DC Community Resources and Tourism recommends $55,000 for DC Economic Development Corp.
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The question has been — should Dunn County provide funding for the Dunn County Economic Development Corporation or should the DCEDC cease operations?
Following a report by Kristin Korpela, Dunn County manager, the Dunn County Community Resources and Tourism Committee recommended at the October 11 meeting that the $55,000 in the 2023 Dunn County budget for economic development be paid to the Dunn County Economic Development Corporation.
“Dismantling the Dunn County Economic Development Corporation would be short sighted,” Korpela said, adding that once something like an economic development corporation ceases to exist, “it’s hard to put it back again.”
While gathering information for her report, Korpela spoke to a variety of people involved with economic development, including Charlie Walker, Chippewa County economic development; members of the DCEDC Board of Directors; representatives for Momentum West; various county administrators, including Ken Witt, St. Croix County administrator; as well as representatives from Cedar Corporation, the Greater Menomonie Development Corporation and the West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.
County financial support for economic development corporations varies widely, and some counties also provide support to Chambers of Commerce and convention and visitors’ bureaus, Korpela said.
Some counties having standing economic development committees, and some counties have very little involvement with their economic development corporation, she said.
Price County provides $15,000 annually to the Park Falls EDC and $30,000 to the Phillips Chamber of Commerce, Korpela said.
Chippewa County provides $190,000 annually to the Chippewa County Economic Development Corporation, she said.
EDC directors are almost never county staff, although Rock County is an exception, Korpela said.
Ashland County provides $35,000 to the Ashland Chamber of Commerce and $50,000 to the Ashland EDC. St. Croix County provides $115,000 to the St. Croix County EDC. Sawyer County provides $25,000 to the Sawyer County EDC, along with $25,000 to the LCO Tribal EDC and $50,000 to Hayward Lakes Convention and Visitors’ Bureau, she said.
Regional
Businesses look at regions, so joint marketing, branding and pooling scarce resources can be helpful for economic development, Korpela said.
Dunn County’s region is from the Twin Cities to Chippewa County, she noted.
Larger cities and counties and adjacent smaller populations complement each other to increase regional performance, Korpela said.
Economic development regions may command greater attention from state government and from the federal government, she said.
Bayfield County has five businesses that send products to the Twin Cities for plastic wrapping. The economic development staff asked the Twin Cities facility to provide a facility in Bayfield. The company said the Bayfield suppliers were not large enough for their own facility, but they did manage to coordinate trucking to the Twin Cities so the Bayfield companies could share costs, she said.
Babies
Contributors to local economic development include the health care that’s available; housing; education and workforce; government; politics and organizations; physical infrastructure; retail and small businesses; recreation and entertainment, Korpela said.
Mayo Menomonie recently announced that birthing services will be eliminated in Menomonie, she said.
Eliminating labor and delivery services could have an influence on economic development, Korpela said.
If there are people who are of child bearing age who are planning on having a family and who are considering moving to this area, the elimination of birthing services could convince them to live in Eau Claire rather than in Dunn County, she said.
Key functions
The key functions of economic development include strategic planning; business retention and expansion; marketing; small business development; workforce development; real estate development and economic development finance, Korpela said.
Right now, the labor market and supply chains are volatile, and that has an impact on business retention and expansion, she said.
Workforce development is a huge focus, Korpela said.
Ten years ago, the focus was on attracting businesses. The focus now is on workforce development and attracting and retaining workers, she said.
Helping businesses to have economic resiliency and working on neighborhood development strategies is important, Korpela said.
When everything else is in place — workforce, real estate, financial assistance and a good place to live for workers where healthcare is available, recreation/entertainment is available and housing is available — recruiting new businesses is easy, she said.
Key findings
Korpela said one of her key findings is that the quality of economic development programs is greatly impacted by the adequacy of the resources and the knowledge of the staff.
Funding for economic development includes more than money and can also include space, technology and technical assistance, she said.
Economic developers need solid skills in analysis and decision making, industry understanding, leadership and influence, communications, relationships and knowing how to form teams, Korpela said.
Private sector partnerships need a return on their investment, and financial institutions are a key resource, she said.
Attributes
Dunn County has a set of attributes that could position the county to be an economic development leader, Korpela said.
Dunn County has location, transportation, workforce to the east and west, land, and a university in Dunn County and universities to the east and west, she said.
Because of Dunn County’s requisite set of attributes, “we should be kicking economic development butt,” Korpela said, adding that her assessment was confirmed by others she has talked to who are knowledgeable about economic development.
Rock Star
What would be the cost of hiring a “rock star” economic development specialist? Korpela said.
An annual salary of $75,000 to $90,000 would hire someone who is a little above entry level but who does not have very much experience, she said.
An annual salary of $90,000 to $125,000 would hire someone who has solid experience, and a “top of the line” economic development director would have to be paid between $150,000 and $170,000 per year, Korpela said.
In 2016, Dunn County devoted $53,000 to DCEDC. In 2017, the county provided $61,373. In 2018, the amount was $65,000. In 2019, the county provided $67,000. In 2020, Dunn County devoted $66,422 to DCEDC. In 2021, the amount was zero dollars. And in 2022, Dunn County sent $55,000 to DCEDC, she said.
Nimble
Robust economic development must be multi-faceted and nimble, Korpela said.
DC Economic Development Corporation has a committed board of directors, she said.
Fund raising is a function of sustaining economic development and requires developing and sustaining funding relationships with a demonstrated return on investment, Korpela said.
Developing measurable performance metrics is difficult because cause and effect relationships are difficult to establish, she said.
Successful economic development needs a mechanism to collect and analyze data, Korpela noted.
Recommendations
Korpela said she was recommending continuing the funding for the Dunn County Economic Development Corporation in 2023 at $55,000.
The funding would be contingent upon in the first quarter of 2023, a meeting would be convened with the Greater Menomonie Development Corporation, Momentum West, Chambers of Commerce, UW-Stout, and Downtown Menomonie to take an inventory of the system’s strengths, identify duplications and gaps and to assess interest in collaboration among the different groups, Korpela said.
Dunn County administration can assist with the meeting and provide space and administrative support, she said.
By February 1, a plan should be established and implemented for fund raising for 2023 to sustain operations, Korpela said.
In addition, metrics should be developed and implemented for assessing business retention and expansion. The metrics could be developed as a team effort among the different entities, she said.
A gap analysis should also be completed to assess local marketing efforts, and one achievable accomplishment should be identified for each month, Korpela said.
The intent of the meeting “is to get everyone rowing in the same direction,” she said.
DCEDC board
Ann Vogl, county board supervisor from Menomonie and a member of the CRT committee, also is a member of the Dunn County Economic Development Board of Directors.
At the last meeting, the DCEDC board discussed splitting up economic development duties so that some people could work on collecting information and some could work on fund raising so that Bob Bossany, DCEDC director, could work on recruitment and business development, Vogl said.
Korpela’s report and recommendations provide a path forward, said Tom Quinn, county board supervisor from Downing and a member of CRT committee.
“It is critical to fund (DCEDC) this year,” he said.
Korpela said she would share her report and recommendations at the next Dunn County Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors meeting.
Korpela also noted that $55,000 for economic development was “on hold” although the money is currently included in the county’s 2023 proposed budget.
The Dunn County Community Resources and Tourism Committee unanimously approved a motion recommending that the $55,000 in the budget for economic development be paid to the Dunn County Economic Development Corporation.
