Downtown Rotary
Heidi Doerhoff Vollet
No, not the movie, but the area residents who are shaping the Transformation initiative spearheaded by the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce. Randy Allen, the Chamber's president and chief executive officer, discussed the initiative with members of the Jefferson City Rotary Club October 24.
The process discovered that in addition to maintaining its quality of life, Jefferson City needs to take steps to attract more talent - especially young talent - increase innovation and develop a sense of quality of place, which considers what characteristics of a community are attractive to a range of current and potential residents, Randy told Club members. "Transformation began 18 months ago in order to take a different direction with the community and change things up a bit," he said. "The Transformation projects were developed by nine action teams. They're things we need to do to reach a critical mass that will make growth of the community self-sustaining." A half-cent sales tax is under consideration as a funding mechanism for the projects, Randy said; it is expected to generate at least $5 million a year for 10 years to fund the estimated $40 million cost of the Transformation projects. If you'd like to see the complete Transformation plan, click here.
