Business & Industry Progress 2025
development ALLIED
“We take a truly regional view, and that’s key. Our traditional footprint was Ames proper, but today we manage all economic development activity in Huxley, Nevada, the towns of rural Story County, the City of Boone, and all of Boone County. Think about it: Most of us live in one place, go to school in another and shop in another, so economic development anywhere in Hamilton County is good for every town, every business, everybody.”
By ROBERT E. OLIVER
In 2024, the City of Webster City and Hamilton County acted decisively to take control of their collective economic development futures. In late May 2024, both entities joined the Ames Regional Economic Alliance, and in the process made a major, ongoing financial and staffing commitment to economic development.
The move has the potential to be the single most important decision for the city and county’s future in a generation.
The Alliance evolved from the Ames Chamber of Commerce, founded in 1939. With Iowa State University as a perennial engine of growth, strong local industry, and both Main Street and Campus Town business districts, Ames has enjoyed a strong economy for decades.
Last year, the Ames Chamber officially changed its name to Ames Regional Economic Development Alliance. It’s the “regional” in the name that may be the Alliance’s “secret sauce” in its mission to help business prosper over the longer term.
“We take a truly regional view, and that’s key,” Ottie Maxey, the Alliance’s point man for economic development in Hamilton County and Webster City, said. “Our traditional footprint was Ames proper, but today we manage all economic development activity in Huxley, Nevada, the towns of rural Story County, the City of Boone, and all of Boone County.”
Top: Dan Culhane, president and chief executive officer of the Ames Economic Development Alliance, shakes hands with Webster City Mayor John Hawkins during a signing ceremony in 2024. Standing between them is Hamilton County Supervisor Rick Young, who pushed for the Alliance.
Below: Ottie Maxey, a top official with the Ames Regional Economic Alliance, is in charge of economic development in both Hamilton County and Webster City. Since beginning his work last spring, he has been busy organizing assets and people across the county in support of the largest economic development ever undertaken here. In joining the Alliance, Webster City and Hamilton County have become economic partners with Story and Boone counties. The three counties and their cities and towns are now marketed as a single region.
a host of skills and experience to economic development previously not available to Webster City or Hamilton County.
A first order of business has been to “create a county-wide economic development organization, and staff it with local folks,” according to Maxey.
The executive committee consists of Webster City City Manager John Harrenstein; Stratford Communications employee Darcy Runsteadt; Availa Bank Vice President Ryan Williams; and Hamilton County Supervisor Rick Young. Jake Van Diest, Van Diest Supply Co., serves as chair. The committee’s official name is The
He added, “Think about it: Most of us live in one place, go to school in another and shop in another, so economic development anywhere in Hamilton County is good for every town, every business, everybody.”
It’s been eight months since the city and county signed on with the Alliance. Maxey described his job as “engaging, serving and supporting development throughout Hamilton County.” He’s clear his first priority is to support existing business and industry, to “take care of the folks who already call Hamilton County home. That’s good business,
and that’s where we’ll see 75% of economic growth in the future.” He calls himself “the tip of the spear.” Backing him up is an impressive team of economic development experts who work from the Alliance’s main office at 304 Main Street in Ames. The team includes Alliance President & CEO Dan Culhane; Senior Vice President Brenda Dryer; Government Relations Director Greg Picklapp; Business Development Director Dylan Kline; Director Workforce Development Shannon Thiele; Coordinator, Economic Development Elizabeth Berg; and Director, Seed Capital Mike Upah. The team brings
the City of Ames and City of Nevada all have economic development boards like The Hamilton County Growth Partnership. Stakeholders are “closest to local economic activity,” according to Maxey, “and a good source of growth in the future.” Economic development is a long-range endeavor, but Maxey was able to list some shorterterm benefits that will come from local membership in the Alliance:
Supporting grant applications to benefit the city and county. Two specific projects include assisting Jewell in fundraising for its new swimming pool and supporting construction of a new water tower in Ellsworth.
— Daily Freeman-Journal photo by Jane Curtis
— Daily Freeman-Journal photo by Robert E. Oliver
A second Kwik Star comes to town
By DAVID BORER
The Kwik Star located at 1515 Overpass Drive in Webster City opened its doors on October 3, 2024, to much fanfare and local interest.
Traffic at the new store was said to be brisk with numerous specials during the Grand Opening period.
With the second Webster City Kwik Star now open for four months, company spokesman David Niemi said the new store has been “very well received.”
He added that Kwik Star was “forming solid relationships with frequent guests.”
Located on the west side of Webster City near where Second Street becomes Overpass Drive, Kwik Star not only draws customers from within Webster City, but also with a steady flow of traffic coming into the city on Hamilton County Road D20 from points west of Webster City, including Duncombe and Fort Dodge.
Niemi said traffic to the store has remained
steady even after the Grand Opening specials were completed.
“As with our other stores, breakfast, lunch and supper hours are the busiest times of the day,” he said.
That stands to reason as Niemi said the ready-to-eat food has been among the store’s most popular offerings in the new Kwik Star, along with grocery commodities and fuel.
Among the ready-to-eat items offered at this location are baked goods such as the store’s Glazers and Dunkers donuts, cinnamon rolls, muffins and cookies. For a quick meal on the go, it offers a wide variety of sandwiches, roller items, pizza slices and burritos. Kwik Star’s fried chicken, fried chicken tenders and whole roasted chickens are also popular. It also has a variety of appetizers including egg rolls, Tornados and fried cheese curds; its drink stations offer hot and cold drinks.
As with any business that comes to town, Kwik Star worked with the City of Webster
ABove: Kwik Star was under construction in 2024.
— Daily Freeman-Journal photo by David
Below: Adam Strunk and his daughter Blake pick up a few items recently at the Kwik Star at 1515 Overpass Drive in Webster City.
City to bring the new store from idea to reality.
“We appreciate the city’s partnership,” Niemi said. He also expressed gratitude for the
“neighborhood support for our second store in Webster City.” The Kwik Star at 1515 Overpass Drive in Webster City is open 24 hours a day. It can be contacted at 515-606-7010
Borer
A recipe for success
Tic Tac Dough is a vote of confidence in Webster City’s future
By ROBERT E. OLIVER
Gerald and Joel Peterson run successful Webster City-based businesses in the construction and electrical contracting industries, so it was a surprise to most local people when they announced a significant diversification of their business last fall.
Tic Tac Dough is a cookie manufacturing business seven years in the making that the Petersons opened in Webster City.
They could have located the factory anywhere, and any city in Iowa would consider a new manufacturing industry a prize catch.
The factory came to Webster City.
“We did consider putting the factory elsewhere,” Tic Tac Dough’s General Manager Marcus Lundberg said, “but to be honest, when a very suitable facility, directly across the street from the rest of the Peterson companies on Webster City’s west side, became available, we saw many advantages to locating here.”
Lundberg explained that it wasn’t the existing 15,000 squarefoot former auto dealership building that attracted the company, “but the surrounding land that offers us serious room for expansion of the business going forward.”
And make no mistake about it: Expansion is definitely in the company’s plans. The business will be developed in three phases.
In Phase One, which Lundberg calls “a small operation with a local brand,” the company is making cookies on a small scale to perfect its recipes and baking processes, and developing a customer base. At press time, the only place you can buy the company’s cookies is at the factory store at 1971 West James Street, Webster City.
On opening day, September 24, 2024, Tic Tac Dough offered eight cookie flavors, all named for Webster City area landmarks and other assets. The company’s newest flavor, a lemon cookie honoring Kendall Young Library, debuted in early February.
Where did that product line growth come from in just four short months?
As called for in its Phase One growth plans, it came from Webster City. A big trend recently is offering local businesses custom cookies featuring their own name and logo.
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A B ove : Gerald Peterson, Peterson Construction, Webster City, shows off Tic Tac Dough's triple-chocolate addition cookie just before the Grand Opening in 2024. Each of the company's cookie flavors is named for Webster City people, places or institutions. Peterson has worked steadily since 2017 to make the company a reality — and the first new manufacturer in Webster City in a number of years.
For example, all you have to do to get a dozen Goodlife cookies is buy a recreational vehicle from the Webster City dealership. In keeping with what most people use RVs for — travel — the Goodlife cookie has a s'mores flavor, suggesting an evening around the campfire in some gorgeous location in the mountains, by the seashore, or along a lakefront.
Buying a new home in 2025? If you work with Abens Realty, you can expect a dozen white chocolate and cranberry cookies at closing.
Or, if your New Year’s resolution includes getting your financial house in order by opening an account at Boone River Financial, you’ll be the proud owner of a dozen peanut butter and
B elow : Tic Tac Dough’s General Manager Marcus Lundberg holds two cookie varieties.
B o TT om : At present, the only place you can buy Webster City cookies is at this counter in the reception area of Tic Tac Dough, Webster City's new cookie factory which opened in September 2024. Fourteen varieties of cookie are now available with more on the way. The company, which is in Phase One of a threephase development plan, expects to grow significantly in 2025.
chocolate chip cookies. The local financial planning firm suggests, tongue-in-cheek all the way, that they can help you “grow your dough.”
Two more promotional cookie flavors are in the works, according to Lundberg, and he predicts more beyond those. Lundberg says cookies are the perfect promotional item as “they’re edible, consumable and memorable”.
After four months of sales, Lundberg said there’s no clear volume leader among the company’s flavors, but “definitely no laggards either.”
As to more flavors in future, Lundberg said, “we’re here to make what people want in a cookie. We’re not going to
Daily Freeman-Journal photos by Robert E. Oliver
“Our priority this year, and every year, is to ensure we’re providing the best quality of care to our residents and tenants. They are our focus, and the reason for what we do each day.”
Welcome to wellness
In 2024, a new ownership and new administrator came to Southfield
By ROBERT E. OLIVER
Southfield Wellness Community, 2416 South Des Moines Street, Webster City, got both new owners and a new administrator in 2024.
The new owners are Legacy Healthcare. With headquarters in Skokie, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Legacy manages 118 healthcare facilities in three states.
Megan Hassebrock, of Webster City, was appointed administrator at Southfield in June 2024. Southfield was previously owned and operated by ABCM Corporation of Hampton, which acquired it in April 1998.
The facility, today known as Southfield Wellness Community, opened in June 1973. At that time, both Southfield and most nursing homes in the country offered only hospital-style rooms to their clients. This changed in May 2002 when Southfield, following a national trend and responding to demands of prospective local residents, built 14 assisted living units. Officially named Southfield Independent & Assisted Living, the facility accepted both residents who were fully able to care for themselves and those requiring assistance with everyday living needs.
Wellness Community
individuals of all ages recover from surgery, injury or weakness due to illness through our rehab-to-home service,” Hassebrock added. “We also provide physical, outpatient or speech therapy services to the community at large through our outpatient therapy department.”
In its Independent & Assisted Living complex, Southfield offers three levels of care based on the client’s needs.
A further 11 apartments of this type were constructed in May 2006.
Today, Southfield is licensed to operate 65 beds and has 25 apartments for assisted living in an attached building.
“We’re 85% occupied in both the nursing facility and assisted living units, with new admissions daily,” according to Hassebrock.
As befits a modern care center, Southfield offers residents a wide variety of services.
It is a contracted Veterans Affairs facility, which means it has an agreement to care for veterans of the U.S. armed forces who need skilled nursing, respite or long-term care. For readers who may not know, respite care is provided on a short-term basis for the disabled or elderly whose primary caregivers need a break, or respite, from the many responsibilities such care demands.
“Our in-house therapy team helps
“Our approach to independent and assisted living provides the ideal solution for seniors who need some help with daily activities, but still wish to remain active in their home and community.”
Hassebrock was born and raised in Hamilton County. While in high school, she began working as a Certified Nursing Assistant — CNA. In Iowa, the CNA degree requires 75 credit hours of instruction and is offered by many community colleges, including Iowa Central. As the U.S. population continues to age, demand for nursing assistants is high, and is increasing at a faster rate than other healthcare occupations.
Hassebrock obtained her Nursing Home Administrator license in August 2021 and began her career at the Rehabilitation Center, in Belmond. She remained employed there until
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Top:
Southfield's Independent and Assisted Living complex has 25 units featuring apartment style layouts, options and sizes. Shown here is the bedroom and living room of the popular one-bedroom model.
lefT: Megan Hassebrock was appointed Administrator of Southfield Wellness Community in June 2024. A native of Hamilton County she is happy to be returning home to this new assignment. She trained as a certified nursing assistant and received a nursing home administrator license in 2021.
assuming her present position at Southfield.
“It feels so good to be back in the community where I grew up, working alongside familiar faces and caring for those I know,” she said.
Southfield is planning what it calls “some exciting events” for 2025, in concert with the Webster City Area Chamber of Commerce.
Hassebrock invited area residents to watch for these events as they’re announced in local media, and on Southfield’s Facebook page. In the meantime, Hassebrock hasn’t lost sight of the care center’s central mission: “Our priority this year, and every year, is to ensure we’re providing the best quality of care to our residents and tenants. They are our focus, and the reason for what we do each day.”
Daily FreemanJournal photos by Robert E. Oliver
“We entered into an agreement five years ago and I bought and acquired 49% of the company then. We had a five-year plan that if all was going well, I would have the opportunity to acquire the remaining 51%.”
New family, new president
And she's not a McCollough.
By KOLLEEN TAYLOR
Generational pride.
That’s the legacy behind the story of Seneca Foundry, which was founded 116 years ago in Webster City.
The McCollough family has continued to shift and change with the times, as one of Webster City’s oldest businesses. It is one that has remained familyowned, raising their children, supporting school activities and building pride in Hamilton County. They supported military efforts during wartime. They worked together with other locally owned businesses to build a better Webster City. They have remained active in both church and community organizations.
But times have changed.
Seven McCollough family members — fathers and sons — who have served as the president of the company since its first patent in September 1909.
As of December 1, 2024, Seneca Foundry has a new president. It is still a family-owned, locally-owned business, an involved partner in the community. But it is no longer owned by the McCollough family.
The new president is Lori Mason, its first woman president, leading a rough and tough industry into the new century.
“We entered into an agreement five years ago and I bought and acquired 49% of the company then. We had a five year plan that if all was going well, I would have the opportunity to acquire the remaining 51%,” Mason said.
Mason and her husband, Brandon, live on an acreage just outside Webster City.
Brandon is the son of Mike and Chris Mason, who have lived in Hamilton County all their lives.
Top: The new president is Lori Mason, its first woman president, leading a rough and tough industry into the new century. Below: Here's a historic photo of the
still developing and advancing, making improvements with technology.
It's been a quiet growth, starting with W.A. McCollough, a blacksmith and farmer who moved to Webster City at the urging of his brother. They rented a building on the corner of Seneca and First streets in 1909 and began planning the building for their manufacturing plant. W.A. McCollough & Sons was born at the northeast corner of Second and Superior streets.
“It’s still a hometown family business,” said Mason, who also has five children, and recently welcomed her first grandchild.
She admits that when she started working 20 years ago as an accounting coordinator that “I didn’t even know what a casting was!”
But she has learned. They have brought in new customers, and doubled the revenue. There are plans for an expansion ahead.
“It’s been a good five years,” she said. “A lot of money has gone back into the company, purchasing new equipment, adding automation to make the environment better for its employees.”
When asked why she started making this shift in her career, she explained a bit about the McCollough success story.
Former presidents Kirk McCollough and his father, Robert McCollough, had a very personal connection with the employees and the day-to-day process.
“Kirk still comes in,” she said.
Like his father, Robert, even after the responsibility is not his, it’s a habit they both had, walking through the plant, talking to employees, asking about their families demonstrating their concern for the people they employed.
“Kirk could have sold to anyone,” she said. “He wanted someone to continue what they started. Keeping it local is important to both of us. We both want to continue to support the employees and their families in addition to this community.”
Mason has been involved with the Hamilton County 4-H program, volunteered as club leader of the Freedom Flickers and served on the Hamilton County 4-H Foundation.
“More recently I am getting involved with the Hamilton County Growth Partnership — HCGP — executive committee and Ames Alliance,” she said.
There is a big picture for this industry leader. They hold multiple patents and are
The sons, George and McKinley, worked together with their father and by 1932 they had filed a dozen patents, 11 were designs from W.A.
The name has changed over time, from W.A. McCollough & Sons to McCollough’s Inc., led by John McCollough. Another name change was made by Robert McCollough when it was changed from McCollough’s Foundry to Seneca Foundry. The last two McCollough’s leading Seneca Foundry were Blaine McCollough and Kirk McCollough.
Some of the early patents might be familiar to Hamilton County farmers, as their first patent was a new way to feed hogs.
Today Seneca Foundry no longer makes hog feeders; their products range from industrial equipment parts, pumps and manifolds to weight-lifting equipment and iron castings for swing sets and playground equipment.
They still have local customers, such as Mertz Engineering, but most of their customers are beyond Webster City.
“Over the last 10 years our customer base has expanded from Iowa and surrounding states to now being coast to coast across the USA,” Mason said.
And that growth hasn’t stopped at the borders; it has recently expanded with a new customer in Canada.
So what is it that has made Seneca Foundry pass the 100-year mark?
“We make really great products for great customers,” Mason said.
This is one of the secrets to the business’ success. But it’s also the continuation of a locally-owned, familyowned business, with generations of pride behind it.
— Daily Freeman-Journal
photo by Kolleen Taylor
old foundry.
“It’s
A century of listening
By LORI BERGLUND
If you want to tell the story of a life, there is only one way to begin, according to Bob Erickson, longtime owner of Foster Funeral and Cremation Center in Webster City.
His business of more than 50 years has been helping families through some of the most difficult days of their lives, to tell the story of a loved one’s life.
“I think the most valuable thing is listening to people,” Erickson said. “Listen to people, and they will tell you their story. You can do a better job of conducting a funeral, writing an obituary, working with the family, if you listen.”
just super what you can learn from people if you listen. They will tell you their story. They may not realize that they are telling you their story, but indirectly you learn so much just by conversation."
The knack to good listening, as Erickson describes it, is to not be noticed that you are doing so. For a man with a natural born gift of gab, it’s a matter of sitting back, asking questions and then letting a family take it from there.
“It’s just super what you can learn from people if you listen,” Erickson said. “They will tell you their story. They may not realize that they are telling you their story, but indirectly you learn so much just by conversation.”
The art of listening is one thing he learned from the namesake of Foster Funeral and Cremation Center, the late Arch Foster. It’s a trait, as well, that he is so happy to see in his daughter, Amy EricksonKeller, who now runs the dayto-day operations of Foster’s and serves as company president.
“What’s really made me the happiest is to see Amy take over the funeral home,” Erickson said. “She does such a super job, and she’s very dedicated to it.”
Dedication is what it takes to maintain a business for more than a century. Founded in 1908, the original Foster Funeral Parlor was located in the 600 block of Second Street. As was common during the time, it included a furniture store and even an ambulance service.
The business eventually moved into a large home at the corner of First Street and Willson Avenue. That building served the business from 1926 all the way up to 1993. The new building was built just east of the old facility so that there was no disruption to the families served during construction.
Erickson’s eyes twinkle when he talks about those early days working with Arch Foster, Gene Noller, Gertrude Ermels, and so many others. Erickson was fresh out of Mortuary College in Wisconsin and had completed his apprenticeship at a Fort Dodge funeral home when he got a call from the folks at Foster’s.
“Gene Noller called me, at the request of Mr. Foster,” Erickson recalled. Noller was president of Foster’s at the time and knew that Erickson had grown up in the local area. To this day, Erickson still refers to Arch Foster as ‘Mr. Foster,’ a fitting tribute to a more genteel and very respectful era.
“I never called him anything else other than ‘Mr. Foster,’” Erickson recalled. “Even when we were working the garden, I called him Mr. Foster.”
Foster was legendary for his huge and productive garden. If there was no service planned on a particular day, he would invite folks out to help in his garden, the produce of which he shared happily.
Foster was known for his generosity in the community and, as the Great Depression settled in, he was in a unique position to see one of the saddest needs going unmet. Infant mortality was high in the early 20th Century, and young parents struggled to bear the cost of burying a child.
So in 1930, Arch Foster bought a large swath of land at Webster City’s Graceland Cemetery and named it “Foster’s Addition for Babies.”
Everyone in Webster City simply called it “Babyland.”
Parents facing such a tragedy would never have to worry about such a cost again. Nearly a century later, there are still graves available at no cost to grieving parents. The only charge that does occur is with the cemetery itself in the cost of opening the grave.
With her dad running Foster’s, Erickson-Keller grew up going to Babyland several days before Memorial Day each year to make sure it looked its very best for families who might return to place a flower on a baby’s grave.
“I remember doing that as a kid every Memorial Day,” Erickson Keller recalled.
Many parents could not afford a permanent memorial, so a large number of the infants buried at Babyland had nothing but a temporary marker made of tin.
“It was always a tradition on Memorial
Day to go out there and clean it up,” she recalled. “There was the arch out there with the Foster’s name, and a little pond in the middle.”
Over the decades, those temporary markers were severely beaten up just through regular maintenance. The cost of replacing them was growing and, since they were still just temporary, Erickson-Keller decided to lead a community effort to adopt the graves that had no permanent marker and finally give a more dignified memorial for the graves of these little ones.
Working with the staff at Foster’s, Erickson-Keller researched the family history of the infants to get permission from families to install a permanent marker of granite and concrete. Because many of them were from as early as the 1930s, and because many of the families no longer had any connection to the local community, it was not possible to find all of them. For the graves of these babies, many community members came forward to adopt them and donate the cost of the markers. In all, more than 300 granite markers were installed at Babyland to honor these little ones.
In many ways, the fact that Erickson-Keller led the effort to honor the infants of Babyland marks a continuation of the public service that has always been part of the people behind Foster’s. Erickson, in his time, chaired community celebrations for both the Quasquicentennial (125th) and Sesquicentennial (150th) anniversaries of Webster City. Going forward, it is Erickson-Keller who is listening to the stories of a family in grief and walking them through the process of honoring that life.
“Traditional funerals aren’t traditional anymore,” she said. “And that’s fine. This is about what each family wants.”
The number of traditional funerals began to decline during the pandemic when large groups could not gather. But the changes that began then have only continued to transform. In many ways, the current facility at Foster’s was designed to serve families in different ways. One of the most popular areas is the social room where families can have a lunch, perhaps during visitation or after a service at the funeral home. For those without a church home, this facility has been very welcome.
But the transition has developed even farther from there. Now, families are choosing to have a Celebration of Life at a number of outside venues, from parks to banquet rooms. Regardless of what a family chooses, Erickson-Keller works to make it happen just as each individual family chooses.
“We’re in a changing time,” she said. “We adjust to whatever they want.”
Listening is a skill that never goes out of style, and for the people at Foster’s Funeral and Cremation Center, listening to the story of each family has worked for more than 100 years and counting.
— Daily Freeman-Journal photo by Lori Berglund
Two generations of the Ericksons have served the community at Foster Funeral & Cremation Center. President Amy EricksonKeller is pictured with her father, Bob Erickson, owner. Behind them is a portrait of the founder, the late Arch Foster.
“If it (the industrial park) could be expanded up to about 400 acres, it would be the largest such site in all three counties (Boone, Hamilton, Story), and a very desirable one too.” More developable land and more electrical power from the new Reisner electrical substation, which is under construction, will go hand in hand to “put Webster City on the map with the Iowa Economic Development Authority.”
— Working with LIFT WC to find grants to “get the Elks Club project over the finish line.” A new external elevator has been added to the building’s north side, and a historical restoration of the main floor is progressing. More funding will be necessary, though, to finish the second-floor ballroom and catering kitchen to give the building its hoped-for multiple
ABove: Ottie Maxey talks with state Sen. Dennis Guth, center, and Webster City Mayor John Hawkins during an event in 2024 that celebrated Hamilton County and Webster City's signing with the Ames Economic Development Alliance.
— “And we’re working hard to move the needle on more housing,” Maxey said. This could include new construction and refurbishing dilapidated homes.
— Supporting community betterment.
Maxey mentioned the proposed new Riverview Daycare Center in Webster City, calling it “one of the most impressive projects I’ve seen in a long time.”
A top priority is expansion of Webster City’s industrial park on the south side of U.S. Highway 20. Maxey claims, “If it (the industrial park) could be expanded up to about 400 acres,
Dough
Continued from Page 3B
run out of potential recipes anytime soon.”
In Phase Two, the company plans to scale up its ability to make cookie dough in commercial-sized batches. It already owns large mixers capable of making 1,200 pounds of dough at a time.
Other Phase Two products include pails of premade dough consumers can buy, scoop and bake at home; and pre-portioned “cookie pucks” that even eliminate the need to scoop. These could be sold in grocery stores and direct to consumers from the company’s website.
Phase Three will see mass production of baked, packaged cookies through several possible channels, including grocery stores, restaurants and franchising opportunities.
The company’s 45,000-square-foot plant in Webster City has plenty of room to accommodate success, in all phases of the business’s growth.
it would be the largest such site in all three counties (Boone, Hamilton, Story), and a very desirable one too.” More developable land and more electrical power from the new Reisner electrical substation, which is under construction, will go hand in hand to “put Webster City on the map with the Iowa Economic Development Authority,” Maxey added.
If a railport is ultimately located in Webster City, it would be a crucial asset to an expanded industrial complex. The facility would expedite rail-to-truck or truck-to-rail freight transportation, something of interest to certain industries that might consider expanding, or
locating, here.
Asked how the Alliance will interface with the Webster City Area Chamber of Commerce, Maxey said, “The work of the two organizations will complement each other.” Maxey joined the nine-member board of the Webster City Chamber in 2024.
Harrenstein, City Manager of Webster City, commented:
“Ottie is a person of high integrity and commitment to our economic development agenda. He’s on the ground, building relationships every day.”
Maxey had a 30-year career in public education before joining the Alliance in July 2023. He taught social studies and coached football and basketball in West Des Moines before moving to his hometown of Cedar Rapids to become assistant principal at Kennedy High School. Next, he was promoted to superintendent of Postville Community Schools. He spent the last 11 years of his career as superintendent of Ballard Community Schools.
A giant “tunnel oven” will be required to take Tic Tac Dough fully into Phase Three expansion, and when the time comes, the company will be ready. Space on the factory floor is already reserved for the
100-foot oven, in which cookies will move on a conveyor, and an adjacent 250-foot conveyor to allow them to cool down. At the end of their journey, they’ll
— Daily Freeman-Journal
Heavy-duty commercial mixers like this one are used to mix dough for Tic Tac Dough's Webster City cookies. The development of commercial customers and/or collaborators in dough production and marketing is a priority for 2025. The company's factory is located at 1971 West James Street, Webster City.
be cool enough to package and ship. For 2025, Lundberg said the company has two immediate growth goals: Find more cookie sponsors in Webster City, and begin working with a yet-to-benamed collaborator on larger production batches. Of the latter, he said, “We have very strong leads nationally, and if any one of them comes through it could ramp us up very quickly.”
— Daily Freeman-Journal photo by Jane Curtis
photo by Robert E. Oliver
At Van Diest Supply Company, people make the difference. We have a sincere interest in our customers’ business and a genuine desire to help. We strive for long-lasting relationships with our customers, suppliers and Team Members.
At Van Diest Supply Company, people make the difference. We have a sincere interest in our customers’ business and a genuine desire to help. We strive for long-lasting relationships with our customers, suppliers and Team Members.
Our tradition revolves around providing products and services that consistently exceed expectations. Serving Agriculture since 1956, a three generation family owned business, we are know for our longevity, stability and continued growth.
Our tradition revolves around providing products and services that consistently exceed expectations. Serving Agriculture since 1956, a three generation family owned business, we are known for our longevity, stability and continued growth.
Van Diest Supply Company employs over 600 people, has 55 buildings on approximately 270 acres in Webster City, Iowa, has 20 outlying Distribution Centers and serves over 6,000 customers across the Midwest. Join us a part of our Winning Team by filling out an application today!
Van Diest Supply Company employs over 600 people, has over 55 buildings on approximately 270 acres in Webster City, Iowa, has 20 outlying Distribution Centers and serves over 6,000 customers across the Midwest. Join us as a part of our Winning Team by filling out an application today!
