Karen Pollard moved to New Hampshire in 2003 to fill a newly created position in the city of Rochester: economic development manager. Waiting for her was a glut of vacant offices and a community still smarting from a hit to its tax base; the state’s biggest employer, Cabletron, had recently spun off into a separate company and abandoned the city.
Now, 13 years later, Pollard said her city’s tax base has grown by more than $250 million. A plan to target retail tenants yielded a newly opened shopping center; a second phase of that development is under construction now. She has a team of three other staffers. Her requested budget for the next fiscal year is more than $460,000, which covers salaries, marketing and special contracts.
“I think it is important to have a dedicated person for your community that can represent you with the businesses when things are good, as well as when thing are not so good,” Pollard said. “One of the challenges that we all have is, the economy is not static. Businesses have so much to deal with that it helps them to have one point of contact at the city to call when they need something.”
Other communities, like Manchester and Nashua, have also hired a staff person whose job it is to recruit businesses and market the city to the outside world. Now, Concord could do the same. City Manager Tom Aspell’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2017 includes $135,400 for a similar position.
In light of the Main Street project and other initiatives, Aspell said hiring an economic development director is “the next step.”
“We’ve done infrastructure improvements,” Aspell said. “We have a good healthy water supply. The road system is in really good shape. Downtown is really ripe for redevelopment not only here but in Penacook. We’ve bought some key pieces of property.
“You want to have those bones, so to speak, so that when you do bring somebody on board, they have a lot to work with. I think whoever ends up being selected, if the council approves it, will have a lot to work with.”
Aspell said that $135,400 could be spent in several ways, and the council will have to decide if and how to do so. For example, the money could pay a salary and benefits for a new staffer in city hall, as well as supply a marketing budget. Or, it could pay a contract for someone at an outside firm to do the same work.
“What I plan to do is lay out to them the options that are available and see what they think is best,” Aspell said. “I really need their buy in.”
Whatever the format, Aspell envisioned an “ombudsman” who could field questions from interested businesses, shepherd them through the city’s planning and zoning boards, identify opportunities for gap financing if needed, and connect them with community partners for job training or other needs.
“You try to create matches,” Aspell said. “You want to make sure the community is the appropriate community for the type of business because you want them to thrive.”
For many years, Concord did have an economic development director. That person had a roughly $25,000 budget, Aspell said, which typically went toward advertising. But he retired about eight years ago, and with the recession looming large, the city decided to cut the position at that time. Those responsibilities have been absorbed by various officials: Aspell; Carlos Baia, deputy city manager for development; Matt Walsh, director for redevelopment, downtown services and special projects; and others.
For example, Baia said he and Mayor Jim Bouley make a point of scheduling visits with key employers in Concord.
“Mayor Bouley has had a very core component to his philosophy, which is that retention is the most important thing. . . . Relationships are key in terms of business retention,” Baia said.
But with the economy on a rebound and the Main Street project near completion, Aspell said the time is ripe to do more.
“We’re now evolving into a different type of approach, where we need to be out there marketing ourselves more,” Aspell said.
During the November election, city council candidates talked repeatedly about the need to draw more businesses, jobs and young people to Concord. Since then, Bouley has reached out to organizations like the Concord Young Professional Network, Intown Concord and the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce for their ideas.
“To be competitive with other communities in the state and other communities in New England, we need someone who is looking at this on a day-to-day basis and focusing on economic development,” chamber President Tim Sink said. “To have one person who is eating and breathing this on a day-to-day basis and convening the right folks, that’s how things are going to get done.”
In Manchester, Economic Development Director William Craig said the size and makeup of the department has changed several times over the last decade. He was hired in 2013, and his two-person office has a budget of about $150,000 that goes mostly toward salaries.
Craig said he understands why not every community has a large economic development team – or one at all.
“If you’re a local policymaker, your constituents notice if your streets aren’t plowed,” he said. “For this office, the work doesn’t always demonstrate an immediate return. You might spend months working with a business who might move here or Massachusetts, and then they move to Massachusetts. I can see why it’s a difficult investment.”
But he said small businesses can turn to his office for advice in navigating the planning board, which is a help for an entrepreneur new to the process. And he helped the city bring back a tax incentive for developers called RSA 79-E, which has been used frequently in Concord.
“We got that readopted, and since then, two of the three major downtown housing development that have happened have taken advantage of this program,” Craig said.
In Rochester, Pollard said wider efforts for economic development are positive.
“When a community in New Hampshire brings a new business in from outside, it’s good for everybody,” she said.
The annual Rock ‘N Race will take place in downtown Concord on Thursday to benefit Concord Hospital Payson Center for Cancer Care patients and their families.
Again this year, the race will begin on North State Street behind the New Hampshire State House. The participants will turn onto Pleasant Street, then South Spring Street. After a quick turn onto Clinton Street, the course travels through the state office complex and exits onto Pleasant Street. From there, it turns right onto Liberty Street and right again onto School Street. Runners and walkers will follow that road into downtown to the finish line on Park Street.
Much of that course will be closed to car traffic from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
If you have not registered online, you can sign up for the race Wednesday at the Bektash Temple at 89 Old Turnpike Road from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. or Thursday at the State House plaza from noon to 5:30 p.m. The start time is 6 p.m.
For more information about the race, visit rocknrace.org. For more information about street closures during the race, visit concordnh.gov.
Construction crews will begin pouring concrete for new sidewalks this week, starting at Capital Commons and heading south to Constantly Pizza, according to an email update from the project PR team.
Landscaping crews will also hit South Main Street this week, prepping areas for trees and plants. Tree grates, planter boxes, bike racks, bench and trash can foundations will be added to the furniture zone. Bump outs and brick zones will be paved toward the end of the week.
For the street south of Constantly Pizza, curbs will also be installed this week. On North Main Street, crews will be sealing granite and brick areas beginning Monday. While the crosswalk at School Street will also be under repair, the work won’t affect traffic turning onto that road.
All storefronts and businesses are open during construction. For more information about the downtown construction or to sign up for regular email updates, visit concordnh.gov.
(Megan Doyle can be reached at 369-3321, mdoyle@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @megan_e_doyle.)