STATE PICKS DEXTER FOR OFFICE SITE

Gov. Mel Carnahan announced Monday that Dexter will be the site for the regional office of the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

The site was chosen by Department Director Joe Driskill.

During his campaign in 1992, the governor promised to establish regional offices to make state services more accessible to local economic development organizations around the state.

The offices are designed not only to help recruit new businesses but to help existing businesses expand.

Other regional offices will be at Moberly, Trenton, Houston and Springfield.

The Dexter office should be open in about 90 days.

The five new offices are in addition to existing offices in Jefferson City, St. Louis and Kansas City.

"Economic development departments across the country have focused on recruiting," Carnahan said. "There simply is a better return on the investment by working with existing businesses."

He added that efforts will also continue to bring new businesses to the state. Those efforts will be boosted by having economic development professionals in each office.

Each regional office will have three employees: a program assistant, a community economic development specialist and a project manager.

Driskill considered Cape Girardeau as a site for the Southeast regional office, and area officials met with state officials to promote an office here.

Mitch Robinson, executive director of the Cape Area Industrial Recruitment Association, said that while he had hoped the office would be placed in Cape Girardeau, he believes Dexter is a good compromise site.

"That's a pretty good central location," he said. "We will try to work with them the best we can."

Sen. Jerry Howard, D-Dexter, said he had talked with Driskill about office sites and suggested Dexter as a central site for the region.

The senator added that Dexter was close to many of the other economic development agencies people use.