A Conversation With ... Jimmy Liles

Last edited 2:03 p.m., July 30, 2024 [Editor's note: References to the Aetos Center for the Performing Arts have been clarified.]

The Springfield metro area is the fastest growing in the state based on the latest population figures, and Nixa led that being the fastest-growing city in the metro, adding over 2,100 residents over the last three years. What are the reasons behind the growth?
We’ve been on a very strong growth pattern for several years now, and I think that’s attributed to several things, including a really good school district as well as an extremely safe community. We have great road systems, clean water. You put all that together and it just makes Nixa an extremely attractive community to live in. Although we’re extremely fast growing, I think the fact that we still have that hometown feel is very attractive to people.

The cities neighboring Springfield have often been called bedroom communities. People may live there, but they travel into the city of Springfield to work. Tell me about some of the efforts from the city to boost the local workforce and business development in Nixa.
We still have a lot of the Springfield metro area workforce that lives here in Nixa and travels elsewhere to work, but I think we’re starting to see a little bit of a shift. A lot of that came when you started to see a lot more people start to work from home. Our restaurants are busier now during lunchtime than they used to be. The traffic seems to be more steady throughout the whole day. I think that’s because of not just people working at home, but it’s also we’re starting to see industry grow and our commercial businesses starting to grow. You look at the entertainment that Nixa is starting to see, I think it’s also a draw and tends to keep people here in town. In the evenings, a lot of people would go to Springfield for restaurants or entertainment and now you see things like the 14 Mill Market and the Aetos (Center for the Performing Arts) in town. I was talking to the owners of 14 Mill Market this week and they were talking about how they’re seeing people from not just all over the state of Missouri, but people from out of state coming just to visit and experience the atmosphere that they have there. They recently had one of their first tour buses that came from Kansas that stopped there to bring everybody to eat. So that’s a huge draw. At the Aetos (Center for the Performing Arts), they’ve had people from at least 28 states and Canada that have bought tickets to performances. The Nixa Downtown Revitalization Committee has put a focus on revitalizing our downtown area and making it more of an attraction with arts. All of those things are going to make our community attractive, which is going to continue to bring more people into our community.

The unemployment rate in the metro area is fairly low. It did increase to 3.6% in May from 2.9% in April. Tell me about some of the challenges that Nixa is facing around workforce development and what are some of the ways that you have found to build workforce?
One is affordable housing. We’re always trying to bring in more attainable housing. I think the other one that tends to be a challenge is child care. We’re starting to see more diverse residential growth here. We’re just finishing up our new comprehensive plan for the city that should be introduced to the (Planning & Zoning) Commission and [City] Council in August. We hired Olsson Studio to do a new comp plan for our future growth. One of the things they looked at was what does the future residential growth need to be able to support our community? What do we need to make sure that we’re supporting the workforce for the employers that we do have in town? Obviously pay is always at the forefront, but I think you’re seeing a lot more creativity when it comes to attracting that workforce. You’re seeing more flexible work schedules, you’re starting to see more benefits, work from home opportunities.

Based on the work that has been done with the comprehensive plan, what types of housing do you think are most needed to meet your workforce demand?
We’re going to have to see different types of housing. The townhomes and especially mixed-use developments right now are very important. That’s been identified in the comp plan as something that we need to advocate for within our community that could be very successful. Not only bringing more commercial development, but bringing more housing to the community. And so that way we’re not just a community made up of only single-family residential – we have that good mix that’s going to bring in that much needed workforce.

In that Nixa 2045 plan you’ve mentioned, are there other areas of focus that you think will impact workforce development, perhaps transportation and parks and recreation initiatives?
Absolutely. Transportation is always a concern, making sure that you have that infrastructure in place to be able to support the growth that the city’s experiencing. Not just the growth, but the travel of our residents to and from the community. And that’s not just the roadways, but also trails, sidewalks, all those different modes of transportation. In the comp plan, recreation is going to be addressed as far as the need for more greenspace and how that needs to be a focus as we move forward. Connectivity is a big one along with land use development and all those things together.

Do you have plans to expand access into Nixa or expanding current access roads?
We’ve worked really closely with Ozarks Transportation Organization and (Missouri Department of Transportation) on future planning for the access roads. Two of those access roads going in and out and through Nixa are state highways, 160 and State Highway 14. I know MoDOT has done a lot of improvements on Highway 14 here in town and widening that road, which has been a phenomenal help to moving vehicles through Nixa. Right now we’re seeing a lot of improvements on 160, although they’re just outside the city, CC and 160 is getting improvements, as is AA and 160. Both of those are going to be a huge benefit for not just Nixa today, but our future growth, especially when we look at growth to the north. Internally, I think we’re always looking at the need to increase our road capacity and help travel through the city. Right now, we’re in the process of working on an expansion of Main Street from Tracker Road down to CC. We’re doing that in partnership with MoDOT.