The Fayette Board of Aldermen last week voted to renew the city’s $15,000 annual commitment to the Howard County Economic Development Council (HCEDC).

The city council tabled the matter from the previous meeting held on February 13 after Mayor Jeremy Dawson suggested the council members give it some thought due to the hefty price tag. This prompted a visit from HCEDC Chair Amber Overfelt and board member J. B. Waggoner at last week’s city council meeting.

“One of the main things that we do is contract with MAEDC (Moberly Area Economic Development Corporation) to provide professional support throughout Howard County,” Overfelt explained.

Other contributing partners include Monnig Industries in Glasgow, Howard County, Howard Electric Cooperative, Central Methodist University, Commercial Trust Co., Addison Biological Labs, and Inovatia Laboratories.

Overfelt is the CEO of Howard Electric Cooperative, and Waggoner is the Managing Partner of Inovatia Laboratories and also serves on the MAEDC board.

For the sake of disclosure, Addison Biological Labs is owned by Bruce Addison, the father of the Editor/Publisher of the Fayette Advertiser who authored this article.

Overfelt said countless hours are also volunteered toward economic development in Fayette and Howard County. She said the council is working to present itself more as a standalone entity. “One of the main things we do is contract with the MAEDC to provide professional support throughout Howard County,” she said. “We’re here to support economic development across the county.”

Overfelt and Waggoner said that Howard County receives more than 50% of the MAEDC’s budget, and the corporation’s newest CEO, Kaylee Paffrath, spends half of her time in Howard County. “The bulk of that is in Fayette,” Waggoner said.

And while most of the efforts are behind the scenes, Overfelt points to the new building being constructed by Central Methodist University on the west side of the Fayette square and the Historic Downtown Fayette Commercial Community Improvement District (CID) as examples of the HCEDC’s work.

“One thing about economic development is you get to do all this work, and then have all these man-hours in, and then when a project works out, you stay right behind a curtain and congratulate everybody who’s upfront cutting the ribbon,” Overfelt said.

While the council ended up granting a unanimous vote to once again give its financial support to the HCEDC, Mayor Dawson was undoubtedly on the fence about it at the council’s previous meeting.

“I’m having a hard time saying we approve this,” he told council members on February 13 and asked if anyone had a reason to go forward with the funding. “In two years, I haven’t seen anything.”

If any of the six voting councilwomen felt unsure after Overfelt’s and Waggoner’s presentation, none showed it. They immediately granted unanimous approval to continue the city’s financial support as a stakeholder in the HCEDC.

“It’s a vision for the future. We’re spending this money because we want to see this area grow. And if we’re not growing, we’re moving backward,” Overfelt said.

The Board of Aldermen meets regularly at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month in City Hall. Meetings are open, agendas are published in advance, and the public is invited.