Lesson 29 – Invest in Your Community

Back in 2015, our city faced the need and the opportunity to pass a Use Tax that would be used to fund needed infrastructure and services. The issue made a lot of sense, and in fact, we had worked with their state association a couple of years prior to create a templated campaign that all Missouri member municipalities could use to run such a campaign. In order to help pass the issue, a Citizens Advisory Committee was established to raise funds for and execute a public outreach campaign to tell the Use Tax story. Because there were two issues on the ballot, both related to the Use Tax, we came up with the Yes Yes committee; vote yes for the first issue and vote yes for the second. With hard work by a lot of local volunteers, financial support from local businesses and an outreach campaign that touted the benefits for the community, the issue passed with flying colors.

Several years later, the Yes Yes committee was re-established and used to campaign for a bond issue to fund the construction of the Heckart Community Center, which also was a success. Thanks to all the volunteers who worked together with us to help make it all happen. It was a major investment in our city of the future, today.