.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} The city of Waukee has formed an economic development task force to study new ways the city can attract and retain businesses.

“We want to see if it makes sense to change the way our organization is structured right now,” said Jody Gunderson, Waukee’s community development director. “This will help us do that and put together a business and marketing plan for our city.”

Waukee’s two largest age demographics in the 2004 special U.S. census were the 25-34 age group (17.8 percent) and the 35-44 age group (17.6 percent). More than half of the city’s population had attended college, and 34 percent had earned at least a bachelor’s degree. Each of these numbers has likely grown given the town’s rapid development.

The median household income was $58,024, well above the statewide figure.

“We have a highly educated work force that travels outside of our town to work every day,” Gunderson said. “It would be nice to provide them the opportunity to work in their own town.”

Waukee Councilwoman Darlene Stanton, one of the council’s two representatives on the task force, said with the growth the city has seen in recent years, it was time to take a hard look at the way it is doing things.

“It’s time we developed a strategy for economic growth,” she said.

The 22-member task force includes council members Stanton and Isaiah McGee, Mayor Bill Peard and a spectrum of Waukee’s residents, Stanton said. When their work is completed, which is expected to take at least six months, the task force could suggest to the city council the creation of a new group that would act as an independent economic development agency.

“At this point we envision it as a public-private partnership,” Gunderson said. “But we are in the early stages right now.”

While the task force works on a strategic plan for economic development in the city, Waukee also will revise its comprehensive plan.

“This will be a very important time for our city,” Stanton said. “We’re trying to figure out exactly how to keep that small-town sense while we’re growing so dramatically.”

Stanton said it’s fortunate the task force and comprehensive plan revisions are taking place at the same time.

“It takes a lot more work, but I think ultimately it will be a huge benefit to our community,” she said. “Our city staff is really working hard right now.”

Many aspects of the two efforts will overlap, Gunderson said, such as the possibility of changes to the city’s zoning map.

The hope for the efforts, Stanton said, is twofold.

“We can get new people energized and involved in the process, which is a benefit to the community,” she said. “And secondly, this gives us a map, a sense of direction, for our future.”

With the city’s continued growth, which Stanton said has slowed slightly with the cooling of the housing market, any plan the task force creates will have to be revisited every year to make sure the city is still on the right track.

“This lays the framework of where we’re going,” she said. “But we can’t rest on it.”

Waukee will always be a suburb of Des Moines, Stanton said, but the challenge it is facing is trying to understand “who we are and what makes us different,” she said.

“Waukee is a wonderful community,” she said. “Now we are going to try to get that message out in the most effective way. This is a way to understand how to accomplish that.”