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 On
Friday, 120 people turned out for the
partnership's second annual fundraising luncheon. This represents about
double the attendance of the first fundraiser, held last year.
The event took place at the Meyer-Evans Student
Center dining room on the campus of Lincoln College, with a meal
provided by chef Warren Wendlandt.
The day began with a welcome from Mark Hughes,
current board president for the development partnership and president
of Inland Tool in Mount Pulaski. Hughes later spoke about the state of
the partnership and the ongoing projects the partnership will be
working on in the coming year.
Mayor Keith Snyder spoke briefly, welcoming and
thanking all those in attendance. Snyder said it was great to see such a good
turnout and reminded the audience that economic development is a joint
venture between everyone.
He ended his comments by saying, "We're all in
this together, and we're all going to see a better day together."
With the resignation of Joel Smiley last month,
the board is currently in the process of searching for a new
executive director.
Hughes spoke briefly about this before the
luncheon, saying that the board is currently focusing on a statewide
search, with hopes of finding someone from Illinois, but will expand
the search to nationwide if needed.
He explained that there is a network of
development agencies and professionals in the state, and the board's
committee is using that network to get the word out that there is a
search going on.
During the luncheon Hughes also shared that a
committee has been appointed to spearhead the search, and members
include a fair representation of city and county government, as well
as local businessmen. The committee is hoping to have a person hired
by the first of July to the middle part of August at the latest.
Hughes also spoke briefly about the Economic
Master Plan and announced that Crystal Alley will be the chief
operating officer in plan implementation.
He reported that in the last year 11 individuals
have been enrolled in the SCORE program with business mentor Sonnie
Alexander.
Wind energy development is still under way, with
prospects of future wind farms in Logan County looking very good.
Vic Martinek, board treasurer, took the podium to
introduce Robert "Bob" Plummer, president and CEO of R.P. Lumber
Co., as well as his son, Jason Plummer.
The Lincoln R.P. Lumber facility celebrated its
opening with a chamber ribbon-cut in January of 2010. Located in the
old Kroger store on Woodlawn Road, it is the 46th store for the
family-owned business, which has locations throughout Illinois and
portions of Missouri.
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 In his talk, Plummer told about his
progression
from a young man purchasing one rundown store with poor heat and
lighting and no running water, to a business owner of a chain of
lumberyards.
In addition to lumberyards, Plummer also has
investments in shopping centers and motels, including Lincoln's own
Heritage Plaza and the Hampton Inn.
Plummer talked about the factors that made Lincoln desirable as a
location for one of his stores and expressed that for several years
prior to opening the Woodlawn location, he had known that he wanted
to bring his business to the city.
Jason Plummer, in addition to being an integral
part of R.P. Lumber as its vice president, was a strong contender for
the office of lieutenant governor of Illinois in 2010.
The younger Plummer talked about his attraction
to Lincoln. He recounted that during his campaign for lieutenant
governor he traveled nearly 120,000 miles statewide and planned his stops so
that he could do many of his gas fill-ups in Lincoln.
It was also recounted that Jason Plummer was
the one to discover the old Kroger building was up for grabs. He
said he found out, called his dad and told him he had to come to
Lincoln and take a look, and they progressed from there.
Both men also spoke about the assistance they
received from the development partnership and the Lincoln/Logan
County Chamber of Commerce, as well as the cooperation and welcome
they received from city officials.
On Monday, LDN will run a feature article
offering greater detail on the Plummers' history as successful
businesses owners and how they built a large chain of retail stores
from one small investment.
[By NILA SMITH]
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