Milford is good for another five years.
The city received its recertification through the Leadership Certified Communities program at the Nebraska Department of Economic Development at its Jan. 7 council meeting.
“It’s an extremely important piece to the growth and betterment of the community,” Mayor Patrick Kelley said.
Jonathan Jank, president and CEO of the Seward County Chamber and Development Partnership, said the certification provides a benchmark for best practices in smaller cities. It also makes the cities eligible for more grant funding.
“It puts them on the radar,” Jank said.
The certification process takes times and effort. Jank said the SCCDP and Milford city staff worked together to put the information together, with help from the Nebraska Public Power District, the Southeast Nebraska Development District, Milford Public Schools and Southeast Community College.
Kelley said it’s not just one person who puts the plan together. It take a team, including the city staff, county representatives and the SCCDP, and he was grateful for everyone who contributed.
Kelley said the process gave the city the opportunity to update its strategic plan, looking at building, parks and infrastructure, among other areas.
“We work through it and show a community trying and working toward betterment,” he said.
Certification focuses on five areas, starting with the community. Jank said Milford excelled in collaborations, volunteerism and leadership.
Second is a strategic plan for the city, which includes a city profile. Planning and zoning, area three, includes a comprehensive plan, code enforcement and a capital improvement program.
Business and technology are also important, and that includes business retention and new businesses, Jank said. Having an online presence is also important.
Area five is implementation, looking at resources and assets. Use of both tax increment financing and LB840 funding is part of this area.
Jank said the goals Milford set are based on community feedback. Among those that have been met are projects at Milford Public Schools and a new water main for the city.
“They are things you can physically see come out of the ground,” Jank said. “Milford is positioned well for future success.”
Going through the recertification process took about a year, he said.
“It is not an insignificant effort,” he said.
Kelley said the process included a lot of documentation, understanding what the city’s needs are and what is in place and setting goals for the next five years.
Through the process in 2019, the city identified childcare as an area of focus that was not on the 2018 strategic plan. The Milford Learning Center was developed and built to help meet the childcare need.
Kelley said he felt more comfortable this time through the process because he knew what to expect. The first one was almost starting from scratch, working with plans that hadn’t been updated in a long time.
“We’ve done a lot in seven years,” he said.
Now that the city has been recertified, the process starts again. Jank described it as a continuous improvement process.
“We want to help Milford continue to go from good to great,” Jank said.
“There’s a lot of great work being done,” Kelley said.
Milford has replaced a lot of old infrastructure, including 100-year-old water mains, and added fiber optic options.
“We have four options for fiber. Not a lot of cities our size can say that,” Kelley said.
The city also worked with the Nebraska Department of Transportation to redo Highway 6 through town.
“The highway was in rough shape,” Kelley said. “We were on the state’s one- and five-year plan since the 1980s.”
While a lot of the projects on Milford’s list have been finished, there are still some to do. A new water treatment facility is one of those, Kelley said. The city has received some federal money for the project and is working on the necessary planning steps.
A $1 million donation allowed the city to upgrade its downtown park, adding the splash pad, new equipment and sod, with the pickleball and basketball courts still to be done.
The Timber Creek Housing Development and First Street Flats have helped meet the housing need.
“When you look at the energy in Milford, it’s very positive,” Kelley said. “It shows the passion. People are willing to invest in our community.”
Kelley said Milford’s next project will be downtown revitalization. It will be a two-phase project looking at sidewalks and infrastructure, he said.
“This is a great community to live in and be part of,” Kelley said. “We want to be the best county in the state. It’s neat to be part of.”
