HERMANN – What does the future hold for Gasconade County’s Industrial Development Authority (IDA)? Will there even be a future for the long-idled agency?

Those are the questions the County commission will be considering when it meets with members of the IDA. The answers are of particular interest to three members of the IDA, all of whom have bumped against their three-term limit of service.

IDA Chairman Dale Ridder, who, along with Glenn Ely and Roberta Berger, is serving beyond the proscribed time, talked recently with Gasconade County Southern District Associate Commissioner Ron Hardecke, R-Owenville, via a ZOOM connection. Ridder had hoped to have discussion with the full commission, but Presiding Commissioner Tim Schulte, R-Hermann, and Northern District Associate Commissioner Jim Holland, R-Hermann, were unable to join Hardecke in meeting with Ridder.

Ridder told the Gasconade County Republican that the IDA members want to sit down with the county government administrative panel and reach a decision on the appointed board’s future. “We’re going to let them call us,” Ridder said late last month after he was unsuccessful in meeting with all three commissioners via ZOOM.

Indeed, Hardecke last Thursday said the Commission would formally invite the IDA members to a commission meeting to discuss the panel’s future.

IDAs – both in counties and in municipalities – have been in place for decades, created by state legislation as another means of fostering economic development primarily through the issuance of Industrial Development Bonds. IDAs often are the foundation for creating industrial parks, such as the one along Highway 100 East on the outskirts of Hermann.

In some parts of the state, IDA bonds have been instrumental in the development of nursing homes and residential care centers, as well as other job-creating projects. However, in Gasconade County the IDA has been idle for many years, as Ridder noted. While an IDA in another part of Missouri can play a key role in assembling land either for an industrial park or a particular industrial development project, that’s not so much the case in this county – thanks in great part to the geographic limitations. Having limited flat space, especially on the northern end of the county, makes site preparation very costly for a prospective industrial project.

That’s one of reasons housing developments have been slow in taking hold in the Hermann area, despite a long-standing need for additional housing units in the county seat community.

If the commission opts to keep the county IDA in place, it will need to either mount an effort to find three new board members – always a chore when seeking to fill seats on a volunteer panel – or it can revise the IDA’s bylaws to allow members to continue serving by removing the term limit.

Whatever the decision, it will be one made without a significant financial consideration. The IDA receives only $1,000 a year from county government.