Streets, career readiness, Cottey fair outlined

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Nevada Daily Mail

The city of Nevada still plans on moving ahead with street work, the county is up for consideration as a certified work ready community, and Cottey College is working on its community picnic and partner fair.

Those were among the announcements at Friday's Nevada Vernon County Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon at the 3M Clubhouse.

Nevada City Manager JD Kehrman said the recent heavy rains had put the city "about three weeks behind," in its plans for work on city streets.

But the city plans to begin Monday and will work with the school system to minimize traffic disruptions regarding the upcoming opening of the school year.

"We have such an aged sewer system that with this kind of rainfall, it causes problems," said Kehrman in explaining the impact of the heavy and steady rains.

Having all that extra water produces a negative impact in several areas, notably putting a strain on efforts to stay compliant with EPA and Department of Natural Resources regulations, he said.

Knowing the problem would continue to get worse as the city's sewer system deteriorates, the city "attacked the problem three years ago and passed the first rate increase in 20 years."

That has put the city in a better position to get the necessary needed and mandated improvements going.

Kehrman told chamber members that by "this fall, there will be projects" involving several areas of the city, including a number of yards and the city park.

"It's inconvenient but necessary if we are to stay in compliance," said Kehrman.

"Be patient with us. We're making progress every day with the infrastructure investments that need to be made."

Kehrman's remarks were followed by a brief presentation, similar to what was done earlier this week at the Healthy Nevada Innovation Center, regarding an initiative to improve the area's workforce and demonstrate the needed skills to attract new business and industry, and also help workers improve their ability to attract and retain jobs, potentially at higher wages.

The effort involves students and workers age 18 and above taking a four-hour test with the goal of being certified as possessing standardized skills needed to be successful in the workplace. There is no cost for the test.

The National Career Readiness Certificate is a measurement that demonstrates the worker's proficiency in problem solving, reasoning, critical thinking, reading and using written, work-related text, applying information from workplace documents to solve problems, applying mathematical reasoning to work-related problems, and locating and applying information that is presented graphically.

The Nevada Vernon County Area Chamber of Commerce Certified Work Ready Steering Committee hopes to have the county certified in this area and is working on achieving goals in attaining the NCRC among students, the employed, and the unemployed. There is also a business support goal, with businesses and industries encouraged to sign on, at no cost.

"We see this as a win for the individual, the business and the county," said Caroline Phillips, functional leader with the Missouri Career Center.

For information, contact the Career Center at 417-448-1177.

Mari Anne Phillips, vice president for student life, and Renee Hampton, experiential learning coordinator at Cottey College, offered their top 10 reasons to take part in the community picnic and partner fair Saturday, Aug. 24, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Franklin P. Norman City/County Community Center in Nevada.

The picnic and fair is designed to showcase and highlight community organizations and businesses to incoming Cottey students and their families.

So far, 14 businesses have signed up to take part. Last year, the fair had 45 community participants.

"We have over 600 students and their families attending," noted Phillips.

"It's a great opportunity to promote your business or organization to an interested audience. And there's no cost to participate."

It's also a good opportunity, they said, for businesses looking for possible student workers who will serve as interns.

Food, entertainment and door prizes will be offered.

To join the list of participating businesses and organizations, contact Phillips at 417-667-6333, ext. 2121, or Hampton at 417-667-8181, ext. 2184.

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