The city council on Wednesday broached the possibility of creating an economic development advisory committee to help the city recruit new businesses and encourage more investment from existing ones.
Though the council did not vote to form the committee during its work session at City Hall, Mayor Stephen Jones said he wanted to put out the idea publicly to “start the conversation.”
Ward 6 Councilman Jason Spears, proposed forming the advisory committee of up to 10 members representing a cross-section of expertise in key business fields – such as banking, health care, real estate and hospitality, among others.
It would work with the city’s finance committee, which Spears chairs, to “help us develop long-range plans on how we recruit, how we really galvanize ourselves through tax collections and other things we can capitalize (on) throughout the community,” he said.
Spears said there’s “a void” between the functions of the city and other local support systems for economic development, such as the industry-focused Golden Triangle Development LINK. For example, the LINK facilitates retail contracts and incentives for businesses looking to come to Columbus – most recently Rural King on Highway 45 – but it doesn’t actively recruit retail for the city.
In the past, the city has tried contracting with a retail recruitment firm to fill that void, but that effort did not produce the desired results and the contract was dropped in 2019 after only a year.
But Spears said Columbus is positioned now – with things like the Aluminum Dynamics plant starting production west of the city and the Burns Bottom Redevelopment underway near downtown – for real growth.
“There’s a lot of economic activity that is happening across the city, and I think that’s the result of people wanting to be here and wanting to invest in the city,” he said. “… “This (advisory committee) will just be one more step this council takes to show we are pro-business and we’re really trying to show that we, as a community, can thrive.”
Spears said the committee would operate as a “braintrust” to identify missing markets, point out what markets are saturated, and what prospects might actually undercut existing businesses that are thriving. From there, the city can develop policies, recruiting strategies and long-range plans.
“It’s kind of an … effort to try to stimulate ideas that sometimes we’re blind to,” Spears said. “We’re not into retail. We’re not necessarily into the food (or) hospitality business. We’re not necessarily dialed in correctly to how health care works in our community.
“They can come to the table and say, ‘This already exists. You don’t need to be recruiting this business here.’ Or, ‘Yes, this would be a great type of add to our community … because it will bring more jobs and more opportunities,’” he added.
Another aspect the advisory council could bolster are corporate sponsorships at places like the Sen. Terry Brown Amphitheater on the Island and the newly Propst Park, both city-owned facilities.
Where other communities land those types of sponsorships, Columbus facilities have not – maybe because of a corporation’s budget timing or in some cases because those decisions come from a corporate headquarters elsewhere, Spears said.
“It may just be, and I’ve encountered this a couple of times, people aren’t being asked,” he said.
Jones told The Dispatch after the meeting he is particularly interested in the advisory committee’s help with sponsorships.
“That’s one of the main reasons we think it’s important,” Jones said. “Nobody likes to spend their money if they’re not going to have a little input on the way the city is moving forward.”
Spears said he is compiling a list of potential advisory committee members with “very refined knowledge in their fields, … are well connected in their industries and they want to see Columbus move forward.”
He encouraged his fellow council members to do the same.
Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene offered his full-throated support of the effort.
“This sounds like a great idea and a missing part of what will help us move forward,” he said.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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