Economic development office to reorganize

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Department of Economic Development is planning a reorganization intended to improve its sales pitch to businesses by devoting more people to the task and sending them around the state.

The staff reshuffling, to be announced today at a news conference, is part of a bigger plan to narrow the focus of the department to job creation and to shed its regulatory duties over various professions.

"Our job is to get jobs to the state of Missouri," department director Greg Steinhoff said Tuesday while giving an overview of the changes to the Missouri Development Finance Board.

Steinhoff's plan will eliminate the Division of Community Development and the Division of Business Development and Trade and combine their functions under one unit within his office.

The newly merged staffs will be divided into four teams focused on selling the benefits of Missouri to specific businesses and industries; marketing the state more generally; developing financial incentive packages for businesses; and making sure businesses comply with the terms of their incentives.

No staff will be eliminated, but they will be asked to spend more time in communities -- instead of at headquarters -- and more staff may be added in the future, said department spokesman Paul Sloca. The reshuffling will affect 40 employees in community development and 33 in the business development section, he said.

Steinhoff said the changes should result in a threefold increase in the number of sales staff in the field.

The department already has offices in 49 locations, including five in Jefferson City.

A more long-range goal is to consolidate the Jefferson City staff in one office, Steinhoff said, and create a "war room" where state officials could present a comprehensive sales pitch to businesses looking to expand in Missouri.

Steinhoff said a government review panel appointed by Gov. Matt Blunt likely will recommend that the department's regulatory divisions -- which oversee licensing for everyone from doctors to tattoo artists -- be transferred to another part of state government. But that part of the restructuring goes beyond what the agency is able to do now.

Once all the changes are implemented, "I believe it will yield a much more focused department," Steinhoff said.

The restructuring is intended to mirror business models commonly used in the private sector.

The department developed the organizational changes while consulting with various business groups. Officials representing the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Associated Industries of Missouri and the Missouri Economic Development Council all praised the reorganization.

In the past, some business lobbyists had expressed frustration about the state's economic development efforts. But under Blunt's administration and the Republican-led Legislature, businesses this year won passage of several of their priorities, including new job-creation incentives, new restrictions on liability lawsuits and new limits on workers' compensation claims.

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On the Net:

Economic Development: http://www.ded.mo.gov