Wagner Area Growth Director Margaret Doom recently employed a community- wide survey in order to see what the residents of Wagner’s thoughts and concerns were about the community. The survey was available both online and as a paper copy. Margaret was very happy with the turnout as the organization received more surveys back than expected. More surprisingly was the large youth presence that decided to get involved and take the surveys as well. There were even some residents of Lake Andes, Armour and Avon that took the survey as well as they work in Wagner.

There were several areas that were able to be identified from the survey as a need or concern for the Wagner community. The Wagner community is concerned about crime, available housing and want to see more business development on Wagner’s Main Street. The write in comments are very valuable to Margaret and the Wagner Area Growth as residents identified new businesses that they would like to see in Wagner. Some of the requests included a clothing boutique, more restaurants, a McDonalds, a craft store and a Shopko-like business. With this information, Wagner Area Growth now has a goal of trying to recruit businesses to come to Wagner based on the wants, needs and suggestions of the community. Another finding from this survey was that the desire for Wagner to have culinary classes offered in the community.

When all was said and done with the data from the survey, Wagner residents are generally happy and enjoy living in Wagner. In regards to the need for more housing in Wagner, the Wagner Area Growth has governor’s houses that will be coming to Wagner before the end of October with the potential to bring in more governor’s housing. They will also focus more of their time into investing into bringing more businesses to Main Street.

Margaret plans to utilize this type of survey every two to three years in order to best know the interests of Wagner residents.