|
 Logan County is included in the regional area served by the GPEDC
and annually has been contributing funds to the GPEDC for the
county’s participation in the CEDS (Comprehensive Economic
Development Strategy), a program administered through the GPEDC. The
city of Lincoln has also been involved in the CEDS program over the
last several years.
In 2014, it was suggested that the city remove its involvement and
financial support from the program. However, when the budget for the
2015-16 fiscal year for the city was being determined, $3,000 for
CEDS was placed in the budget. At that time, City Administrator Clay
Johnson told the council that he felt it was important to stay
involved as this program would indeed improve the city’s chances of
gaining grant dollars for the completion of the Fifth Street Road
project.
Over the past few years, the GPEDC often referred to only as the EDC,
has been a program that was described only vaguely to the city of
Lincoln aldermen. The program came to light when Joel Smiley was the
director of the Development Partnership of Lincoln and Logan County.
Often questions put to Smiley by the city council were not answered
to their satisfaction. This trend continued after Smiley was
replaced first by Michael Maniscalco, then by Brian Berglin.
 Earlier this year, Johnson, accompanied Logan County Economic
Development Partnership director Bill Thomas to Peoria and a meeting
with the GPEDC. Johnson came back with a greater understanding of
the program, and thus recommended that the city stay involved with
the GPEDC and the CEDS program.
At the November meeting, Daly said she was there to clear up some of
the confusion about what the GPEDC is and what it can do to help
economic growth in its service area.
Daly was employed by the GPEDC in 2014. She said at the beginning
for her, there was a lot of confusion because the group had three
names, with three boards and three strategies. She said that it
became a priority to clear up the confusion and create a single
identity.
She said the goal was to have one name, one mission, and one
strategy. She explained the GPEDC serves a five county region as
defined by the federal government. The GPEDC is a non-profit
organization with a 35 member board. It is not subject to the
Freedom of Information Act but has opted to maintain transparency.
Therefore, they have chosen to have open meetings, with closed
sessions when discussing specific projects.
The GPEDC has three major objectives with specific goals and action
plans for each one. The three projects are to grow business,
cultivate talent, and CEDS
Daly expanded quickly on the CEDS that there is to be a new CEDS
document written every five years. She said that the document is
submitted to the federal government, and becomes the guidebook for
economic development in the five-county region. She said having a
CEDS
is very beneficial when applying for federal grants because one of
the top questions asked, "Is this project in your CEDS?" If the
answer is ‘yes’ it increases the chances that the grant will be
awarded.
 Alderman Steve Parrott asked when the next plan would be submitted.
Daly said that the document was due to be renewed in 2017. The plan
is to have the document ready for submission in the first quarter of
2016 to take effect in January of 2017.
Daly then went back to the three objectives beginning with growing
business. Daly said that growing business is the most important
thing economic developers do. She said it starts with helping the
businesses that are already here to grow. They start to do this by
keeping in touch with CEO’s, identify the challenges and help them
to overcome those challenges.
She noted the challenges can be quite varied, but she listed as an
example a community in the region that wants to grow, but does not
have a sound infrastructure to aid in their growth. The GPEDC is
working with that community to help secure funding for
infrastructure improvements.
She said that another challenge is in helping companies diversify.
She noted that in the Peoria area, the largest industry is in the
earthmovers. She said the GPEDC was working with supply
manufacturers (sub-contractors who manufacture a component and
distribute it to Caterpillar for the completion of an earthmoving
product) to determine what they can or do manufacturer that could be
incorporated into a different marketable product.
Economic gardening
Daly said that economic development works at the beginning and the
end of a business’s cycle. It is there when businesses are starting
up, and it is there when businesses are winding down and on the
verge of closing, but economic development needs to be there in the
middle, helping the business to grow, so there is no end stage. She
said this was called Economic Gardening. The initiative was started
in Colorado and has become a national program.
 The program is designed to assist with business growth by offering a
team of professionals that will work with a respective company or
business to help it continue to prosper and grow. What the team
provides to the business is dependent on what type of assistance is
needed.
Daly said that she was anxious to work in Logan County to identify
companies that could benefit from the Economic Gardening program.
Michelle Bauer asked if there was an application process for this
program and Daly said there was. She said that while she works
directly with Bill Thomas of the LCEDP, Andi Hake of the Logan
County Alliance, and Clay Johnson of the city of Lincoln, she would
encourage the aldermen and county board members to recommend the
program to any contacts they might have. Moving on, Daly spoke
about steps to attract new business to the area. Included in this
process, she said was site selector visits with developers who work
to find new locations for their clients. The plan also includes
attracting suppliers to OEM’s (Original Equipment Manufacturers).
She noted companies such as Caterpillar and Case - New Holland,
saying they manufacture the final product, but purchase components
from other companies. The goal is to bring those other companies
into the region, so those products are purchased locally, from
companies that employ locally.
Asian Carp
It is a known fact that Asian Carp have invaded Illinois waterways.
These are a predatory fish that do more harm than good
environmentally. Daly said that now that the fish are here, it has
become a priority to find a way to benefit from them. The GPEDC is
working to market the fish as an alternative for companies such as
Purina, who use fish in their cat food products. She said that the
company does not use Asian Carp now, but they could. She noted that
the GPEDC was working to “get in front of these companies” and
market the fish as a quality product. She said success in this
project would have a positive impact on the local economy and the
environment.
Startup versus small business
Daly said the GPEDC was also working to grow the number of startup
companies in the region. She explained the difference between a
startup and a small business. She said if someone wanted to open a
bakery in their hometown; that is a small business. If they want to
start the bakery in their hometown, then expand it around the
country, the bakery becomes a startup. She said the GPEDC was
working to identify startups and help them to achieve their goals of
expansion.
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Develop talent
Daly said the GPEDC was taking a three-prong approach to developing local talent
through the education system. She explained that they are working with area
schools and educators starting in middle school with job shadowing programs,
career expos, and promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics). She also noted that at the GPEDC they have modified the STEM to
STEAM adding the Arts as a part of the program.
At the high school level, she talked about the Career and Technical Education
programs. She noted that there were many high schools who no longer offer this
type of education. The goal of the GPEDC is to help bring this back. She said
the GPEDC had grants that were being sent to high schools in the region so they
might send instructors to the Skills USA program. The instructors would then be
able to develop Skills USA chapters in their schools.
Steve Parrott spoke up and said that he was the State Leader on the Corporate
Level for Skills USA. He added that Skills USA is being developed in a format
similar to FFA.
In the post high school program, Daly said her organization was working on the
Manufacturing Internship Program through CareerLink.
The GPEDC is also working with a first in the nation apprenticeship program
focusing on Cyber Security. She said this was a hands-on education program where
students would study at Illinois Community College, work with employers, would
gain two and a half years of education, graduate with an associate’s degree, two
and half years of work experience, and NO student debt. Currently, there are
twelve students enrolled in the program.
Attract talent
In addition to growing the talent in the region, Daly said another goal was to
attract talent from outside the region. The GPEDC is helping attract talent
through a marking program that includes a website promoting the region as an
attractive location. She said there is a similar printed product that is being
sent or given out to prospects as well.
The GPEDC is also working on a Concierge Service for new talent. She said this
was a program that would connect prospective incoming talent with people who are
already in the region. It would include the visitor spending time, perhaps
dinner and drinks or some other social activity with someone who already lives
and works in the region. The program also includes offering tours of the area
where the prospective new employee might live, to see what is offered in the
community.
The final component of the Concierge Service is what is called the “Trailing
Spouse Support” program. Daly explained that while one member of a couple may be
the talent that is being sought, the second member also needs to be attracted to
the region for it to work out for the couple to relocate. Daly said that the
trailing spouse is one of the biggest reasons a community will lose a candidate,
so it is important to help the spouse identify opportunities in the area as
well.
Finally in attracting talent, Daly said that there should always be a drive to
bring back local alumni, and the GPDEC does take steps toward finding fits for
those who have left home for their careers so that they can return home and
become part of the community again.
CEDS
Daly moved on to talk a little more about the CEDS program and verified that the
Lincoln Fifth Street Road Project is going to be included in the new CEDS
document for 2017. The question was asked about how that would assure funding
for the project. Daly explained that the approval of the CEDS would not
automatically make money for the project available. However, what it will do is
increase the value of the grant application. Recalling again the statement made
earlier. When federal grants are applied for, one question on the grant
application is, is this project in your CEDS document? When the answer is ‘yes’,
that improves the chances that a grant will be awarded but does not guarantee
it.
Work done in Logan County in 2015
Daly wrapped up her discussion with an overview of activities the GPEDC has been
involved in within Logan County.
In addition to making the Fifth Street Road Project one of the top 15 projects
in the CEDS document, the GPEDC has been working with Inland Tool in Mount
Pulaski and Eaton Corporation in Lincoln including them in a Manufacturing
Network.
The GPEDC has performed business retention visits in Logan County with more
being planned.
The GPEDC is also using the Location One Information System (LOIS) to promote
available buildings and sites on the internet. Daly said currently in Logan
County there are two buildings and 11 sites listed on LOIS.
The GPEDC is also working with Thomas on the Atlanta I-55 Promotion. She said
300 developers had received information about the promotion, and thus far there
had been two site visits.
The GPEDC has also held a Foreign Trade Zone Workshop in Logan County. Daly was
asked to verify that the meeting was held in Logan County, and she said that it
was, but offered no further information about when or where that meeting took
place or what was discussed.
At the end of her presentation, Hake thanked Daly for coming and shedding some
much-needed light on the work of the GPEDC. Hake noted that in her eight years
of working here, first with the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber and now the Logan
County Alliance and the Chamber, that no one had ever offered such an
explanation of the GPEDC and what its role was locally.
Daly said she felt bad that the information had not been shared in the past. Her
goal is to continue to work with the development organizations in Logan County
and to continue improving the communication between the GPEDC and the governing
and development bodies in the County.
Sub-committee for SkillsUSA
Action that was taken as a result of the meeting included County Board Chairman
David Hepler recommending that the county and city participate in a
sub-committee for the SkillsUSA program. He suggested that County Board member
David Blankenship and Lincoln Alderman Steve Parrott be appointed to that
sub-committee.
There was also a brief discussion about the Lincoln Land CEO program that kicked
off this year. The program was explained to Daly, who showed a great deal of
interest in learning more about how the program was working out in Logan County.
Daly also said that she would like to come back every six months and update the
board and council on the GPEDC activities as they relate to Logan County. This
would fall in line with the city and county decision to meet in joint session
once quarterly. Daly would then be able to present to the group as a whole at
one of those combined sessions.
[Nila Smith] |
