. The Highway 63 Transportation Corporation worked throughout the year with the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission and the Missouri Department of Transportation to develop agreements that would make way for the eventual four-laning of Highway 63 from Macon, Missouri to Kirksville, Missouri. The first time agreements would require the Kirksville community to pay for 1/3 of the improvements or $11 million. Local representatives worked with the community to achieve special legislation in 2001 that would allow for the City to present a ½ cent economic development sales tax to the voters of Kirksville for the sole purpose of making improvements to Highway 63. The City of Kirksville and the Transportation Corporation also entered into an agreement that required the City to place on the April, 20002 ballot, and the aforementioned sales tax issue. The Highway 63 Transportation Corporation is a group of local volunteers who spent many hours over the past year to accomplish this first ever goal. Another transportation success was the implementation of KirkTran. This is a transportation service offered to residents of the community. A grant was written to help underwrite some of the expenses. Kirksville residents can use the service at any time throughout the day. Because our community is not large enough to operate a full bus service, this innovative approach is working to fill the void left by our limited public transportation. Residents, who qualify, can also use local taxi service using a voucher system. This allows them access to transportation without a significant cost to them. Finally, after operating within the community for one year under the banner of TWExpress, Corporate Airlines was dealt a blow with the announcement that TWA was filing bankruptcy. Through negotiations, and hard work, Corporate Airlines is now operating commuter service to and from St. Louis from Kirksville twice daily under the American Airlines banner American Eagle. Since our community has a strong educational background, it is important that efforts continue to enhance our educational offerings. The Moberly Area Community College satellite campus was completed in 2001. This facility is 28,000 square feet. It contains numerous classrooms, state-of-the-art computer and science labs, resource center, and administrative offices. Also housed in this building is the Missouri Department of Economic Development Workforce Development group. The close proximity of this service to the satellite campus is important, allowing individuals requiring additional job training skills easier access to training facilities. Truman State University broke ground on the $24 million Magruder Hall which will be house the science division. Work was also completed on the new Baldwin Hall / Ophelia Parish building. This $20 million project included a new theater, individual performance studies, and additional classroom space. The facility itself will help to add to the quality of life of the local residents. Additional efforts have been made in the area of housing. The Kirksville Garden Apartments opened in 2001. It contains approximately 40 apartment units. T he facility is located across the street from the Kirksville School campus. Sidewalks were constructed to connect the school and apartment facility to improve safety. Construction work began on the Kirksville Senior Living Campus which will include both assisted (38 Units) and independent living (52 units) apartments for senior citizens. The facility will also include a community center that will be available to all area senior citizens. Once3 complete, the facility will provide an opportunity for medical students to interact more with senior citizens to understand their needs, before they are released out to care of senior citizens and others. The campus is beginning to focus on “healthy aging” to enhance the quality of life for individuals as they grow old. Work was completed on four homes within the City’s housing redevelopment project area. In addition, two private rehabilitations were completed, and work began on two homes to be constructed by Habitat for Humanity. Other accomplishments achieved by the community include the following: Adair Foods, a subsidiary of Kraft Foods, expanded its operation by adding 48 new positions to its operations. The community worked very closely with Standard Register, whose Corporate Office, was looking at facilities to close. We worked to insure that the decision to close the Kirksville facility would be harder to make. We were very fortunate that the Kirksville plant was not closed, securing 250 jobs, and making way for future expansions due to the other plant closings. Several local businesses constructed new facilities, or renovated existing ones: Mark Twain Area Counseling, American Family Insurance, and Faith Lutheran Church each constructed new facilities. U.S. Cellular, Jim Robertson Chevrolet, Simpson Printing, and Moore Monument expanded their facilities. Work began on a new law enforcement center for the County. A new banquet center, sports bar and restaurant was placed into a building that had been left vacant by the closure of a Heilig-Myer Store. A few new retail shops opened their doors, and several others invested in renovations. The accomplishments achieved in the 2001 calendar year were goals and objectives contained in the Adair-Kirksville Community Strategic Plan. Many of the accomplishments were also a result of collaborative efforts and partnerships. Collaborative efforts that required agencies and organizations to look at the Abigger picture@ and the ultimate goal. Partnerships that helped to pull pieces and resources together to achieve success. As accomplishments are made, our community is starting to explore other partnerships that might be effective in achieving community goals, or collaborative efforts that may help to achieve identified objectives.