By Jamie Lemke-Barrand. Herald-Republican
ANGOLA — After tabling a measure to do so two weeks ago and getting their questions answered, the Angola Common Council unanimously approved a $45,200 fee for services payment to the Steuben County Economic Development Corp. Monday night.
One of the sticking points for the council was that the SCEDC hadn’t shown the council any financial reports (the corporation is private and therefore is not required to do so). At Monday’s meeting, SCEDC administrative assistant Brenda Burch distributed year-to-date financial reports to each council member and the mayor, as well as a worksheet detailing the accomplishments of the SCEDC since it was launched in February 2004.
Councilman Dave Olson asked how many new businesses the SCEDC had brought into Steuben County. Burch said a recycling facility and a manufacturing facility have set up shop.
“We’ve also worked with several, what we’d call leads or prospects,” Burch said. “Some have been very promising.”
Councilman Mac Friedlander wondered what sort of businesses typically looked at Steuben County.
“A lot are warehousing and distribution facilities,” Burch said. “There are also some plastics and automotive companies. There are a lot of different ones, but I would say those are the top three, and most of them are warehousing.”
Burch said the companies that were looking for warehousing space sometimes wanted as much as 600,000 square feet.
Friedlander said his estimation was that warehousing facilities typically took up a lot of space, but employed few people.
“That’s not necessarily the case,” Burch said. “Some of these companies employ 100 to 150 people. That’s a question we’ve been asked — if we’d have the workforce to support that.”
Friedlander asked if the other Steuben municipalities that pay for services from the SCEDC — Fremont, Orland, Hamilton, Ashley-Hudson and Clear Lake — were being asked to ante up the same increase as Angola was.
“It’s 5 percent across the board,” said SCEDC board member Ward Odom, Hudson.
Mayor Dick Hickman said the council needed to understand that economic development was something that doesn’t happen overnight. He pointed out that the SCEDC hasn’t even been up and running for two years.
“Something like this takes a while to get going,” he said. “Things will also look better for (the SCEDC) if we get a new industrial park.”
City planner Brook Steed, who serves on the SCEDC board, said it was important to look at the big picture as far as the SCEDC was concerned.
“We need to look at the jobs that have been retained,” he said. “That’s as important, if not more important, than jobs created.”
Burch agreed.
“Eighty percent of our focus is on retention,” she said.
Friedlander asked Burch about the SCEDC’s goals for the coming year. She said plans were to gain more outreach to prospective industries through marketing, as well as to get information about the SCEDC out to corporate headquarters that aren’t located nearby.
Olson asked if the council could get a financial report from the SCEDC each year. Burch said she didn’t think that would be a problem, and that the report could be submitted annually with the SCEDC’s fee for service agreement.
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