FARMER CITY - A Farmer City group will use state help to draft a strategic plan for the city. If accepted into the state's Competitive Communities Initiative (CCI) Program, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCOC) will help draft the local plan.

It is key to not only attract business, but attract the type of business the community desires.

"We can't promise you we're going to direct and drag business here," said Donald Falls of DCOC. "But if you complete this process, you're going to be able to help us help you. If we know what you have here and what you're looking for, we have a better opportunity when we get prospects that contact us to send them to Farmer City."

The CCI program includes entering information about the town into the state database. That can include land available for development, utilities offered, and a link from a local Web site to the state database.

DeWitt County Development Corp. executive director Ruth Stauffer said being linked to the state database is extremely important for development.

"Marion, Ill., told me that they got 90 percent of their leads from a combination of the LOIS (state database) system and the internet. Once we get it entered, developers will be able to link to LOIS from the Farmer City Web site."

Businessman Curt Homann is thrilled with the progress already made.

"We're about where we should be," said Homann of the committee, which started meeting in June. "I think it will still take about a year in the state program" to get a plan completed.

The most important part of the process, said Fall, is a consensus on what the town wants in development.

The five-stage process emphasizes community input in coming up with short, intermediate and long-term development goals and adopting an action plan.

Thirty-five towns are enrolled in the Competitive Communities Initiative program. Some of the Central Illinois towns include Chillicothe, Eureka, Galesburg/Knox County, Pana and St. Joseph.