By Brett Jones/Staff Writer

Less than a month after a meeting aimed at forming a county economic development summit was held, City Manager Tony Rivera and members of the city’s Economic Development Authority are taking the first steps toward funding a local, independent office.

“My feeling with the City Council and this board is that there is support to pursue the county alliance,” said Rivera, who added that such a move will take time, but there is an immediate need to bring local “stakeholders” together to get an El Reno office up and running.

He told the EDA last week many groups including the city of El Reno, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, the Canadian Valley Technology Center, Redlands Community College and the El Reno Chamber of Commerce already work with outside businesses, which might consider relocating here, but such efforts are disjointed at best.

“There is no continuity overall in the focus of attracting business to the area,” Rivera said.

For its part, he said city officials are hard pressed to adequately serve officials of prospective businesses who often show up in El Reno and want information and tours of potential sites. Often, he said normal duties of city officials bar them from being able to spend the day with a prospect. Also, he said, by the competitive nature of business, prospects are often suspicious of chamber of commerce officials because they are in the business of serving existing members who these new companies might compete against if they moved to town.

Rivera said he envisions a single office located away from city hall where a clerk would be stationed to deal with inquiries. For now, he said Robert Coleman, the community development director, would remain as the leader in dealing with prospects. But he cautioned, Coleman could only be successful if other duties he currently has are spread out to other city staff members.

Coleman said he would like to develop targeted recruitment campaigns that lure businesses to town based on the city’s ability to meet their needs. For example, he said certain businesses may need representatives from Redlands or the technology center to be present to answer questions about available work force.

While the plan for a local development office is still young, the city has already been offered office space at Canadian Valley Tech- nology Center for the effort. Still, before the keys can be handed over, Rivera said the city must identify what funding will be available to operate it.

The next step will come at an upcoming EDA meeting where city officials are expected to talk with representatives from area stakeholders about what they can contribute to the operation of an office.

For its part, the city is looking at the possibility of diverting funds that already go to the chamber of commerce for the operation of the new economic development office.

In the 2006-2007 fiscal year city budget that ends June 30, the city gave $15,000 in direct support to the chamber and $25,000 in in-direct support by funding a staff member to act as a tourism and economic development clerk.

If the economic development plan moves forward, chamber president Jeff Mills said his group would be willing to see the proposed $25,000 for the TED position to be used for economic development. He said the chamber would then request $30,000 in direct support from the Council.

Mills said in prior years, the chamber developed a five-year plan to wean itself off public funds because Council members expressed a desire to end assistance. But he said such a move became impractical due to the churn of businesses in El Reno.

“What the chamber supports is a more concerted effort for economic development,” he said. “We want to help.”

EDA chairwoman Debbie Harrison said it was important to push forward with the county alliance idea and recommended the chamber’s TED clerk begin compiling a list of available property prospects may be interested in.

Whether that funding plan will move forward, Mills said will depend on the city budget and the desires of the Council.

In the economic development summit March 29, Lance LaCour, president of the Katy Area Economic Development Council, told county government and business officials that forming a regional development alliance was the right thing to do. The Katy office program responds to inquiries from industries, manages the recruitment projects, helps with new business start-up, acts as an information broker and administrates incentives and financial deal packages.

“This is a long-term process and doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” LaCour said.