Three weeks after applications closed, we still haven't heard from the Lake Area Improvement Corporation whom it will pick to direct economic development efforts in and around Madison.
As we eagerly await the golden child to reverse previous LAIC exec Dwaine Chapel's failures, Madison residents may wish to note the City of Sioux Falls's advertisement for an economic development coordinator. Where Madison lets its economic development honcho operate in a quasi-public corporation that keeps its records secret and can't be held directly accountable by taxpayers, the City of Sioux Falls makes its economic development coordinator a city employee.
Sioux Falls also pays that person half of what Madison's economic development chief gets. Dwaine Chapel pulled down six figures for not doing much. The Sioux Falls economic development coordinator gets up to $2,135 bi-weekly, or just over $51K annually.
Jeepers: the LAIC should have been getting tons of applications.
The Sioux Falls economic development coordinator is also expected to make "downtown development... a key focus."
So if Madison were to adopt the Sioux Falls approach, the city would get more accountable economic development efforts for half the price. And we'd do something about downtown.
There's no way that job has the same level of responsibilities and expectations as a director, even of a two person office. There's a Sioux Falls Development Foundation and a Minnehaha County Economic Development Association. You can bet they make big bucks. Probably 250 or more. You have to pay to get top talent (not that I'm saying we had it). That said much of our planning should be within the city. Entirely controlled by the city with an actual city planner. The current arrangement stinks! Like smells bad, but we're stupid enough to keep giving the LAIC money and control. The census showed 10 years of failure - what an embarrassment. They didn’t improve our numbers in 10 years, but we’ll end up giving them more money. Get ready for the song and dance and then open your pocket book.
John u are right. The city of Sioux Falls gives millions to the chamber, Development foundation, etc for economic development. This position is a data collector for the mayor. Strictly lower middle management.
In fact the city council instituted a special hotel tax to fund the chamber.
Like him or not, that Sioux Falls mayor is a non-stop hustler. Small towns don't have the money and sizzle. Maybe the corridor, the non-Sioux Falls cities need to promote together, share a professional web site and other marketing activities.
John Hess, maybe we should consolidate economic development corporations into something like watershed districts. Economic developers should operate according not to artificial political boundaries but to naturally arising economic regions within the state. Maybe we should fold LAIC and other development corps. into one big I-29/I-90 regional development board, to work for the common interest of all workers and consumers within the interdependent region centered on Sioux Falls and stretching out at least one county in each direction.