County economic development equation pondered
From our weekly issue dated March 11, 2009
The most recent available statistics show Josephine County with a 14.6 percent unemployment rate, compared to the state’s 9.9 percent rate.
But even though that trend is hardly new to longtime area residents, efforts are under way on multiple fronts to try and reverse it.
Cave Junction Mayor Don Moore said that there is a definite need for workforce development in the Illinois Valley right now.
“Part of the equation is having qualified people that are willing to work,” Moore said. “The problem I’ve seen here is when a business grows to a certain size, they outstrip the labor pool that’s available here.”
Josephine County Commissioner Dave Toler, an Illinois Valley resident, said that one of the area’s biggest workforce development challenges is the fact that it’s so rural and sparsely populated.
“A larger company needs a pretty diverse workforce pool to draw from, and the Illinois Valley just doesn’t have that,” Toler said. “It doesn’t have the population, and I think that’s a limiting factor in terms of larger employers.”
Another issue that has helped stifle economic growth has been the lack of natural gas utilities in the valley. Moore points out that it’s cheaper than propane and doesn’t require transportation costs.
“If you have an energy-intensive business, you want natural gas,” Moore said. “We just don’t have the population base here to warrant it.”
But despite all these obstacles, there are some positive economic developments happening right now.
Last summer, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for construction of the 1,200-square-foot Rogue Community College Illinois Valley Business Entrepreneurial Center at the Kerby Belt Bldg.
According to Peter Angstadt, RCC president, slightly more than $400,000 originally was allocated for the project. However, Angstadt said that when the Oregon Legislature passed its statewide stimulus plan last month, it included an additional $500,000 for the center.
Aside from that, Toler said that federal stimulus dollars may be used to secure $300,000 in funds to build a perimeter fence around I.V. Airport. Toler said that he expects the project to go out to bid soon, and that he wants local companies to be aware of it so that they can participate in the process.
A similar project at the Grants Pass Airport in Merlin involved construction of a much smaller fence, Toler said, but employed around 20 people for a job that lasted two to three months.
Toler said that the county also plans to contract with Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development Inc. for an economic development position. He said that part of the duties of that position include development of an economic strategy for I.V. Airport and the whole valley.
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Angstadt said he hopes to have the I.V. Business Center finished “maybe by May or June.” Once that’s realized, he said, RCC will be able to offer business counseling and assistance to would-be entrepreneurs on matters such as marketing, accounting and “everything they need to really take that seed of an idea and really let it grow.
“What we’re hoping to do,” he continued, “is give people the opportunity to meet with counselors and take specialized training to help a small business idea get turned into a full-fledged business. Or to take a current business that might just be a small business with a couple of employees and maybe expand it into a larger business,” Angstadt said.
Businesses will have access to technology links for functions such as teleconferencing, Angstadt said. RCC also will be able to help employers and potential business owners determine their labor pool needs and what kind of training to provide workers.
Toler said that there are ultimately two different tracks for creating economic development. One is creating family wage jobs, and the other is to increase the household median income.
The cities of Ashland and Jacksonville have had tremendous success, Toler said, because of their ability to attract entrepreneurial professionals. Toler said that can only be accomplished by establishing quality of life.
“We’ve got the assets to attract these kinds of folks to our community if we do it right, but we have to make sure we have decent infrastructure,” he said. We’ll have a difficult time attracting entrepreneurs who are making money and looking for a good place to live if we don’t have any law enforcement.
“We’ll have a hard time attracting professionals to the community if we don’t have a library. People have got to begin realizing that we need basic public infrastructure in order to have a good economy.”
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