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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes City of Oshkosh Dept. of Community Development 215 Church Ave., PO Box 1130 Oshkosh, WI 54902-1130 JACKSON R. KINNEY (920) 236-5055 Director (920) 236-5053 FAX http://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN UPDATE STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING June 17, 2008-City Hall Room 404, 9:30am PRESENT: Jon Dell’Antonia, John Casper, Elizabeth Hartman, Rob Kleman, Richard Wells, Wendy Hielsberg, Melissa Kohn, Eileen Connolly-Keesler, Ron Detjen, Andy Dumke, Susan Schultz, Tom Cooper STAFF: Jackson Kinney and Darryn Burich UNABLE to ATTEND: Jay Kopplin Review proposed Citizen Participation Process for the Update to the Economic Development Element Jackson Kinney briefly went over the “Public Participation Plan” that was included in the meeting material mailed to the members. Mr. Kinney stated that the plan was modeled on the Public Participation Plan adopted by the Plan Commission and Common Council for the Comprehensive Plan Update process. Jon Dell’Antonia inquired… Review Business Recruitment Efforts in the Community Mr. Kinney provided a brief overview of an organizational chart displaying general economic development activity in the community and that today’s meeting would be focusing on recruitment efforts. Elizabeth Hartman briefly reviewed a handout on Chamco’s recruitment process generally covering the following: ? Reasons manufacturing businesses relocated ? Tools available by Chamco to work with businesses wanting to relocate ? Efforts Chamco specifically undertakes to recruit businesses ? Challenges in recruitment Mr. Dell’Antonia inquired if anybody knew why Oshkosh Truck had 300 jobs it couldn’t fill. Chancellor Wells stated that recruiting and retaining people was an important part of the business recruitment process. Ron Detjen stated that people needed to be recruited first and in order to do this you have to have a reason for people to want to live in the community. He also stated that just because you necessarily may have a large industry coming into the community, many of the employees may choose not to live here. 1 Chancellor Wells stated that investments must be made in the community to make people/employees want to live in the community. Mr. Kinney stated that much of the discussion has been on infrastructure and public improvements and that is another facet of the economic development framework that will be covered as a separate meeting topic. Ms. Schultz stated that good paying jobs are needed and that a lot of emphasis has been on “white collar” jobs and not enough on “dirty” jobs such as the trades and that the technical college is important tool for these types of jobs. There was a consensus in the group that recruitment did not entail just businesses but people as well. Rob Kleman from OAEDC distributed handout material and went over the commercial recruitment process and tools used in the recruitment process. Mr. Kleman stated that one of the first questions that gets asked from interested businesses is relative to the labor supply. Ms. Hartman added that having the right facilities available is also crucial because sometimes there are interested businesses but no available facilities to meet their requirements. Mr. Kinney distributed materials and went over the city recruitment process. Mr. Kinney stated that much of what the City does is related to setting the stage for recruitment to happen such as planning for industrial and business parks, park development, working with developers, etc. Mr. Dell’ Antonia stated that developers do not have a positive image of dealing with the City. Mr. Kinney stated that much of that is from the past and that the City has worked to improve those issues and is actually currently reviewing the development review process and how that may be improved. Mr. Detjen stated that customer satisfaction is key and that while you cannot always provide the answer that someone may want if they are satisfied with how they were treated that can be as important as the approval itself. Mr. Kinney stated that the City is currently looking at ways to streamline the development review process. Ms. Connolly-Keesler inquired if there was some type of anonymous surveys that could be done. Mr. Kinney stated that the City sends out surveys when occupancy are issued. Ms. Schultz stated that more must be done to take care of infrastructure problems such as the condition of many of the City’s streets. Next Steering Committee Meeting th July 8 at 9:30 was set for the next meeting of the Steering Committee that would review business retention/expansion processes. At that meeting the Committee would also set goals, objectives, and actions for recruitment and expansion. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 11:10 am. 2 A question was raised about the status of the “Economic Development Summit” that has been discussed. Mr. Kinney explained that the Economic Development Partners felt that the update process that is being undertaken would be a more comprehensive approach to economic development rather than a one day meeting but that such a “summit” could be incorporated into the update process. Mr. Kinney explained that his vision would be to improve the current Economic Development Element by making it more user friendly and easier to read. Also to better promote it through improve multimedia presentations. John Casper discussed the need to frame and define what economic development is. There was some discussion on whether or not additional members should be added to the committee such as a representative of labor, the development community, and business. There was continued discussion on the need to publicize initiation and progress of the committee work. Mr. Kinney stated that just as the Department had done with the Comprehensive Plan update process that a public participation plan would be prepared and approved by the Committee discussing those issues. Jon Dell’Antonia inquired as to whether there should be some representation from the hospitals on the committee due to their large employment base and the amount of property they own and occupy. There was some discussion regarding doing some research about how other local communities are doing economic development for comparative analysis. Next Steering Committee Meeting – Primary Agenda Topic th The Committee determined that it would meet next on June 17 at 9:30 am to discuss the public participation plan and business recruitment. Staff would also contact additional parties for possible interest with serving on the committee. Meeting adjourned at 9am. Darryn Burich, Planning Director – Dept. of Community Development 3