FM Partners votes to disband

MIXED EMOTIONS

This decision was not made lightly, and it reflects our commitment to ensuring that our community, and county, continue to thrive in new ways.”

Tim Gobble, FM Partners Executive Director

DISBANDED

The board of directors of Fort Madison Partners voted to disband last week in the wake of news that FMEDC will be joining the LCEDG.

LEE COUNTY – An effort to bring Lee County together and GROW Lee County has taken another step.
The team at Lee County Economic Development Group has announced a change in direction that will bring the operations of Keokuk Economic Development Corp. and Fort Madison Economic Development Corp. under the roof of LCEDG ops in Montrose.
The move has also resulted in the disbanding of Fort Madison Partners, which has overseen operations of FMEDC, the Fort Madison Chamber of Commerce, the former Fort Madison Main Street organization, and the Fort Madison Beautification Foundation.
According to Partners Executive Tim Gobble, who will now be working with LCEDG, the work of the Beautification Foundation will continue with him in his new post.
In an announcement to Partners members this morning Gobble said the decision was made with mixed emotions
“With the joining forces of the three economic development entities in Lee County taking place in January 2025, the Fort Madison Partners Board of Directors has made the difficult decision to disband the organization,” he wrote. “This decision was not made lightly, and it reflects our commitment to ensuring that our community, and county, continue to thrive in new ways.”
The move will reset the Fort Madison Chamber as a stand-alone entity with an intention of hiring one additional staff person to help with membership services.
Emily Benjamin will replace Dennis Fraise starting Nov. 21 as the CEO and President of LCEDG. Fraise said that change in leadership comes with a broader conversation of how to do economic development in Lee County.
“There’s always been three economic development groups in the county and neither of the other two have a full-time paid staff,” Fraise said. “So it just seemed like a logical time to talk about is there a better way to deliver economic development in Lee County.”
He said sometimes even the state would be confused as to who to contact about a project and that’s what led to a conversation with the other two entities. A site selector from out east asked the county why the county did it this way, and if they started from scratch they would do it with one group taking the lead.
Fraise said it comes to consolidating resources so three different people aren’t working on the same thing, but he said as LCEDG has grown in capacity it’s a good time to bring the other groups into the fold.
“No one is losing. The idea is to be stronger together and formalizing how we do economic development because we have three separate boards, you’ve got a lot of people talking about the same thing and it just makes sense to consolidate that to one.”
Benjamin said the organization was formed in 2002 and the original intent was to take on economic development as a county.
“This was always kind of the end goal, that all three of our organizations would work together. They’ve all done great things in the past. Tim got a certified site done that is now certified with the state and BNSF which makes it prime for development. In Keokuk, they’ve done a ton of work.”
But she said there was frustration with those boards in not having capacity without a staff, so during the leadership transition they took a strong look at capacity and resources.
“Now we can all work from one strategic plan while also representing the individual needs of the communities because they have a lot in common, but they have different needs, as well.”
She said the move will strengthen the group’s ability to do work for the smaller communities in the county including West Point, Houghton, Montrose, and others.
“This is a seminal point for Lee County. It’s an interesting time and, if we do this right, it could pay great dividends not just for our large communities, but our smaller communities, as well,” he said.
Benjamin said she was excited for those opportunities, especially in West Point where they’ve bucked a trend of regression and are seeing growth numbers with some unique housing projects. She said Donnellson just updated their strategic plan, so there’s some foundational things already in place.
Fraise said 10 years ago the group added FMEDC and KEDC presidents to the LCEDG board of directors on a recommendation from stakeholders so there has already been a limited partnership.
He also said the complex nature of economic development, including natural gas and broadband, made having a coordinated effort a better situation going forward.
“There are a myriad of things that are incredibly complex that take years to get traction on and we just think this makes sense,” Fraise said.
Benjamin said the plan is to grow to a staff of four full-time employees, including herself and Gobble. She said the four positions all have working titles including a marketing and communications coordinator, but she hasn’t fully vetted each position. She said LCEDG has grown organically over the years, but the budget will obviously have to grow. Hopes are that the revenue from the other groups will be reallocated to the county group in addition to increasing the capital campaign, which is set to kick off later this fall.
“We have worked and reworked this several times and we’re just getting to exactly what it will look like. In the first two or three years we’re probably going to have to make changes and adjustments as we go because things always look easier on paper than in reality. So it’s definitely been a work in progress and will continue to be, but we think we’re working in the right direction,” Benjamin said.
Fraise said one of the intentions would be to have large county meetings similar to the Partners' Super Board monthly meetings at regular intervals.
“We haven’t done that in the past, but this would be countywide. How cool would that be? It really is exciting. It’s a moment, but it was highly collaborative and a lot of people have taken the time to bring this together. I think this is such a catalyst for the future,” he said.
Gobble said he will continue to be paid in his current capacity as Partners Director until the end of the year. Benjamin said additional staff will start to be put in place in December of this year.