Communities that stop pursuing economic growth do not remain frozen in place. They fall behind. Other communities continue recruiting employers. They continue investing in workforce development. They continue preparing sites, expanding infrastructure, supporting entrepreneurs, and positioning themselves for future growth.
The competition for jobs, investment, and talent does not pause because one community chooses not to participate.
Over the past several years, I’ve noticed something interesting. The phrase “economic development” often generates mixed reactions. Mention a new employer, a business recruitment effort, an industrial expansion, a housing project tied to workforce growth, or a discussion about incentives, and opinions quickly emerge.
Some people become excited. Others become skeptical. Yet economic development should not be viewed with suspicion. Communities don’t grow by accident. In fact, every community that enjoys a strong quality of life depends on successful economic development. One reason economic development is sometimes misunderstood is because people often confuse it with community development.
Community development focuses on making a place where people want to live. Parks, trails, recreation, schools, arts, healthcare, childcare, housing, volunteerism, and quality-of-life amenities all contribute to community development. These investments matter because they help create vibrant and attractive communities.
Economic development serves a different purpose. Economic development is about creating and retaining primary jobs, expanding the tax base, supporting business growth, increasing incomes, attracting investment, and generating new wealth within a community.
In simple terms, economic development creates the resources that make community development possible. Without economic growth, communities eventually face difficult choices. Infrastructure ages. Public services become harder to maintain. Schools struggle with declining enrollment. Employers face workforce shortages. Young people leave in search of greater opportunities elsewhere.
No community can cut its way to prosperity. Communities grow stronger when they create opportunities. Those opportunities often begin with primary jobs.
A primary job is one that brings new dollars into a community. Manufacturers sell products outside the region. Professional service firms serve clients beyond local boundaries. Technology companies, healthcare providers, logistics firms, agricultural processors, and many other industries generate revenue from outside markets and bring those dollars home.
Those dollars do not stop with the employer. Employees purchase homes. Families shop locally. Businesses hire suppliers. Tax revenues support public services. Local entrepreneurs find new opportunities. Economic activity spreads throughout the community. That is the power of economic development.
Unfortunately, economic development is sometimes portrayed as helping only a select group of businesses or developers. While individual projects may receive the most public attention, the ultimate objective is much broader.
The goal is not simply to help one company succeed. The goal is to strengthen the economic foundation of an entire community.
When a manufacturer expands, the benefits extend beyond the factory walls. When a new business chooses to locate in a community, the impact reaches beyond the business itself. When workforce initiatives help employers fill critical positions, the gains extend beyond a single industry.
Economic growth creates opportunities that ripple throughout the local economy. That does not mean every project deserves support. But there is an important difference between questioning a strategy and questioning the value of economic development itself.
Communities that stop pursuing economic growth do not remain frozen in place. They fall behind. Other communities continue recruiting employers. They continue investing in workforce development. They continue preparing sites, expanding infrastructure, supporting entrepreneurs, and positioning themselves for future growth. The competition for jobs, investment, and talent does not pause because one community chooses not to participate.
Here in Yankton, much of what we value today exists because previous generations understood this reality. They invested in industrial development. They supported infrastructure projects. They recruited employers. They expanded opportunities. They recognized that long-term prosperity required more than maintaining the status quo. Their efforts created the foundation we benefit from today. Now it is our turn.
Economic development is not about chasing growth for growth’s sake. It is about ensuring that future generations have opportunities to build careers, raise families, start businesses, and create successful lives in the community they call home. It is about creating an economy that supports the quality of life we all want.
Community development and economic development are partners. One helps make a community desirable. The other helps make it sustainable. Both matter. But neither should be treated as something to apologize for. Communities don’t grow by accident.
It is the intentional work of creating opportunities, building prosperity, and securing a stronger future for the next generation. That is not something communities should fear. It is something communities should embrace.
We are providing the following to share information and to respond to recent concerns, criticisms and unthruths shared over the past several weeks on social media regarding Yankton Thrive (YT) and the River City Flats (RCF) housing project on Whiting Drive east of Sertoma Park.
Why was the extension of Gehl Drive an important component of future development in Yankton? For decades, much of the land east and north of Sertoma Park lacked access to city sewer service, limiting development opportunities. Through a combination of federal grants, a Yankton Thrive-initiated TIF (Tax Increment Financing), Manitou’s expansion and land donation, and City planning efforts, the necessary infrastructure was installed. The new road, sewer, and utility extensions now open hundreds of acres for future residential, commercial, and industrial development, expanding the tax base and helping spread the cost of public services across more taxpayers.
YT continues to work towards ensuring adequate housing availability in Yankton. Employers have communicated to YT that they have difficulty recruiting workforce due to lack of available housing in the Yankton area. YT has been involved with multiple housing projects in the past few years, and a project in east Yankton was consistent with YT goals.
A public Request for Proposal (RFP) was advertised and local contractors were contacted by YT in hopes of finding a partner interested in constructing an apartment complex. Only three companies responded to the RFP, none of which were from Yankton.
After the initial developer was unable to secure investors to move the project forward, a group of local volunteers, several who were also on the Yankton Thrive board, worked closely with the developer, to create the RCF board to attempt to find investors.
This unpaid volunteer board took on the job of promoting the project to try to raise the capital needed. Twelve public informational meetings were held December, 2025 through February, 2026, to seek potential investors. Meetings were advertised in the P&D, local radio, YT’s weekly newsletter, and social media. That effort led to finding 65 South Dakota investors to provide the capital needed for Phase 1. They became the investors in RCF Phase 1, which is for the first three buildings totaling 81 units.
As directed by its volunteer unpaid board, YT provided the final $135,000 of the investment needed and became the 65th investor in the project. Again, this money comes from YT’s private YES campaign funds.
For the Gehl Drive infrastructure development, YT obtained a $1.26 million housing infrastructure grant from SD’s 2025 $200 million special housing infrastructure program, which went towards the $6 million cost. YT also agreed to grant the six-acre land gift from Manitou and cash from its YES4 private investor campaign to RCF. In return for the grants provided by YT, RCF accepted the additional expense burden of building at this location due to its flood plain designation, as well as agreeing to limit the first several years of rents of the new one-bedroom apartments. YT had previously provided similar incentives to the Westbrook Estates Apartments developer in 2015 to spur that project and create lower rents for tenants there.
For those not familiar with constructing in flood plains, bringing in additional dirt to raise the property is a more expensive but frequently used practice for such projects, as an alternative to being required to purchase flood insurance. Yankton’s Stockwell Engineering, is providing the engineering to assist RCF with that.
Manitou received $0 from these funds or from the TIF, but did benefit from being able to expand its plant, and also now having opportunity for potential future expansion. Manitou’s expansion and other future development now possible on Gehl Drive and to the north helps all Yankton taxpayers by growing the tax base.
Multiple entities utilizing the State of South Dakota’s one-time housing infrastructure grants have resulted in multiple projects and over 300 new units in Yankton. This is evidence that the correct type of incentives do work.
Yankton’s Menard’s TIF is another great example of how incentives can be successful. Drive around Menards and you now see the other development that often follows an incentivized one.
A final point: Yankton City Commissioner Bill Conkling has social media postings regarding concerns and questions on social media about YT and RCF building these apartments for “immigrants”. While YT and RCF welcome and encourage legal residents and employees of all types in Yankton, neither YT nor RCF has pursued or provided any incentives or made any special considerations to promote any particular residents for this housing complex.
Leaders of Yankton Thrive and the River City Flats apartment project have issued a public response to recent criticism from a Yankton County Commission candidate.
Julie Auch, who currently represents Legislative District 18 in the South Dakota House of Representatives, posted comments on May 19 on her County Commission campaign Facebook page and in a submitted editorial in the May 22 edition of The Yankton County Observer weekly newspaper under the headline, “Questions I’m Raising About Yankton Thrive, River City Flats and This County Commission Race.”
Auch, of Lesterville, is one of five Republican candidates running for one of three at-large seats on the County Commission, along with challenger Robert Gleich of Yankton, incumbent Ryan Heine of Yankton, incumbent Dan Klimisch of Utica and challenger Nancy Wenande of Yankton. The 2026 primary election is on Tuesday.
Wenande is the CEO of Yankton Thrive, a nonprofit leadership organization — not a government entity — in the Yankton region involved in economic development, workforce development, business services and tourism. Yankton Thrive has about 500 members — a combination of businesses and individuals.
Doug Ekeren, the chairman of the 25-member Yankton Thrive Board of Directors, and Rob Stephenson, the River City Flats board president and a Yankton Thrive board vice chairman, have responded to Auch’s Facebook post, saying that “a response was warranted” because Auch’s comments on Yankton Thrive and the River City Flats project have “some inaccuracies” and they wanted to provide the public “with accurate and truthful information.”
“We became aware of the posting that had inaccurate information about Thrive in our activities specific to the River City Flats project that we just thought needed to be addressed,” Ekeren told the Press & Dakotan. “If we don’t respond to it, people are going to assume that that is factual information, and that’s actually not the case.”
Ekeren said Yankton Thrive and River City Flats representatives have taken time to respond to Auch’s comments both through local mainstream news outlets, including the Press & Dakotan and The Observer, and social media posts.
“Not everybody is on social media, but the conversations in the community get started with some social media posts, and it really needs to be corrected,” he said. “We’re here to help the community grow (and) thrive, make this a better place to live and reduce our tax burdens and grow new businesses and so forth, so when somebody comes out being critical of what we’re doing, we think that needs to have a response, especially when it’s filled with inaccuracies.”
In her Facebook post about Yankton Thrive and the River City Flats project, Auch called herself a “conservative candidate” for the County Commission and wanted “taxpayers to see clearly how local leaders spend public money and who benefits from those decisions.” She added that is why she was “calling attention to the River City Flats apartment project and the role Yankton Thrive plays in it.”
River City Flats is a new 81-unit apartment complex that will be located on the east end of Yankton and consist of three separate buildings with 27 units each. Construction company HME of Brookings is the developer of the approximately $14.7 million project being built on Gehl Drive. Ground was broken on this development in April.
“More housing can help our community, but the way this deal came together raises serious concerns,” Auch said. “Yankton Thrive, our local economic development group, owned the land under this project. Instead of listing that land for sale or opening it to competitive bids, Thrive gave it to out of town developers for free. The developers did not pay a purchase price or a transfer fee. Thrive took property it acquired and held with taxpayer support and handed it over at no cost.”
Ekeren, who retired about a year ago from the roles of regional president and CEO of Avera Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton, said the River City Flats property was a gift from Manitou Group — a manufacturer and distributor of compact equipment for construction, agriculture, industry and beyond — to Yankton Thrive in August 2023 to create multifamily housing units.
“A Request For Proposal was publicly advertised to determine who might be interested in the project; we received three responses,” he said. “There were no taxpayer dollars used in this project. This land is included in the Tax Increment District (TID) No. 11, so there are property taxes being paid as a part of holding this land for development. TID No. 11 was created in July 2022.”
Auch said Yankton Thrive approved a $542,000 grant for the River City Flats project and agreed to buy up to $700,000 in subordinate notes to help finance construction.
“In total, Thrive delivered free land, a large cash incentive and significant financial backing to one private project,” she said. “Thrive operates with public support and enjoys tax exempt status, yet it concentrated a major package of benefits in the hands of a select group of developers.”
Ekeren said the $542,000 grant from Yankton Thrive came from funds from the YES4! capital campaign, “which had a member-driven initiative” to create housing solutions.
“This incentive was necessary to attract a builder willing to build in a floodplain and offer lower rents,” he said. “We had agreed to purchase up to $700,000 in subordinate notes but only had to expend $135,000 due to significant Yankton-based interest in the project.”
Auch said she is concerned about “leadership overlap” with Yankton Thrive and River City Flats’ boards, noting that “several people who sit on the River City Flats board also sit on the Yankton Thrive board, and another individual serves as a Thrive liaison. The same insiders who steer ‘economic development’ dollars through Thrive now stand close to a project that receives those dollars. That kind of tight circle doesn’t reflect a fair, open market; it reflects an inside track.”
Stephenson, the CEO of First Dakota National Bank in Yankton, said the River City Flats board advertised multiple times in the Press & Dakotan, on radio and on social media that “anyone from South Dakota could be an investor” if they were willing to invest a minimum amount of $15,000.
“No one on the board is receiving compensation for serving on the board, and any Thrive board members who are investors in River City Flats have disclosed their position and abstain from voting on River City Flats issues,” he said. “Investing in the project was voluntary and not required of Thrive or River City Flats board members.”
Auch said “ordinary local businesses face a very different reality,” in her opinion, in comparison to Yankton Thrive and the River City Flats project.
“When a small business owner or farmer in Yankton County wants to expand, they buy their own land, pay property taxes and hire local builders, plumbers and electricians,” she said. “They invest their own money and take all the risk. That is true, bottom up economic development.”
Ekeren said the River City Flats project was a result of Yankton Thrive “assisting an existing Yankton business” in expanding its plant and protecting jobs and economic impact in the community.
“Thrive members have expressed a need for additional housing for workforce, so the housing aspect of this project was initiated,” he said.
Auch said Yankton Thrive holds more than 75 tax exempt properties and chooses who gets land, grants and financing.
“Because taxpayers help fund Thrive and local governments exempt its properties from taxes, every sweetheart deal it makes raises questions about fairness and priorities,” she said.
Ekeren said Yankton Thrive currently owns 102 parcels.
“Taxes are paid on 95 of them,” he said. “The land transferred to the (River City Flats) project is also paying the full amount of assessed property tax.”
Ekeren said the River City Flats project “has been transparent from the beginning,” including with the land transfer from Manitou to Yankton Thrive, the Request For Proposal process for builder solicitation and multiple public investor meetings, which included announcements in the Press & Dakotan, on radio and on social media.
“The majority of Thrive’s funding comes from members, individuals and businesses who are willing to invest in Yankton,” he said.
Auch said that last fall, the City of Yankton approved $460,000 for Yankton Thrive.
“Shortly afterward, the city raised water and sewer rates for every resident,” she said. “Families, seniors and small businesses now pay more every month. You have every right to ask: Did your life improve because city leaders handed $460,000 to Thrive, or did your bills simply go up while a few well connected players benefited?”
Ekeren said water and wastewater operations for the City of Yankton are called “enterprise funds.”
“Each of those funds operates independently and has no connection to the BBB (Bed, Board and Booze) dollars that are utilized for the outside agency allocation,” he said. “BBB taxes, by law, have limited uses and cannot be legally used to support water and wastewater operations. There is zero correlation between the $460,000 and increases in utility rates.”
Auch said she is running for a seat on the County Commission to “fight for limited, transparent government that refuses to pick winners and losers.”
“I will insist that groups receiving taxpayer money open their books and justify their decisions,” she said. “When I vote on zoning, land use and economic development, I will put taxpayers first, support open competition and work to restore trust in county government.”
To end their response to Auch’s Facebook post on Yankton Thrive and the River City Flats project, Ekeren and Stephenson said, “We are glad that citizens have candidates to select from in city, county and state elections. We hope you exercise your right to vote and will select candidates who understand the issues and make fact-based decisions.”
When reached for comments about Ekeren and Stephenson’s response to her Facebook post, Auch told the Press & Dakotan on Thursday that she appreciated the opportunity, but she had nothing further to say.
Stephenson told the Press & Dakotan that Yankton Thrive works hard to be as transparent as it can be and “really have everybody understand our story.”
“We constantly have a few critics that are also leaders in the community from their elected status that are constantly shooting arrows in a way that it’s almost impossible to defend just because they’re doing it wherever and whenever,” he said. “Sometimes we need to review our own facts to remember what we did or why or what the important issues really are and the right response would be to help people understand it.”
Ekeren said getting “that response out to people” is also a challenge.
“We also want to be open if there is information (that) we should be sharing that we haven’t,” he said. “We need to be self-reflective on that, as well, to try to respond to the community. At the same time, there are business dealings that are confidential that we have to maintain with businesses that we’re working with, and sometimes that’s frustrating to people because they either want to know that information or they think they know that information, which may actually be worse because it may not be accurate.”
