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Evansville readies economic initiative

EVANSVILLE — Janesville is just beginning work on a new economic plan, but Evansville is ready to start implementing parts of its economic development initiative.

The Evansville Economic Development Committee made final changes to its economic development plan and all but voted on it Tuesday.

The plan brings together work from more than 30 business members who worked on five task forces to create goals and action items. The task forces developed after the city’s economic summit in January, which brought together nearly 100 city leaders.

One of the biggest components of the plan is creation of an economic development alliance, likely a public-private partnership.

The structure of the proposed alliance is unknown, but the committee is working with James Otterstein, economic development manager for Rock County, to study how such alliances are run in other cities.

Committee members noted that Columbus recently hired an economic development director.

“I don’t see that we have the resources for that right now,” committee chair and alderman Tony Wyse said.

While officials research creating an economic development alliance, Mayor Sandy Decker said the committee should begin picking “low-hanging fruit” in the plan.

“These are things that don’t take a lot of effort to get under way while we’re trying to do the … really important piece that we’ve identified,” she said.

They include:

-- Installing points of interest signs by fall.

-- Creating an inventory of downtown storefronts.

-- Starting an inventors and entrepreneurs club.

-- Starting a business resource center at the Eager Free Public Library.

-- Improving the city and chamber of commerce Web sites.

The committee meets Wednesday, July 23, to vote on the plan with the latest changes.

If approved by the committee, the plan would go to the plan commission and city council in August. The city council doesn’t have to approve the economic plan, but it would have to approve some funding.

With an already tight budget and tough economic times, finding the right structure and mix between public and private funding will be the committee’s upcoming focus.