FAIRMONT — It would be difficult to measure the impact of economic development efforts in a single day, but a look back over the totality of work done in a year can reveal surprising accomplishments.

“When you are working every day, you just move on to the next thing,” said Linsey Preuss, Fairmont economic development director. “You don’t really think about what you’ve accomplished until you put it all together in one report. Then you’re like, wow, we did get a lot done.”

Preuss recently compiled and released the city’s 2017 economic development report, which is available under the “About Us” tab on the Fairmont Economic Development Authority’s website, www.fedamn.com. The report summarizes economic development activities in 2017 and compares them to 2016.

“It’s nice to go over previous years because it gives us a basis as to how we are doing,” Preuss said.

And Fairmont is doing well.

“Our word is getting out there. We had 34 businesses that called us for assistance, and we reached out to 42 business,” she said. “That’s no overlap. We had direct impact on 76 businesses, and I think that’s pretty good.”

What these businesses were seeking covered a wide spectrum of need. Calls came from companies from all over, as well as from within the city.

“There was a lot of movement with office space last year so that was probably a number of calls,” Preuss said. “I would say most of them were site searches or just looking for general business information. Right now, there’s a real lack of business inventory of all sizes and types — commercial, warehouse, office space.”

The city owns a business incubator building at 426 Winnebago Ave. The original intent of the incubator was to assist in start-up businesses in getting established and then have them move into more permanent facilities. Currently, it is operating at full capacity, housing seven businesses.

“That was the plan, but with the shortage of building inventory, we won’t kick them out and not have them be able to go somewhere,” Preuss said.

The lack of adequate building inventory led FEDA to become proactive. One year ago, FEDA secured a six-year option to purchase a 37-acre parcel of land from David Meschke. The land is located just northwest of the Martin County Fairgrounds in the southwest corner of exit 99 on Interstate 90. Preuss is in the process of attempting to secure a grant to assist in funding infrastructure to the site, making it shovel-ready and attractive to potential buyers and builders.

Economic development does not cover only new businesses. It also helps existing businesses expand and grow. In 2016, the three most valuable building permits to Gold Cross, Ingleside Assisted Living and Mayo Clinic Health System in Fairmont totaled $3.9 million. In 2017, the top three for Fairmont Foods, Zierke Built Manufacturing and Fairmont Realty Group LLC (townhomes at First Street and Prairie Avenue) totaled more than $4.5 million.

Preuss has set lofty goals for this year in a campaign to continue development growth.

“In 2018, I’m going to visit 52 business, one per week,” she said. “In 2018, I’d love to sell the first lot on the Meschke property. In 2018, I’m going solve (the lack of) child care in this community.”

Lack of adequate, qualified child care can render a company unable to expand, stifling its growth due to unavailability of employees. Preuss said numerous regulations, long work days and mounds of required paperwork create a deterrent for people considering a career in child care. She has been working with a local group of child care providers and community leaders to develop a solution to the problem.

With the ongoing activity in economic development, Preuss offers a comment to those people who say Fairmont is a dying community.

“Nothing going on? Have them come talk to me. I’ll let them know what’s going on,” she said. “There’s a lot happening in this community. We should be proud of our results.”