Grassley talks economic development, growth at Parkersburg listening post

Talk of growth and economic development dominated the discussion during a listening post hosted by State Representative Pat Grassley and State Senator Annette Sweeney at the Parkersburg City Hall on Friday morning.

Addressing a packed room, Grassley spoke with constituents about how he’s working to promote growth and economic development in small, rural towns like Parkersburg.

“We need to make sure we’re giving these towns opportunities [to grow],”Grassley said. “We don’t want to give handouts; we want to provide opportunities that make it easier to grow and develop here and build on the great things these small towns are already doing.”

Grassley says that right now, there’s a pretty even breakdown of rural and urban legislators to balance out interests, and noted that Gov. Kim Reynolds is working hard on the ‘Empower Rural Iowa’ initiative that aims to find solutions for challenges of rural Iowa and to ensure growth of those communities.

For the full story, see this week’s Eclipse News-Review. Subscribe by calling 319-346-1461 or by clicking here.