NATCHEZ &045; While countywide or regional economic development agencies are the norm, some communities are seeking ways to strike out on their own, some development veterans said last week.

In a July 20 joint retreat of city and county officials, Mayor Phillip West said the city wants to devote to community development the $100,000 it pays the Economic Development Authority each year. That could include &uot;developing infrastructure, housing and (revitalizing) downtown,&uot; Mayor West said.

Options include the city hiring its own economic and community development director or asking that the funds it gives the EDA be used for community development, Mayor West said.

Future discussions

City officials have since said they will probably continue to fund the EDA but need to discuss with the EDA’s board how the money is used. That’s something EDA Chairman Woody Allen has said he’s willing to talk about, depending on the specific uses the city has in mind for the money.

Then, in an Aug. 4 work session, West and aldermen said they want to review the ways other communities have approached economic and community development before making a decision on EDA funding.

West said a representative of the Mississippi Development Authority, a person he would not name, suggested the city look at the approaches Jackson County and Madison County have taken.

&uot;The way they’ve faced problems similar to ours,&uot; West said, noting that Jackson County, like Adams County, has suffered from the closing of an International Paper mill in recent years.

What EDAs do

First, a note from the experts: you won’t find many economic development agencies that focus on community development &045; housing, revitalization and the like &045; to any large degree.

&uot;Cities generally have a development director&uot; to spearhead such things, said Phil Hardwick, a veteran economic developer now working for the Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State.

Regional or countywide authorities, on the other hand, &uot;usually focus mostly on economic development,&uot; he added.

Jim Flanagan &045; executive director of the EDA in fast-growing DeSoto County, a Memphis suburb &045; agreed.

&uot;The majority (of countywide development authorities) are primarily involved in industrial recruitment activities,&uot; said Flanagan, also president of the Mississippi Economic Development Council, which represents economic development directors throughout the state.

That being said, Flanagan said DeSoto County’s EDA does have committees with focuses such as education and infrastructure and a leadership development program.

Yet those are mostly information-gathering bodies, and they are concerned with how such issues affect their bottom line &045; getting new businesses to the area.

&uot;After all, if the stage is not set in terms of infrastructure, governmental affairs, and so on, then how do these investments occur?&uot; Flanagan said. &uot;The pieces have to be in place.&uot;

But when it comes to economic development, it’s important for a business prospect to have one key person to contact in the community, a person with the support of all the governments and businesses involved, Hardwick said.

Such prospects &uot;want one person to deal with, and they’ve got to know that when they speak to him, they’re speaking&uot; to the rest of the group, Hardwick said.

More and more governments are deciding they &045; and private businesspeople &045; must band together in order to be successful in attracting industries, he said.

Jackson County

Hardwick cited the example of Jackson County, which in the last three years made the jump from having a variety of economic development contacts on the county and city levels to having a central EDA.

In this case, that body is the Jackson County Economic Development Foundation.

That foundation’s board consists of representatives of the county’s four towns and their chambers of commerce, plus four representatives of the business community at large.

That EDF also spearheaded, in recent years, a fund-raising campaign that raised $3.8 million to help fund economic development, an amount that was 65 percent over the campaign’s goal.

Although EDF officials couldn’t be reached by press time, some local leaders in Natchez and Adams County have said for years the EDA needs a privately funded pool of money to fund incentives that governments can’t legally give to business prospects.

One person who has seen the importance of having a central countywide EDA is Kay Kell, city manager of Pascagoula, Jackson County’s largest city.

Previously, she was city manager for Picayune, a town that also moved in the late 1990s from having its own economic developer to pooling its resources with other communities in a countywide effort.

&uot;Prospects want that clear contact person,&uot; Kell said.

That’s not to say the city doesn’t have any economic development bodies, but they have a more limited role. For example, Pascagoula’s City Council appointed several business leaders to an Economic Development Advisory Council for the city. But that group works to research specific projects &045; the latest, a waterfront development plan.

&uot;We don’t go out&uot; of the area to recruit industries, leaving that to the EDF, Kell said.

This isn’t to say that no cities have their own economic developers, however.

Canton and Madison County

Earlier this month, Canton hired economic developer Ken Oilschlager as a part-time consultant. His job is to serve as a contact for those interested in starting new businesses or housing developments in the city.

A side note: the City of Canton will still help fund the countywide agency, the Madison County Economic Development Authority in addition to paying Oilschlager, although the city wouldn’t divulge either amount.

Mayor Fred Esco Jr. said city officials simply felt the time was right to hire someone with Oilschlager’s contacts and expertise.

&uot;Our economic development authority has been working to help us with industrial and commercial recruitment, but it seems there hasn’t been a strong push (for in-city business recruitment), so we just felt it was time to add someone,&uot; Esco said.

Both Esco and Oilschlager said Canton will continue to work with MCEDA (which Madison County supervisors themselves recently voted not to fund) on industrial recruitment.

&uot;We’re going to work very closely with them, but my duties are to look out for the City of Canton,&uot; Oilschlager said, referring to MCEDA, which he served as director many years ago.

Not focusing on such things as community redevelopment &045; there’s a separate city authority for that, Oilschlager said &045; he will instead focus on getting to the public updated information about what Canton has to offer industry.

First things first

First, he plans to update the city’s economic development Web site with such information. He will also develop stronger relationships with those whose job it is to select potential location sites for industries.

He also wants to research how Canton can capitalize on the Nissan plant that has located just outside the city limits.

But there’s one thing Oilschlager said he won’t do much of: going on trips to visit far-flung prospects, at least until it’s clear such prospects are very serious about locating in Canton.

&uot;The day of sending lots of letters and going up and calling on people (blindly) is past,&uot; Oilschlager said. &uot;You develop relationships with site consultants first, Š and then you do follow-up visits. But we don’t need to replicate what the state or the county is doing.&uot;

The way in which economic development efforts are structured may vary, but Hardwick said he can understand why a city would want to strike out on its own.

After all, public officials feel intense pressure to show their constituents economic results.

&uot;The quest for results is so strong,&uot; Hardwick said. &uot;Economic development is a long-term process, but elections are held every four years.&uot;