The Jacksonville City Council budgeted $72,000 toward economic development for 2011 when adopting the city’s operating budget at the council meeting Dec. 2.
The $72,000 from the city’s general fund covers a $48,000 contract with the economic development company Retail Attractions LLC out of Owasso, Okla., for the services of economic development consultant and the company’s principal Rickey Hayes, as well as his staff, said Paul Mushrush, Jacksonville’s director of finance.
In 2010, the city spent approximately $5,000 per month on economic development, said assistant finance director Cheryl Erkel.
The rest of the budgeted economic development funds have been set aside in case the city requires additional services from Hayes and Retail Attractions, which could include Hayes making trips to Jacksonville to do on-site presentations to potential clients or presentations to the community as he did in October while the city was pushing for annexation of parts of Pulaski County.
In 2010, Hayes was paid to accompany Jacksonville city officials to four International Council of Shopping Centers conferences, the most recent of which was Nov. 17-19 in Grapevine, Texas.
The purpose of attending such conferences is to meet with representatives from companies, such as contractors, restaurants and retailers, and try to make deals with them, Mayor Gary Fletcher said in an interview Dec. 3.
“We went there ... ready to make a deal,” Fletcher said of the most recent conference. “Hayes ... can validate what we say. It’s not an overnight process. You plant the seed today, cultivate and then harvest.”
The city pays for conference attendance out of budgeted training and seminar funds set aside for each department. The city’s 2011 budget has $82,579 in its general fund set aside for training and seminars for employees not in the fire or police departments, Mushrush said.
The funds budgeted for training and seminars cover necessary classes required for the city engineer and employees in other departments to maintain their necessary certifications, as well as travel to meetings and conferences.
Fletcher said Hayes validates what he and other city officials tell companies they are trying to bring to Jacksonville as they meet with developers.
In 2010, Hayes compiled demographic and financial information on Jacksonville and has been working ever since to sell the city to land and shopping center developers. Durham said Hayes makes repeated phone calls, visits and other interactions with businesses that could potentially build in Jacksonville.
The city cannot immediately say what restaurants and retailers are interested in establishing themselves in Jacksonville, city administrator Jim Durham said.
“We see some really great things ahead of us,” Durham said. “You really want to be able to tell people, but you can’t divulge names because that creates a [competition] problem.”