The first item was that they had a commitment from the final two communities in the county to participate with the Hometown Pride program.

Maxey has been talking with the many different communities for the past few months and putting together the application for the program.

Maxey and Supervisor Mary Clausen attended city council meetings in Kamrar and Williams when their city councils approved the participation. Maxey indicated the unified effort of the individual communities will add strength to their application for the program.

The Hometown Pride program is a five-year commitment to help each community identify projects needed, set goals, and help organize volunteers and businesses to work together to achieve their goals.

“Having all nine communities participating with Hometown Pride makes us very competitive.” said Maxey.

Chairman Rick Young said it may be the first time in 30 years that all the communities in the county have united for a project.

“It’s a monumental task to get all nine cities in the county to work together,” he said.

The second was confirming the work on the industrial park has been completed.

“We officially received site certification as of April 9,” Maxey said. “I’m really excited to report we’ve crossed the finish line.”

“We’ve got every economic development partner in the state, the utilities and economic development authorities who now know it’s ready.”

Maxey continued, “We are just a little over a year old, but this has been a very systematic and educational process.

In other business, the hotel/motel grants were announced by Young. With $25,000 generated in taxes, the following projects were approved: $10,000 to Ellsworth to help fund a Pickleball court; $10,000 to the Hamilton County Growth Partnership to fund the Hometown Pride program to assist with the individual community funding, $4,000 to the Hamilton County Conservation office and $1,000 to Legacy Learning.

Also, two appointments were announced, with Bill Greenley appointed to serve on the Wilson Brewer Park and Depot Foundation and Adam Peterson appointed to serve on the Civil Service board.

Work on the FY 2027 budget has also been completed.

The public hearing for the county budget was set during the meeting which will be held on Wednesday, April 29, at 6 p.m. at the Hamilton County Courthouse.