Hailey officials are getting proactive to protect and develop the city's business community. The recently formed Mayor's Economic Development Team traveled to Boise last week to meet with Idaho Department of Commerce officials to see how to keep businesses in town, and recruit new ones.
The Hailey team consists of Mayor Rick Davis, Chamber of Commerce Director Heather LaMonica Deckard, Councilman Don Keirn, City Administrator Heather Dawson, Planning Director Beth Robrahn and Jim Spinelli.
The committee learned about federal grants that are available for small businesses, and how to survey local businesses in order to help them survive.
"We want to find out what problems businesses are facing. Are they financial, due to the lending community? Are they due to regulations in the city? If so, we want to hear from them," Keirn said.
Before joining the Hailey City Council, Keirn served as the economic development director for the city of Boise from 1987-1997, and continued on as a contracted consultant for another six years.
At Monday's Hailey City Council meeting, Davis emphasized the need for business owners to communicate with City Hall or the Chamber of Commerce before things get too bad.
"When you hear about a business shutting down it is oftentimes too late," he said.
Keirn said Hailey is now on a "leads list" kept by the Department of Commerce used for when businesses from around the country express an interest in relocating to Idaho.
"We would analyze each one carefully and see if they fit," he said. "We don't want to put a strain on our infrastructure and our population is limited. A General Motors production line we would ignore. They would go to Twin Falls or elsewhere."
Keirn said Boise did not spend time trying to recruit retail businesses.
"That would have created competition with what we already had," he said. "What could work are more Marketron- or Power Engineers-type businesses, or assembly lines like Rocky Mountain Hardware."
Keirn said "back office" accounting and personnel operations could also be brought to town.
"Twelve years ago, we had a major shipping line move to Boise that brought 150 white collar jobs," he said.
In other Hailey news:
( Hailey set a tentative budget for fiscal year 2011 not to exceed $13,613,736. A public hearing on the proposed budget will take place at 5:30 p.m., Monday, Aug. 23, at Hailey City Hall.
( Ramona Duke was appointed to the Library Board. She will replace Peter Jurovich.
Tony Evans: tevans@mtexpress.com
