Economic developers should be advocates, too

In recent years, you may have noticed an uptick in municipalities hiring their own economic-development professionals.  Like many other smaller communities, Windsor is no exception. As Windsor started to grow, both the community and town board wanted an economic-development voice of their own.

In 2009, the community formed an economic-development committee to focus on current economic-development efforts and which direction to take the town in the future. In 2010, the town took advantage of a community economic assessment provided by the Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade.  That assessment was led by a team of local economic-development professionals who recommended establishment of a dedicated economic-development position.

That professional was to focus on primary jobs and commercial and industrial development, and continue efforts toward small business, retail development and the downtown area.

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As a final step and to be all-inclusive, in 2011, Windsor formed an economic-development task force led by town manager Kelly Arnold and made up of local community members and businesses in the town. The group met monthly and discussed the economic viability of Windsor and the future economic-development plan for the town. The end result was the creation of the Windsor Economic Development Department in April 2011, with one full-time employee.

As you would expect, traditional economic-development activity such as attracting and retaining primary employers and attracting and retaining retailers were two of the leading functions of the office.  The third and a bit more unique to economic development was for the department to also focus on being the Business Ombudsman.  So what exactly is a business ombudsman?  In our case, a business ombudsman means having an advocate for businesses through any of the municipal processes or development issues that a company may experience while locating or expanding in our community. 

After working in the economic-development profession for almost 17 years, I think one of the most critical roles in my career has been being the business advocate for the town. I think it is a crucial role for any economic-development organization.  Companies sometimes require assistance relocating or expanding in a community.  The majority of companies I have worked with don’t have the staff or resources to hire professionals in every area of expertise.  Most of the time when a company is looking to locate or expand in your community, the person handing that relocation or expansion is also the owner, CEO or plant manager. 

The idea is to help companies understand municipal processes and procedures; the focus is to find solutions to issues and problems.  When meeting with companies interested in locating or expanding in Windsor I make sure that they understand the requirements and direction from engineering, planning and other departments.

Communication is key, and I try to make sure when we are done with concept-review meetings or going over first-round site-plan submittals with staff, that they understand what is needed to move forward.

Guiding companies of all sizes and industries through municipal processes is invaluable, but I also have been known to assist with other entities not necessarily just in the town development-review process.  Issues with expansion or relocation don’t also have to deal with the municipality.  Having contacts for utility providers, workforce organizations, higher-education facilities, real estate professionals, local vendors and industry leaders is a big plus.

We should not only be the business advocate for them, but as an economic-development professional we also should be an extremely well-connected resource manager, too.  Sometimes there are issues that cannot be overcome regardless of how much advocacy I provide, but we should all use everything in our power to help companies not only come to our community, expand in our community but to thrive here as well.   

Stacy Johnson is the director of economic development for the town of Windsor. For more information on Windsor’s business advocacy, contact her at sjohnson@windsorgov.com