Re-posted from the Fairfield Ledger

Article By Diane Vance

Fairfield Middle School social studies teacher Jennifer Mangler received the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award at this morning’s end-of-year celebration for the Fairfield Community School District.

The Fairfield First! Local Economy Summit is set from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 28th in the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center’s Cambridge room.

According to organizer Burt Chojnowski, The city of Fairfield, Fairfield Economic Development Association and Maharishi University of Management and a panel of local business people have been invited to participate and give progress reports, local economic forecasts and reports on expansion plans.

The annual summit will include the state of the local economy, opportunities, outlook and much more.

With support from the Fairfield Economic Development Association, the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors agreed to join the Eastern Iowa Airport’s Foreign Trade Zone.  The action taken by the Board of Supervisors at its April 9, 2012 board meeting will allow existing Jefferson County businesses and industries, as well as new business and industry, to take advantage of the benefits of a Foreign Trade Zone through a new process referred to as the Alternative Site Framework.

 The Eastern Iowa Airport will now file an application with the U.S. Foreign Trade Zones Board to include Jefferson County in its service area.

Photo credit: Open Space Studio in Fairfield, Iowa

Reposted from The Fairfield Ledger...

This morning the Iowa Economic Development Authority sponsored a webinar titled "Justifying Energy Efficiency as a Business Improvement." The 2 hr. webinar was produced by Partnership for Industrial Efficiency (PIE2) and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Read below to find out more about the purpose of the webinar. The following is reposted from Iowa State University:

After three years of development, local investors and the Apollo  Development LLC are excited to open the doors to the $5.4 million development project that is AmericInn Fairfield. David Harchanko, of Apollo Development LLC, stated “We are very pleased to be able to see our idea for a new hotel in Fairfield become a reality and with a strong partner in AmericInn we believe that it will be a great addition to Fairfield. I would like to thank the City of Fairfield and the Fairfield Economic Development Association for their assistance.”

AmericInn is conveniently located at the intersection of Highways 1 and 34 in Fairfield close to the Jefferson County Medical Center and only minutes from Fairfield and Southeast Iowa attractions.

Re-posted from the Des Moines Register article by Danelle Eller

Iowa manufacturers added 3,500 jobs in January, a powerful start to a year that began with a total of 3,700 more jobs than in December.

From left: Tracy Vance, Executive Director FEDA; Brady Gros, CEO Harper Brush Works; Representative Curt Hanson; Mayor Ed Malloy

Harper Brush Works is consolidating its distribution operations to its Fairfield, Iowa location as part of its Performance Improvement Program. The consolidation plan includes the addition of 25 to 30 jobs and is supported by a state and local incentive package that has been approved by the Iowa Economic Development Authority and the City of Fairfield.

By LACEY JACOBS, Ledger staff writer | Mar 01, 2012 

Solar tubes in the ceiling of the Fairfield City Hall council chambers are aglow on a sunny afternoon. The solar tubes are just one of several energy efficient upgrades made to eight city-owned buildings in the last year. An extensive project to improve energy efficiency at eight city-owned buildings is expected to pay for itself over the next 6.5 years.