I was surprised at the last Common Council meeting when we tried to refer an item to get advice from the Economic Development Commission and we were requested not to.
There were two schools of thought by two council members who have served on the committee. One member thought that the commission served as a place where the business community had the ability to share its thoughts and ideas and make recommendations to the Council. In short, he said it was a place for the business community to have a voice. The other member of the commission was under the impression that the committee should only be looking at the bigger picture and not get bogged down in details by making recommendations on specific policy proposals to the Common Council. I thought, it could be both.
This prompted me to look up the mission statement:
MISSION: Responsible for preparation and periodic updating of the city’s economic development plan and strategy for recommendation to the mayor and Common Council; evaluating economic conditions in the community; identifies economic problem areas; recommends specific policies, programs and projects; recommends items for inclusion in capital and operating budgets in support of the development strategy.
In the past four years (note the dates on these links) where we have been making efforts to increase our awareness of economic development and show we are serious about changing the perceptions that we are anti-business, it seems to me we haven’t made very much progress even when there is agreement about what should be done.
- We still don’t have an economic development plan. The last one was completed in 1983.
- The committee hasn’t identified a specific problem we need to address, beyond the “perception” issue.
- The committee hasn’t presented initiatives during the budget process.
However, there has been one attempt that resulted in a few policies, programs and projects that have moved very slowly forward, but it seems we have made very little progress. And thankfully, we ditched a few duds.
With the new shake up of the Common Council, it seems like a bad sign for economic development issues that two members of the Economic Development Commission can’t agree on what the function of the committee is. I sure hope that we can get that settled. We’ve been talking economic development for the past four years and I don’t think that much has changed. Or could it be that efforts and positive steps we have taken just aren’t recognized?
