The City of Republic continues to pursue the creation of a business/industrial park to house light industrial tenants to broaden our business selection. In 2003, the City issued 15 commercial building permits for new businesses in the City of Republic, which was a 20 percent increase from the permits issued in 2002. If we continue to grow at this pace, we will exceed our 2003 total and hopefully will create more employment opportunities and growth for this community.