Lincoln Economic Advancement Development CEO Andrea Runge asks Logan County Board committee how to best to move forward

 

[September 10, 2021] 

At the Logan County Board’s Planning and Zoning/Economic Development Committee meeting, members heard from Lincoln Economic Advancement Development CEO Andrea Runge.

Committee members present were David Hepler, Keenan Leesman and David Blankenship. Logan County Zoning Office Will D’Andrea was also present.

Runge has been working with LEAD since March 16, 2021. Runge said she has learned a lot about Lincoln and is still formulating thoughts about how to best move forward.

Right now, LEAD’s biggest initiative is the Back to Business grant program. In this program, businesses are eligible for grants if they had less revenue in 2020 than they did in 2019. Businesses can apply for about two months’ worth of lost revenue.

When Runge talks to businesses about the grant, she can help them with any questions they might have and even help them apply.

To figure out how much revenue businesses have lost, Runge said the state looks at their 2019 gross revenue, subtract 2020’s revenue, divide it by six and round it up to the nearest $5,000. Businesses must have at least $5,000 in lost revenue to be eligible.

Businesses are only eligible if their gross revenue in 2019 was under $20 million. Runge said they are prioritizing businesses whose revenue is less than $5 M. Other businesses being prioritized are restaurants who did not get a Restaurant Revitalization Fund or those who applied for Business Revitalization grants and did not get in before the grant ran out of money. Hotels can get up to $250,000 because of lost revenue.

Runge is in and out of businesses cold calling to let them know about the grant. With the grant, they are trying to make it equitable. Runge has already gotten several applications for the grant.
 

Runge asks committee members for input

Other work Runge and LEAD are doing right now is strategic planning.

After Runge’s presentation, she asked for input from committee members doing an exercise called the five whys.

Blankenship and Hepler said an out-of-state land agent told them the county is no longer business friendly.

While the basis for the comment was not known, it did provide a great launching point to examine county practices that might inhibit or entice business.

To dig deeper, Runge asked: “Why are we not business friendly?” She asked if it is because the county says no?

The second 'why' is: “Why does the county say no?”

D’Andrea said the county has said yes to all the wind farms that have come forward.

Runge asked if the county is not business friendly in other areas. She wanted to know if it is true that the county is not business friendly and if so, why?

Blankenship runs a small business. He said the government tries to capitalize on the amount of revenue. By way of recent developments, he said the county gets a little carried away with conditional uses, though he supports conditional uses when done in an equitable fashion for both parties. He sees it as a tendency for government to try to get business to solve the government’s financial problems.

Runge asked what that would look like.

The expectation that the county has to give salary increases every year is something Blankenship said is unsustainable. The county needs to get more in line with the private sector as far as salary and benefits.
 

He suggested becoming much more relaxed with business.

Runge agreed having more businesses generates more revenue and empty buildings get us nowhere.

She asked what being more relaxed with businesses would look like and how it would change the way we operate.

Leesman asked at what level the problem with being business friendly is more of a county vs. city vs. state issue? He said the state has handcuffed counties into not being business friendly.

If the county is going to say yes more often than no to businesses, Runge asked what needs to change.

D’Andrea has worked in other communities with too much development despite many regulations. He has found the development community wants consistency rather than uncertainty.

Although Runge said the county must work within certain parameters, we must figure out how to be nimble. She feels the county’s zoning is not heavy handed, but easily understood and consistent.

If zoning ordinances are not the issue, Runge’s question is where does the issue break down? She also wants to know where the county can say yes, and how she can best help the county.

Competitiveness between some people makes it hard for people to work together, D’Andrea said.

Blankenship said we need to unite people for the common good. Unity and maturity help make communities more successful.

In Logan County, Runge said economic development is about fostering from within. It is also about being available and open to people coming in from outside.
 

She said it does not always mean saying yes.

Runge knows of a county that has a score sheet for incentives. Before the county makes a deal with a business, they go through the score sheet. If Logan County had some kind of score sheet it might provide a measure of consistency when dealing with outside businesses.

Runge said we need to understand we must all work together. When it comes to economic development in a rural area, we must be more regionally minded. We should stop looking at lines on a map as something that divides us because it does not make for good neighbors.

Logan County does not have the money to be competitive with larger areas like Will County and Cook County. Therefore, she said we must be strategic and have a consistent line to follow.

Leesman said the “what’s in it for me” mentality must stop. He has seen projects go that direction. When a project gets approved and then there are issues with decertification and other areas, it may not seem the project is worth the effort.

Strategic direction and vision are two areas Leesman feels are needed. The former 10-year plan from the economic development side set Logan County to be the wind farm capital of the world (it included manufacturing components) and it gave the county something to focus. Now that we have so many wind farms, Leesman feels it may be time to have a new focus.

Runge said we need to look at what is next.

In the past, Blankenship has seen some economic developers not listen to those they feel are less than qualified. Even if it is not directly related to plans, business owners may share some helpful points with economic developers.

Runge uses the rule-of-thumb, “It is not about us without us.” We must build from the ground up starting with the base and listening to people. If we do not build from the base, we will have an unstable pyramid on its point. She said we must empower people and create the environment to get us there.

Leesman asked D’Andrea how much the population of Logan County declined between the 2010 and the 2020 Census.

D’Andrea said the county’s population was 30,305 in 2010. In 2020, the population was 27,987. [A loss of 2,318 people, 7.6%.]

With the population shrinking, Leesman asked what we are doing to attract residents to Logan County. Not attracting residents often means not attracting businesses.

Leesman liked the Bike Trail Plan. He said having something like that could make people say the county has a ton of good trails. Leesman does not know of anything the county has at this point to stand out from other counties.

Runge said Ogle County had a Bike Ogle Campaign, which became an initiative to attract people to their county and its parks. People did community development around the campaign.

To Runge the key for community and economic development is becoming the most unique we can be. Figuring out the county’s assets and putting them out there will show people what we do.

Generations coming up want to be able to work from anywhere and keep the cost of living down. To attract these generations, Runge said walkable downtowns are important. Having good places for coffee and good things to do within walking distance are small ways to make people happy.

The things that make Lincoln a great place to live are the same things businesses are looking for. Therefore, Runge said we need to take the assets we have and make them more attractive to the next generation.

In his chiropractic business, Hepler said he did not consider a case successful unless a client referred someone else to him. He feels it should be the same with businesses. He said being more outcome based could help target industries the county is positioned for.

Recognizing the underclass that is very much a part of our community is also important to Hepler.

Blankenship recalled watching a program about a shadow city where people from the cities job shadowed others. He said it sometimes changed people’s minds about what occupation they wanted to go into.

Setting up a program of businesses incentivizing or fostering new businesses is something Blankenship thinks might be a good idea.

Many industries are starting to see people who want to work from home. Leesman said it is cheaper to hire someone from the Midwest to work remotely for a company on the coast.

Broadband infrastructure throughout the county should support people working from home. Leesman said the county has an opportunity to greatly improve its infrastructure through better broadband. Good and reliable broadband could be one way of attracting businesses.

Recently, Runge met a couple who just moved to Lincoln from California. She asked them why they chose Lincoln. The couple said they looked many places and told Runge Lincoln’s history and cost of living attracted them.

Runge said to get to the core of the problem (attracting businesses and residents) we need to ask the right questions. She closed by thanking the committee for the insights they shared.

[Angela Reiners]