The Diboll City Council has decided it's time to do more to promote their small town as a great place to live and work. It has created a committee that will advise the council on the best ways of marketing Diboll, to attract new businesses and new people, especially young families and retirees.

 

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The committee is called "Design 4 Diboll", and City Manager Dennis McDuffie says it will work with the Lufkin/Angelina County Chamber of Commerce, of which it is a member, but with a tight focus on Diboll.

McDuffie says there's a lot of uncertainty about Diboll's future, with its largest employer Temple-Inland changing hands and people moving away. Nobody knows what's going to happen.

McDuffie points to the 2010 Census, which shows Diboll was the only town in the county to lose population.  That's why Diboll has to be proactive and aggressive in promoting and marketing itself around the state and around the country, to make sure the community can take whatever the future holds.

"We’ve got a lot of assets — the golf course, the History Center — a lot of things going on here that could attract not only retirees, but young families. We’ve got a brand new elementary school just recently built here, so we’ve got a lot of things going for Diboll.”

The "Design 4 Diboll" committee will have 12 members, and  McDuffie encourages those interested in serving on the committee to call his office at 829-4757.

For many years, Diboll has enjoyed the reputation of being one of the "prettiest" and cleanest small towns in Texas.  This is due in very large part to the Temple family's financial generosity and their visionary support of "all things Diboll" over many years.

Now the founding Temples are gone, Temple-Inland has been sold, and Dibollians are worried about their future.

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