Members of the Pulaski County Industrial Development Authority largely agreed Thursday night with recommendations offered by a Department of Defense-funded study that urged the county to find a way to hire an economic developer.
“It’s been six or seven years we’ve been trying to find a way to pay an economic developer and we hope something comes out of this,” said IDA Chairman Tom Reagan.
Richard Cavender, executive director of the Meramec Regional Planning Commission, offered a presentation on the key conclusions of a $175,000 study of Pulaski County conducted by the Prager Corporation.
“There was a concern expressed right after you came into the Meramec Regional Planning Commission that you did not have an economic development organization comparable to those in Phelps County and Laclede County,” Cavender said. “We all agreed it was important that this be a countywide study, not focused just on St. Robert and Waynesville.”
Cavender said Fort Leonard Wood is a “great economic engine” that makes up 46 percent of Pulaski County’s economic activity and employs 44 percent of the county’s 26,000 working people, but said Department of Defense planners agree that local communities shouldn’t be so heavily dependent upon the military.
“If you have all your eggs in one basket and something happens, you are hit a lot harder than if you have a more diversified economy,” Cavender said.
MRPC staff member Connie Willman said getting accurate demographic information about Pulaski County has been a challenge and said it appears the county’ population statistics are about 10 percent higher than the census figures indicate. With the exception of Fort Leonard Wood, the county is “extremely rural,” she noted, with all the cities having a population under 5,000 and most closer to 1,000. About 20,000 people living in the unincorporated areas of the county, she noted.
That dispersal of government is different from most of the neighboring counties which have a single major city, but Cavender said he’s glad all local governments have agreed to support a single economic development effort.
Cavender said all five cities and the county commission are behind the study, and the local ministerial alliance has participated in an advisory capacity on the study committee. Fort Leonard Wood and the Leonard Wood Institute have capabilities that go far beyond what most rural counties have available to them, he said.
“Even the media here in this area is some of the best I’ve seen; I like how they cover the whole area,” Cavender said. “I can sit in my office and know what’s going on all over the county and that’s a real advantage you have.”
Expanding the role of the Waynesville-St. Robert Chamber of Commerce can also help, and Cavender noted that the organization has considered becoming a countywide chamber.
“I think that is a good thing to do,” Cavender said. “I know it will take some salesmanship but I think that has some real benefits.”
Having an economic developer will cost significant amounts of money, Cavender said. A full-scale economic development program will cost $240,000 to $350,000 per year, he said.
“But a full-time economic developer with some part-time help could go a long ways,” Cavender said. “Again, it’s important that you get a professional in here because they know what needs to be done. And you need to have a stable funding source in place so they feel comfortable leaving what they are doing now and coming here.”
Pulaski County Commissioner Bill Farnham, who is a real estate agent, suggested expanding earlier proposals to list real estate assets.
“There’s been discussion of doing an inventory of different properties in Pulaski County to determine what they could be used for commercially,” Farnham said. “Is it possible to do an inventory of resumes to see what people maybe did in the military before they retired, and what kind of skills are out there?”
That’s not just a good idea, Cavender said; it’s essential.
“If we can get that information, it is a tremendous marketing tool,” Cavender said. “The missing link is these companies that may need this expertise don’t know this labor force is here.”
IDA board member Randy Becht said much of the data the economic development study said needs to be presented is all present, but in “bits and pieces” that need to be collected into a coherent whole and marketed to potential employers who may want to build facilities in Pulaski County.
“Everybody says these things need to be done and they know it needs to be done, but it’s not my job and its not his job and it’s nobody’s job, so it doesn’t get done,” Becht said.
A key part of that presentation, according to Presiding Commissioner Bill Ransdall, is to get a county-run web site. Ransdall said the economic developer should have an office in the county courthouse and have web design as part of the job.
“It’s embarrassing when people go to the internet and look for Pulaski County. The first thing they get is Pulaski County, Arkansas,” Ransdall said. “The second thing is they come up with the Pulaski County Web where there are all these people bashing the Army or bashing businesses or bashing government. If a businessman in New York or Chicago or California is researching Pulaski County on the web, they get a gossip column and I’m not sure they’ll want to come here.”
Ransdall said it’s also important to explain to people who aren’t familiar with the military how much of an advantage it is to have military retirees who are highly trained, generally participate in the TRICARE insurance program, have a military pension, and have deliberately chosen to live in a lower-cost area like Pulaski County.
“When you talk about retirees you have to be careful; people think people in their sixties,” Ransdall said. “But people who are military retirees are often people in their mid-40s and have a lot of good working years and energy left in their life.”