Stark shares economic development insight with council

Jon Stark, economic development manager for Redmond since 2008, was invited to the city council workshop Thursday to share his insights on the position of economic development director and on the organization and funding of economic development efforts.

When asked what he would suggest for Sisters, Stark said, "It has to come from the community. The community has to have the will to have this person. Not just the council, it has to come from private business, and the chamber. There has to be an interest in changing the way things are done today."

Stark observed, "Your strategy will be different here. You have a huge tourism component, and you have a huge retail component. You've also got a traded sector component. The community has to decide what its priority is. You have to bring the people that are stakeholders that are willing to invest in this to the table. Are they willing to invest in this financially and are they willing invest in it from a time perspective, to develop an advisory board?"

The City of Sisters is once again in the midst of deciding what direction to take to build on the work of Mac Hay, who recently retired after serving as the unpaid and then the part-time paid economic development manager for the last four years.

Local Realtor Patty Cordoni is the current economic development manager, but her contract expires on December 31. She has indicated a willingness to extend her contract on a month-by-month basis if the city and the council need more time to come to a decision on a direction.

Councilor David Asson has formed his own group of local citizens to make recommendations on a direction for recruiting traded-sector companies. The council has also commissioned Central Oregon Community College to update and expand the city's economic development strategic plan, which is due in early 2013.

Hired in 2008 through the Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO), Stark said, "We've gone through many changes in how we conduct business. We are now our own non-profit 501(c)(6) corporation that is managed by a board of 24 directors and has no employees."

Stark is an employee of EDCO with a traditional benefit package. The City of Redmond reimburses EDCO for the costs of running Stark's office.

"Our budget is just over $100,000, and we have been running a deficit for the last four years," said Stark. "We get $50,000 from the city and we are currently getting about $24,000 to $34,000 from private sector fundraising."

Responding to questions about who should fund the economic development position, Stark said, "I don't think it should ever be entirely a city function. You can get a lot more done with private resource and it is cheaper."

He also mentioned that he gets a much less guarded reception from prospects when he doesn't have to present himself as coming from "the city," even though everyone knows that the city pays EDCO for his salary and expenses.

Stark explained that the charter of his board job has been clearly defined as strategy, policy and fundraising. He reported that this gives his organization two advantages: first, by having the board focused on fundraising, it frees his time to focus on his primary job of recruiting new businesses to Redmond. Second, by carefully selecting the board members, they can also serve as technical resources (banking, infrastructure, legal, real estate) that he can use to help in developing proposals and agreements.

The concern was raised that EDCO's primary focus is in traded-sector business recruitment. Stark said, "In Redmond they have asked us to participate in commercial and retail. That is not EDCO's (focus); however, if the community wants this, we will do it."

Cordoni pointed out that as an employee of EDCO the development managers have access to a huge library of demographic, technical and historical information about Central Oregon. She indicated that this has proved invaluable in quickly preparing proposals for businesses interested in moving to Sisters. As a member of EDCO at the $7,500 per year level, Sisters has access to this resource.

Bend and Prineville also conduct their economic development efforts through EDCO.