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O’Neill, the Irish Capital of Nebraska, has a lot to celebrate. The town has used LB840 economic development funds for several downtown improvements. Lauri Havranek with the O’Neill Chamber of Commerce discussed some of the recent improvements in O'Neill.
Lauri Havranek: St Patrick's Day and O'Neill officially started back in the late 1960s. There were some shenanigans that took place before it became an official celebration. General John O'Neill settled our community and our Irish heritage runs very, very deep.
Dale Johnson: My wife and I are very fond of Ireland, having visited there. Neither one of us are Irish, but we had Irish dancers at our wedding, and the reason I bring that up is because Irish is all about fun, right?
Havranek: Yes, it is. Irish music makes you want to dance.
Johnson: In addition to catching up with you, Lauri, to talk about St Patrick's Day events, let's have a conversation too about the timeliness of the state of Nebraska just recognizing O'Neill for business expansions, property improvements and housing developments. Very impressive for a 3,500-population community. Let's talk about housing development in O'Neill Nebraska.
Havranek: We have a lot going on right now. The O'Neill Development Corporation is working very hard to bring single-family dwellings into our community. We're very fortunate to have the LB840 in O'Neill, and that tax entity was able to provide us with the matching grant that we needed a couple years ago to get a million dollar grant, and so far, the O'Neill Development Corporation has been working with Rural Workforce Development, the state economic development, local economic development or city. We have built three single family dwellings, and two of those are sold. The third one is close to sold, and now we are in the process of completing two duplexes that will be for sale also, and they're all brand new, single-family dwellings. And once we sell the duplexes, then we will be looking at what we will do next. We're not really sure at this point, but we are doing all we can to have new homes, transition homes for people that are coming to our community, or possibly my age group that's looking to downsize and you know, which creates another home for sale in our community. So, yeah Development Corporation, economic development, the city of O'Neill, the O'Neill Chamber of Commerce, we're all working very diligently in in getting these dwellings built and available.
Johnson: You mentioned LB840, that's a law that was passed back in 1991. It allows voters to decide whether to use local tax revenue to fund economic development. And I turn that definition into looking at and talking about downtown, because downtowns are just so important for all communities. Because as downtown goes, so does most of the community.
Havranek: When you drive down our main streets here in O'Neill, the fronts of the buildings, the canopies, the new sidewalks, the new windows, and all of these things , LB840 money has helped to beautify our community, help with business startup, it's very obvious when you look at our storefronts how beautiful they are, and LB840 has helped with a lot of that. Yes, it is a very vital resource in our community.
Johnson: It's prompted local investors to help buy up some of the old abandoned buildings and even tear some down that are no longer in use.
Havranek: Yes, that is correct. The LB840, like I said, they were able to give us the matching dollars that we needed for our grant, and we had the matching funds, you know, in the bank and ready to roll as soon as we got the money.
Johnson: More than brick and mortar, too, public safety has been important in development for O'Neill.
Havranek: That is correct. Our police department moved into a newer building that was vacant here in town, and so the police department was able to move into there. We now have a police dog. We have a K-9 unit here at O'Neill.
Johnson: O'Neill is one of 29 Nebraska communities in Nebraska's leadership certified community program. Local developers, I see Lauri, have really caught on supporting the creation of almost 270 new businesses in Holt County, 111 new businesses alone in O'Neill.
Havranek: We are very fortunate to have multiple high-speed internet companies here so that people can work from home, and they could be working for somebody in Lincoln or Omaha or Denver or Chicago and yet they have the benefits of small town life.
Johnson: Lauri Havranek has been joining me for the conversation, President CEO of the O'Neill Chamber of Commerce. Thank you, Lauri.
Havranek: Thank you very much.
Johnson: Thanks everybody for listening on Nebraska Public Media. I'm Dale Johnson.