ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TEAM FEATURES NEW FACES

Economic development opportunities, while hardly plentiful in the current climate of fiscal uncertainty and escalating taxes, are out there for communities. In order to take advantage of these opportunities, communities must have a good product to sell and a workable way of selling it. Having a systematic means for alerting commercial ventures to the virtues of your community is critical. We believe Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area are well-positioned in this regard.

Corralling new business or industry is a volatile endeavor under the best of conditions; the community can be a good one, and all the right things can be done and said, yet the interested enterprise can choose another site. It's that kind of undertaking. It must also be kept in mind that any lack of effort is amplified because thousands of other communities are out there taking the extra steps to do things right.

D. Mitch Robinson, hired not long ago as executive director of the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association, provided an interesting perspective on this at a business gathering recently. He pointed out the burden of attracting new businesses (and their jobs) to the area rests not only with economic development officials, but with people of the area. Business people can keep an eye out for enterprises in their own field that are looking to expand or relocate. Property owners can do their best to make local real estate attractive, functional and well-maintained. Local governments can do their part by stretching tax dollars to the maximum, so services remain high while tax rates don't.

The economic development officials can be the conduit for transmitting these things, but other people make all the difference.

While this grassroots approach makes a lot of sense, a stable of knowledgeable, aggressive, persistent people assigned to getting out the economic development message must be in place. In the last few months, a number of new faces have been installed in the local economic development picture:

Robinson, who began in May as the first leader of the newly formed association, which operates under the auspices of three area cities, the county and the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce.

Dan Overbey, who took over in April as the executive director of the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority, which is jointly funded by Cape Girardeau and Scott counties.

John Mehner, who was selected earlier this month to become the new president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce.

Mary Foote Miller, who was hired in July to direct the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau. While not directly responsible for trying to bring new business into the community, she will have a great deal to say about the face Cape Girardeau presents to persons from outside the area.

Even Randy Holdman, who took over as manager of the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport in June, assumed his new position preaching the gospel of "salesmanship," not only of his facility but of the community.

A new economic development team is set. In Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area, we believe these folks have a good product to sell. We look forward to seeing their new ideas put into place, just as we look forward to seeing the results they produce.