Infrastructure, water quality and the arts were discussed Wednesday as a local delegation spent a second day in Washington, D.C., lobbying for things that will benefit Fort Dodge and Webster County.

The group includes leaders of the city, county, Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance and Iowa Central Community College.

Showing off the teamwork between all those entities is important, according to Astra Ferris, chief executive officer of the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance.

“It’s really about collaborating,” she said.

“We’ve had a lot of great meetings,” she added.

The local group began the day with a constituent coffee hosted by U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican.

But most of the day was spent with staffers from various departments rather than members of Congress.

There was a meeting with representatives of the U.S. Department of Transportation, which Ferris said addressed “infrastructure of all kinds.”

The discussion there included an application for a grant to finish improvements on Third Avenue Northwest, according to Mayor Matt Bemrich. Last year a project that reduced the steepness of the hill and the sharpness of a curve at the east end of the street was completed. Bemrich said the city wants to now upgrade that road all the way to its intersection with U.S. Highway 169.

Federal assistance for roads and other infrastructure in the ag industrial park west of Fort Dodge called Iowa’s Crossroads of Global Innovation were also the subject of discussion.

The group also met with staffers from the Environmental Protection Agency, who complimented the community, according to Fort Dodge City Councilman Dave Flattery.

“They told us Fort Dodge is one of the best communities they’ve ever worked with,” he said.

Flattery said 14 EPA employees met with the local delegation.

“We met with their whole team,” Ferris said.

The cleanup of the Warden Plaza downtown, water quality grants, and loans or grants for the water and wastewater systems were on the agenda for the meeting with the EPA.

Iowa Central Community College President Jesse Ulrich met with officials of the U.S. Department of Education, an agency President Doanld Trump has targeted for elimination.

“We were really assured that there will be methodical, planned approaches to the changes,” he said.

He said he was informed that federal student aid programs will be preserved.

Ulrich said he and Jennifer Dutcher, associate professor of humanities and coordinator of the art program, met with the staff at the National Endowment for the Arts to learn about possible grants.

Most of the local delegation will return to Fort Dodge today. Bemrich and Rhonda Chambers, the director of aviation at Fort Dodge Regional Airport, will remain in Washington today for meetings with the Federal Aviation Administration.