Economy & Economic Development  November 28, 2014

NCEDC solely committed to the big picture

Economic development is like a complex jigsaw puzzle, involving numerous players using many – and often disparate – pieces working together to form the big picture. Without the appropriate pieces and a sound strategy, the process is slowed, generating frustration among players.

For nearly 14 years, the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp. has utilized a sound strategy and filled a unique role in the economic development ecosystem. In this role, NCEDC is the only economic-development organization in Larimer County solely dedicated to, and capable of, attracting and retaining primary employers in Northern Colorado.

Why is this distinction important? The critical component to winning the economic-development game is understanding the importance of securing primary employers within a given region. The term “primary” is not a qualitative assessment about the importance of one company over another. Rather, the term is a quantitative measure of where a company derives its revenues. Simply stated, a primary employer is any company, regardless of size, that derives more than 50 percent of its revenues from customers located outside the region.

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These organizations bring in money from outside the region that is utilized for wages and materials for local employees and suppliers. In turn, these employees and suppliers reinvest their money to support local merchants, including retailers, restaurants, car dealerships, grocery stores and service providers. Primary employers are essential for a region’s vibrant economy.

By working in collaboration with all economic-development partners, Larimer County attracted 1,328 new primary jobs and successfully retained 1,130 primary jobs during 2013. Those jobs represent an annual payroll of $120 million, the occupation of more than 500,000 square feet of commercial real estate and $45 million of capital investment. In the economic-development game, NCEDC considers 2013 played masterfully.

Despite the region’s most recent success, there is no time to rest. Just this year, NCEDC worked with local partners to attract Clear View Behavioral Center to a new site near Interstate 25 and U.S. Highway 34 in Johnstown. This state-of-the-art, 62,000-square-foot, 92-bed hospital broke ground in April. Valued at $16 million, the project will create 250 new jobs and attract patients and families from Colorado and beyond for acute behavioral health care.

Retaining and growing our existing primary employers is equally important as attracting new employers. Earlier this year, NCEDC worked with local communities to retain Value Plastics and its skilled workforce of more than 90 employees. Although the retention strategy entailed a move from an existing site in Fort Collins to a new 115,000-square-foot facility in Loveland, the entire community wins by helping a company and its employees continue to call Northern Colorado home.

Aside from the obvious challenges, organizational leadership changes present a unique opportunity for a fresh approach. For the first time, the NCEDC Board of Directors has committed to a comprehensive re-evaluation of its structure, strategies and sustainability. The objective for this process is to construct a leaner organization, responsive to the needs of our economic-development partners, delivering measurable value to the region and consistently meeting the expectations of investors.

As a committed economic-development organization, we appreciate the desire of those seeking to form a third economic-development organization in Northern Colorado. However, an additional organization can present confusion to both site selection consultants and prospective employers evaluating Northern Colorado as a relocation option. This inevitable obscurity is not a winning strategy for the region and undermines the relationships NCEDC has nurtured with site-selection consultants and more than 120 public- and private-sector investors over the last 14 years. Despite the temptation of a new, shiny concept, NCEDC challenges those involved in this third entity to consider redirecting these efforts toward helping NCEDC become a stronger organization and forge effective alliances with economic-development organizations in neighboring counties and throughout the state.

In the meantime, the NCEDC Board remains committed to an open dialogue with all those invested in boosting Northern Colorado’s economic-development game.

Paul Mueller is president of the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp.

Economic development is like a complex jigsaw puzzle, involving numerous players using many – and often disparate – pieces working together to form the big picture. Without the appropriate pieces and a sound strategy, the process is slowed, generating frustration among players.

For nearly 14 years, the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp. has utilized a sound strategy and filled a unique role in the economic development ecosystem. In this role, NCEDC is the only economic-development organization in Larimer County solely dedicated to, and capable of, attracting and retaining primary employers in Northern Colorado.

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