Lexington offers fresh ideas for Springfield

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When it comes to good ideas, Springfield community leaders don't mind stealing.|ret||ret||tab|

Thirty-one local business and community leaders traveled to Lexington, Ky., June 19-21 in search of good ideas and best practices to enhance the Springfield community. It was the 10th annual community leadership visit coordinated by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.|ret||ret||tab|

Brad Bodenhausen, senior vice president of public affairs and communications with the Springfield chamber, said Lexington was selected for this year's trip because of its comparable size and economic development.|ret||ret||tab|

While the city of Lexington is larger than Springfield, with a population of 260,512 vs. Springfield's 151,580, the cities' metropolitan statistical areas are a closer match. Lexington has 457,123 in its MSA compared to Springfield's 378,727. The Springfield MSA covers Greene, Christian, Webster, Dallas and Polk counties.|ret||ret||tab|

"We have institutional and government and educational folk that have typically gone, and then a lot of people from private sector as well as business leaders and chamber board members," Bodenhausen said.|ret||ret||tab|

Community leaders are required to pay for the trip, which cost $1,250 this year. However, many local businesses and city leaders feel the learning experience is worth the cost.|ret||ret||tab|

"I think it is important that the community continues to try to learn from other communities. You can point to a lot of things in Springfield which have developed as a direct result of these trips," said Richard Ollis, president of Ollis & Company and chairman of the chamber board of directors.|ret||ret||tab|

Ollis pointed to Jordan Valley Park, Wonders of Wildlife and the airport expansion as evidence of projects developed as a result of community leadership visits. A trip to Boise, Idaho, in 1997 encouraged local leaders to develop the Ozarks Regional Economic Partnership, which works with cities and chambers in 10 different counties in the region.|ret||ret||tab|

"We came back (from Boise) with a sense of how (city leaders) worked together as a region and started putting that program in place here. We even used their partnership agreement language and all of that as kind of a foundation to start the planning here," Bodenhausen said.|ret||ret||tab|

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Lexington lessons|ret||ret||tab|

Councilwoman Mary Collette said that of the three trips she has been on so far, Lexington stands out as the best because of the candor shown by the city.|ret||ret||tab|

"(What) I really appreciated the most was Lexington's willingness to take a good, hard look at themselves and to identify areas where they weren't performing so well, and not being afraid to look at those problem areas and to work on them," Collette said. "A lot of times it's bringing back ideas that are working, as well as learning from (others') mistakes and not having to go through those ourselves."|ret||ret||tab|

During the trip, leaders toured downtown Lexington and a thoroughbred farm. One area where Lexington has found success is in the partnership between farm owners and city business; this concept is one that could easily be related to Springfield.|ret||ret||tab|

"We came back with the idea that quality of life and economic development are inseparable. These are lessons we are learning here in terms of preserving our rivers and streams, and the natural environment of southwest Missouri, which is so much a part of our economy here," Bodenhausen said. |ret||ret||tab|

Lexington's downtown demonstrated how the city is dealing with development and business growth.|ret||ret||tab|

"We took a driving tour of their downtown and looked at various things that they had been working on," Bodenhausen said. "And I guess the things that we took note of were the mixed-use streets. It's been a vibrant downtown for thema little bit further along in some ways than Springfield, but in a lot of other ways we are catching up or right on the same track of development."|ret||ret||tab|

Springfield leaders also had an opportunity to meet with members of the Lexington school board to discuss diversity and dealing with socioeconomic differences that impact education and the arts.|ret||ret||tab|

"The fact that the cultural amenities become a tool that actually drives economic development, that really drove home to me how important our cultural offerings are here," Collette said.|ret||ret||tab|

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Debriefing, discussion|ret||ret||tab|

A debriefing meeting is held at the conclusion of every community leadership trip.|ret||ret||tab|

"We spend a lot of time talking about (the trip) and getting a shared vision of what we saw in that particular community and how it would apply back in Springfield and Greene County," Bodenhausen said. "You learn from others ideas; we steal their best ideas and bring them home."|ret||ret||tab|

One idea Ollis said he hopes to recreate in Springfield is a city report card.|ret||ret||tab|

"Lexington does an annual report card There are about 10 areas in the community that they rate and that gives them and idea about how (the city) is doing in those areas as a community. In fact, we are meeting on that this month We do think it has some validity for Springfield and is something maybe we want to pursue," Ollis said. |ret||ret||tab|

Aside from getting an opportunity to see what other cities are doing, the trip unifies leaders.|ret||ret||tab|

"In the midst of all this, it gives everybody in Springfield a chance to talk to each other and get excited about things we can do as a community," said Jim Baker, assistant to the president at Southwest Missouri State University|ret||ret||tab|

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