City Manager’s Column—Is “Regionalism” Coming to Economic Development in Iowa?

3-10-03

                Iowa is talking about at new economic development concept called “Regionalism.” 

                It may not be new nationally, but it would be new to us.  

The policy makers at the State-level tell us that Iowa’s economy is broken.  They don’t know if this will fix it, but they don’t think it can make it worse.  Iowa has 955 communities.  Along with the communities, there are about 225 formal economic development entities in the State.  However, the State receives no where near 225 new economic development leads each year.  Therefore, we are competing against each other when we could be cooperating with each other. 

Regionalism is something that we are told we should be ready for, though no one can say exactly how it will work.  There seems to be a concept for it, but little actual framework.  What we know so far is that a region has to contain at least three contiguous counties.  It can be larger.  No county can be left out of a region and made into an island if it doesn’t want to be.  If a county wants to stand alone, it can, but it will not receive any leads generated by the State, nor will it receive State economic development grant monies.  Each region would need to set up a marketing program for its members.  Each region is also encouraged to set up its own revolving loan fund.

But, what’s supposed to happen if an economic development prospect appears?  There doesn’t seem to be a standard answer for this.  One suggestion that I heard theorized that, if a prospect contacted Town A, then that town would be obligated to tell the prospect not only what’s available in Town A, but also what’s available in every other town within the region. 

Upon first hearing this, I felt a wave of skepticism run through me.  Over the years, I’ve known several people who work in economic development.  Their personalities range from highly ethical to sleazy.  But, the one thing they typically have in common is that they aren’t known for sharing information.  They never want to let anything slip that will give another town an advantage over theirs. 

However, since we are already standing alone and since most economic development leads go to larger cities, anyway, what do we have to lose in a regional alignment if we can break through some of the old barriers of mistrust? 

We might have this to gain:

1.)  Some of the other towns in our area, can’t offer what Maquoketa can.  For example, we have available industrial land, a location along HWY 61, proximity between HWY 20 and HWY 80, and a more available work force.  We can also offer Enterprise Zone benefits, which other cities often cannot. 

2.)  A nearby economic developer suggested to me that our region might be able to set up a system where leads are taken on a tour of the cities with its territory.  In that case and if the prospect was willing, we’d all have our own chance to show them what we can offer. 

3.)  Some of the larger cities around us go on recruiting trips to Chicago and Minneapolis.  They also go on lobbying trips to Washington DC.  In a regional alliance, it might be possible to obtain some representation as a part of their trips.  

4.)  If a regional marketing plan and revolving loan fund need to be created, then it would help us if they were set up within the framework of a larger group.  We can’t afford to do this on our own.   

Since the regional idea came out, several possible alignments for Jackson County have been generated:

Jackson, Dubuque, and Clinton counties

Jackson, Dubuque, Clinton, and Scott counties

Jackson, Dubuque, Clinton, Delaware, and Cedar counties

Jackson, Dubuque, Clinton, Delaware, Cedar, Jones, and Crawford counties

At this point, it is difficult to say which combination would be the best. 

 My own observation of the last few years tells me that most of our industrial and commercial prospects were interested in us due to the HWY 61 corridor.  And, whenever I’d hear that we were competing with another town for these prospects, most of them were on the HWY 20 corridor.  So, it would seem logical to me that we’d want our region to involve at least parts of these two highways.   

 As time has gone by, different economic development proposals have been submitted to the legislature.  Some of these alternatives don’t include a requirement for regionalizing.  If it ends up that regionalism isn’t mandated by a new State law, does that mean that we should toss the concept aside?

 There are some of us that are suggesting that we shouldn’t.  Doing something on a regional basis may make sense—whether the State makes us do it or not.  

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            There’s a lot of Reality TV on the air now.  Lately, I’ve noticed the commercials for a couple of realty shows that tried to incorporate celebrities.  My big, fat question is:  “Which ones are the celebrities?” 

            The celebs in these shows are usually people that I’ve never heard of or flip the channel on at a high rate of speed. 

             About a week ago, while I was watching CNN, I noticed the news crawl that they run at the bottom of the screen.  I don’t know why it was considered newsworthy, but the crawl announced that the winner of one such celebrity event was the no-name guy that Jennifer Lopez, an actual celebrity, dumped in favor of Ben Affleck, another actual celebrity. 

            In the end, his being dumped was apparently a good thing for him because it made him a celebrity.  Thinking back to dating wars of my 20s and early 30s, all it ever did for me was make me feel depressed.

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A while back, we were interviewing a candidate for the receptionist’s position at City Hall.  I was trying to give her an idea of what the job is like.  I told her that the job is usually the first contact with people who come in or call.  

            This type of contact involves a number of situations, including, as I put it, “…people who are upset or angry for reasons that the receptionist might have nothing to do with.  For example, they might be mad because of something the Council voted on, or they could be mad about a utility bill.  Or, someone might be calling if…” 

            Then, like an idiot, I finished the sentence with, “…their water broke.” 

            I then glanced at Judy Carr who was helping with the interview.  I saw her begin to smile.  In an effort to save myself, I said, “If their water service line broke.”  She began to laugh. 

            Later, in the office, I was telling someone else what I had said.  I added, “I wouldn’t want anyone to think that part of the job is delivering babies.”