ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: MOSS CONTENDS CAPE GIRARDEAU OFFICE IS HAVING AN IMPACT

Judy Moss says many people don't understand her job as Cape Girardeau's economic development director.

"Economic development is so young that people just simply don't understand," she said Wednesday. "It really is not a high-pressure selling job so much as a facilitation effort."

She said her office is there to help both existing industries and new businesses.

Moss has been serving as economic development director since June 1989, with her office being funded by contributions from Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce members and chamber funds. The economic development office is housed in the chamber building.

The chamber's board of directors Saturday appointed a task force to look at future funding for the economic development office, and, in particular, the possibility of securing some city funding.

Since taking the job as director, Moss said, she has focused much of her attention on existing industries.

"We are not rushing out to get new industry," said Moss. "We are trying to keep the bread and butter happy."

That "bread and butter" is existing industry. "Eighty percent of our investment is from existing business and that is what is not commonly realized," she said.

"They are expanding, buying new machines; they are putting on new people," she explained.

Of 125 industries in Cape Girardeau County, Moss said she has visited 80 percent of them in each of the last two years.

Moss said Cape Girardeau has experienced economic growth.

"We were second in the state with $78.6 million in net, new investment and expansion in the Cape Girardeau city enterprise zone during 1990," Moss said in a recent report to chamber officials.

In terms of jobs created in the enterprise zone, Cape Girardeau ranked fifth in the state with a total of 958 jobs, she said.

Since 1988, new industry in the area has resulted in a total payroll of $6.19 million. With money in the community turning over at least five times, Moss estimated the total economic impact at nearly $31 million.

Moss' economic development office has worked with companies looking at locating manufacturing plants here.

Earlier this year, Cape Girardeau was considered as a site for a Boeing aircraft plant where planes would be built and tested in wind tunnels, Moss said. The plant would have brought about 500 new jobs to Cape Girardeau.

"We were in the final 50 sites chosen," said Moss. But the city was passed over in the final cut.

On Sept. 6, Moss said, she was notified by a site locator firm out of New York City that Cape Girardeau was no longer in the running and that the list of possible sites had been narrowed to fewer than 10.

She said no reason was given for the rejection of the Cape Girardeau site.

She said the giant aerospace firm was looking at a site on Nash Road near the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport.

"Their main concern was with utilities," said Moss, adding that the Cape Girardeau site met the utility requirements.

"The annual cost of electricity (for the plant) would have been $38 million. They would have used as much electricity as the city of Cape Girardeau," she said.

Moss said that her office worked to provide the locator company with necessary site information after being alerted to the Boeing site search by a fellow economic developer in Springfield, Mo.

While Cape Girardeau didn't land the Boeing plant, Moss said officials at the New York locator firm have indicated they would consider Cape Girardeau for other companies wanting to locate in the Midwest.

Moss said her office is constantly dealing with potential industry prospects. "We have inquiries daily on Cape Girardeau locations. Those inquiries are answered on a 24-hour turnaround," she said in her report.

"The chamber office is the first stop for many local people who are wanting to start up a new business, expand into a new line or increase existing business," Moss said.

"Our policy is to take the time to evaluate each project with every individual," said Moss. "Often these projects are simply ideas, ideas that may or may not have merit. Our mission is to objectively examine each idea for feasibility," she explained.

"Requests are varied," she said. "Many are interested in market information, job training, raw product sources, international trade opportunity or the skill level of our local labor pool.

"By in large, the greatest interest of all potential requests is financing," said Moss. "The department evaluates financing needs, and will make a recommendation on what options are available for each project."

In an average week, she said, she talks to five to 10 individuals who have ideas on starting their own businesses.

In the Cape Girardeau area, she said, 54 percent of small start-up businesses fail in the first two years. But that's lower than the national average.

Moss said her office has helped people decide whether to set up businesses. "It is far better to critique an idea than attempt to bring a business out of bankruptcy, and a lot less costly," she said.