Community Revitalization

52 participants attended the Visioning Forum

Following are the recommendations as prioritized  by the participants:

Community Services: Community center

More electives at school

Youth Empowerment Project

Day care services

Education

Community center

After-school programs

Campus beautification

Promote school

Feature successful alumni on website

Economic Development

Bring jobs to area

Make area a tourist destination

Assess infrastructure

Research grants

Arts & Heritage

Develop activities to feature lake communities of Lead Hill and Diamond City

Increase awareness of Ozark Mountain culture in area

Increase awareness of local historical sites

Community Beautification/Natural Resources

Welcome signs for each city

Beautify parks

New light posts with banners

Develop beautiful trails

Have an information boards

Project leader Rodney Fry visits with Renee Carr before the meeting.

Shari Marshall, Asst. Project Leader, gives the Economic Development Focus Group report.

Joyce Anderson presents the Arts & Heritage recommendations.

Denise Moon presents the Education Focus Group recommendations

Debbie Todd, Community Services Focus Group Leader, votes to prioritize recommendations

Lead Hill Mayor Jimmie Lou Nuessner and Tammie Gimenez vote.

Supt. Brown and Principal Stokes pose for a snapshot

Jennifer Fry votes

Preparing to vote

Diamond City, Lead Hill, and South Lead Hill residents will have a town meeting at the school library on Tuesday, March 16 at 7pm to hear the recommendations of community members who have served on Economic Development, Education, City Beautification, Community Services, and Arts & Heritage Focus Groups over the past four months.  Those in attendance will vote to prioritize the recommendations which will then be used to draft a Strategic Plan for the community.  All residents, including youth, are encouraged to attend.

Click link to view assessment:

Lead Hill Area Community Assessment

Save these dates:

December 12, 8:00 a.m., Economic Development and Arts & Heritage focus groups, Katie’s Cafe in Diamond City

December 16, 5:30 p.m., Community Services focus group, Lead Hill School 

December 19, 7:00 a.m., Economic Development and Arts & Heritage focus groups, Katie’s Cafe in Diamond City 

February 1, 6:00 p.m., Second Community Forum for Visioning and Planning, Lead Hill School Cafeteria

Lead Hill Area community members gathered to hear the results of a Community Assessment.  The assessment was prepared by Rural Community Alliance from information gathered from community and business surveys as well as demographic information for the area.  Resource representatives introducing their programs were:  Jay Stallard-NW Arkansas Economic Development District; Charles Stockton-Financing Ozarks Rural Growth & Economy (FORGE); Holly Hope-Arkansas Historic Preservation; Dennis Donahou-Department of Rural Services; Marilyn Doran-Arkansas Game & Fish Commision.

Community members listen to presentation

At the end of the survey was the following question: 

Please share below any ideas you have that would benefit the community.  This idea can be social, cultural, economic, education, city beautification, or any other category you choose.   Following are the ideas included in response to that question:

Create better classrooms for students in old gym and Buildings C and D. 

Sidewalk from Grand Avenue to the lake. 

More available knowledge of activities happening in area. Many do not know of events so do not attend. 

Clean up properties along highways, upgrade store fronts—curb appeal. 

Dance hall, skating, rink or swimming pool for kids. 

Have recreation for all ages. 

Classes for adults such as sewing, crafts, photography, auto repair, exercise, etc. 

Apartments in the Lead Hill area! 

We need playground equipment in the local parks. 

Need better education, more jobs so people don’t have to go so far to work. 

We need a working Chamber of Commerce. 

All of the above are very important to our community.  It will take all people coming together to get all of this done, or even part of it.  A few can’t do this alone.  WE NEED TO PULL TOGETHER. 

Government grants for after school, holiday child care programs—very important for working families.  Musical education for anyone:  draws community together. Habitat for Humanity, thrift store where building materials can be donated or purchased. Good grocery store. More restaurants.  

Tourism is not the answer.  Generally it is a quick fix.  A financial band aid that does not produce stable and constant employment.  It brings people in who will destroy the area.  It brings a whole different lifestyle that I don’t believe the folks living here will want to deal with. Crime will rise. Personal freedom will diminish because of the element brought in.   I believe the focus should be more on small businesses and not destructive industries. 

School needs to focus more on education and less on sports.  I know sports can be a great thing.  However, when it is looked upon as the most important thing it takes away from the future. 

Announce town hall meetings for concerned residents or print a newsletter to inform us of what is happening in our community. 

City beautification has helped a great deal. 

Would be nice to have sign language classes to be able to communicate with some of the people here that are hearing impaired.  I know of 2 families that are hearing impaired.

 We need peace and safety restored to Diamond city like in 2007 and 2008.  A city divided cannot move forward. 

Put lights in park, skate park, walking trail with lights and benches, streets chip-and-sealed in Diamond City. 

Recreation center for youth. 

More electives in school—home ec, photography, photoshop, life math

Dogwoods, redbud trees 

More factory jobs 

I would like to see a drive-thru such as a Sonic.  It would give more jobs for the kids.  It would also be good for our town.  We need more than one gas station. A pharmacy would be great. It would be easier for people to not have to drive all the way to Harrison for our medicines. 

There was once talk about a skate park for the kids—what happened to that?  There is nothing in Lead Hill or Diamond City for kids to do.  You can’t expect families to move or visit here if there is nothing for kids to do. 

I believe we are wasting city money by having town cops.  There is never anything going on here that the county can’t handle and these cops in Lead Hill and Diamond City run around picking on the kids and harassing the adults.  Spend our money somewhere else to keep these towns alive!! 

The community needs more services and housing, daycare for children and an after school program for working parents of school age children to give kids a place safe and fun to go to instead of home alone or running around unsupervised.

This is a beautiful, quiet community, but we could really use some growth, new businesses for the unemployed, a grocery store that has a larger selection of meats and poduce, a farmer’s market, more activities at the arena and lake.  Better county roads in the entire Lead Hill area. 

Make the parks actually fun. Add a place where teenagers could hang out after school. 

Better education, more jobs, beautify the community. 

Get school children more involved in what is going on in the area, such as parades and community organized events. 

Make city government fair and not the “who you know” system. Allow police to do their job and support them. Have local police.  Support the fire department. Allow some city monies to pay volunteers—The next fire put out could be your home! If your home is robbed, do you want to wait for the police to come? It won’t stay low crime and a retiree town if no local police! Support the kids—keep them busy! 

It would be great to build a place fun for the kids.  Where kids of all ages can gather and hang out. Were parents, grandparents, etc., can know they are safe and there are no drugs, drinking, or tobacco use, and there is adult supervision. 

A fast food resaurant. 

Need something to keep the kids busy so the money doesn’t go to Harrison. Also so the older kids don’t have to drive to do something—anything—other than sports. 

I think there should be more social things for our youth.  We could benefit economically if we had better restaurants and create more jobs. 

More factory jobs.