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the discussions are...um, energetic at the St. Charles County Economic
Development Roundtable. Participants in the monthly informal gathering
are municipal and county economic development professionals. They
all may have turf. But they all understand the impact that rising
tides have on all boats.
Cathy Gillies, St. Peters’ director of economic and community projects,
says, “In some ways we’re in competition, but we all do the same
job and we all know that success—new jobs—in the next town over,
or anywhere in the county, is good for all of us.”
The officials share information about projects that are underway
in their respective communities, Gillies says, and share experience
to help one another with issues such as transportation, zoning or
“a prospect’s need for a highly specialized skill set or employee.”
Besides, she adds, “Each community has a distinct niche. The Westfield
Shoppingtown on Mid Rivers really establishes our presence as a
retail hotspot.” (Niche or not, it’s worth mentioning that St. Peters
also added 75,000 square feet of Class A office space in the last
year to the special business district near City Hall and has 200,000
more underway or on the drawing board.)
Libbey Simpson, O’Fallon’s assistant director of economic development,
echoes Gillies. “Regionalism is important, keeping everyone up to
date even though we compete on an individual level. Somebody might
have a large prospect who needs a certain number of acres or a certain
size building. If I don’t have what he or she needs, I’d rather
it go to someone in St. Charles County or the St. Louis metropolitan
area rather than Texas or North Dakota.”
As an example, Simpson cites “an entity” that is looking at several
cities in the county simultaneously.
Simpson says David Leezer, the county’s director of business development,
presented the opportunity and the requirements at a Roundtable meeting.
“We discussed who could meet those needs,” she says, “and it turned
out that St. Charles, Wentzville and O’Fallon could.
“We want them to locate in O’Fallon, of course,” she says. “But
we also recognize it’s beneficial if it lands in Wentzville or St.
Charles.”
Leezer, a county employee “on loan” to the non-profit Economic Development
Council of St. Charles County, says the Roundtable’s goals are “jobs
and investments in long-term jobs that will benefit the county and
the entire St. Louis area, like MasterCard, CitiMortgage, and clearly
General Motors.”
Sometimes Roundtable talk is not cheap, such as last summer when
GM, Wentzville and the EDC teamed up to float a $150 million bond
through state financing under Chapter 100. The funds will be invested
in new equipment to produce upgraded vans.
“There won’t be new buildings,” Leezer says, “and it won’t mean
new hires. But it does show that they’re planning to make GM products
in Wentzville for a long time.”
According to Wentzville Mayor Vickie Boedeker, the city complemented
the Chapter 100 loans with tax abatement on the new investment—with
approval from 12 other taxing entities like libraries and schools—that
amounted to $5.5 million over five years.
Besides ensuring $8 million in local tax revenue, she says, these
moves insulated some 2,600 jobs for the metropolitan area.
Greg Prestemon, president of the EDC, points out that the Industrial
Development Authority, a creature of the EDC, also issued bonds
to assist GFI, a Wentzville-based outfit that retrofits vans to
run on natural gas.
Moreover, IDA financing programs (commonly referred to as industrial
revenue bonds) also helped two St. Charles-based companies—Craftsmen
Industries and Patriot Machines—line up $6 million-plus and $3.5
million in IRB loans respectively, according to that city’s economic
development director, Nadine Boon.
With retirement in September by Gene Thompson—whose economic development
career in St. Charles County touched at least three decades, and
concluded in Wentzville—Boon assumes the mantle of the county’s
economic development dean. (Dean Gene Thompson? Nay, Dean Boon.)
She says the Roundtable also encourages cooperative marketing efforts
with the RCGA and the state. For instance, Boon, Leezer and St.
Peters’ Amy Heckart worked Midwest retail brokers in October at
the International Council of Shopping Centers Dealmaking Show in
Chicago.
Additionally, members of the St. Charles County Roundtable actively
participate in the Greater St. Louis Economic Development Council
as well as other regional marketing activities such as the regional
exhibit at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) annual conference
and trade show and the Gateway Site Selection Conference.
Cooperative marketing also contributed to the success of the St.
Charles County Real Estate Investment Breakfast—attended by 300
brokers and other professionals—last September. Though Leezer organized
the logistics and speakers, each of the municipalities—and the RCGA—contributed
to a “trade show” component before the program.
The spirit of the Roundtable is also expressed in enterprises such
as the public-private, city-county financing that established the
EDC’s second (and high-tech) incubator and Discover! 370, Missouri’s
High Tech Connector, “a joint effort of St. Charles, St. Charles
County, St. Peters, Hazelwood and the RCGA to draw attention to
the development opportunities along Highway 370,” Boon says.
Even towns that fold economic development into the responsibilities
of other officials benefit from the Roundtable.
Lake Saint Louis city administrator Paul Markworth handles business
recruitment. Steve Schertel, director of community development,
handles planning, zoning and permitting.
Markworth says, “The EDC was extremely helpful in keeping National
Information Solutions Cooperative in the county.” The company produces
billings for half the electric cooperatives in the United States.
“They didn’t have the room they needed to grow in St. Peters,” he
says, “and had narrowed their sites to one in Weldon Spring, one
in Lake Saint Louis and one in North Dakota…plenty of space there.”
But do they have trees?
“NISC settled on a site along Highway 40/61,” Markworth says. “It’s
about 15 acres and has three lakes, mature trees, and walking paths.
Phase one is expected to be 136,000 square feet that 300 employees
will call daytime home. Future development could more than double
that.”
Whether energetic or cooperative, whether keeping companies or landing
new ones, the cross-jurisdiction talking in St. Charles County will
likely continue. Like Simpson says, “It’s all about communication
really. It’s a round table, after all.”
Kevin Kipp runs Bubble Communications, a creative services and
community relations firm in St. Charles. |
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