“Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes it rains.” — Young pitching phenom Ebby Calvin ‘Nuke’ LaLoosh, remembering what veteran minor league catcher Crash Davis told him in the movie “Bull Durham.”
MANSFIELD — Economic development efforts often follow a similar track. Some deals you win. Some deals you lose. Sometimes it rains — or you have no idea even how the game was scored.
That’s why a mid-year visit in 2022 from SiteOhio officials was an eye-opening experience, according to local economic development experts, who said it provided the kind of scoring evaluation they seldom receive from prospective companies.
Consultants from South Carolina, through the region’s partnership with JobsOhio, toured three local potential sites in July, according to Barrett Thomas, economic development director for the Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development.
The description came as Thomas and other chamber officials met Tuesday with county commissioners, offering highlights of 2022 efforts, including nine “closed projects” that amounted to commitments of 353 new jobs with an annual payroll of almost $14.2 million.
(Click above to download and read the 2022 RCDG annual report.)
Chamber officials provide twice-annual updates to update county commissioners, who pay $100,000 annually to the chamber and its Richland Community Development Group arm for economic development work done on behalf of the county.
The mid-summer evaluations provided the kind of feedback not often available when private companies make site visits, looking for places to locate new businesses.
“They came through and evaluated all those properties and said, ‘Here is why your baby’s ugly,'” Thomas said.
“Like, ‘This is a great site, except it needs these things to be effective. One of them said, ‘This is a great site, but it’s not an industrial site. Maybe it’s a future residential site, but it’s not industrial. Stop talking about it,'” Thomas said.
He said evaluators helped local officials understand the strengths and weaknesses of each potential development site.
“That was really helpful,” Thomas said.
RCDG Vice Chair Jake Penwell also said it was a valuable experience.
“Having information of where we were maybe missing or we were saying, ‘Look at this,’ and they are like ‘Don’t even bring that one up’ … or ‘Don’t spin it as an industrial site.’ I thought that was a major win,” Penwell said.
Jodie Perry, chamber chief operating officer, said the evaluation will help make a difference in how officials present sites — and which sites they present to whom.
“The thing that constantly frustrates us is we very rarely ever get feedback (when a potential company decides to locate elsewhere),” she said.
“We get a lead from JobsOhio, we send stuff back, and sometimes it just disappears into the ether. You don’t know why your project did not move forward or why sometimes when when it does. ‘Why are we getting a site visit?'” Perry said.
“This (evaluation) was basically JobsOhio. Think of it as we got a grant from JobsOhio, basically, to hire these site consultants to actually come in and give us real feedback.
“That is very valuable and it’s one of those things that doesn’t show up in the numbers, but it’s one of the best things that happened last year because it was very important in helping us to pivot in how we’re doing things,” Perry said.
The colorful annual report includes a litany of positives from 2022, including:
— Richland County had the second-most number of small businesses receiving JobsOhio Inclusion Grants of any county in the TeamNEO 18-county region, trailing only Cuyahoga.
— Richland County had “more interest in our community from outside companies (both from the region and international) than ever before.”
— The completion of the first countywide housing study, led in partnership by the Chamber and Richland County Regional Planning Commission.
— Jessica Gribben, economic development manager to the City of Shelby and northern Richland County, was selected as the Ohio Economic Development Association Rookie of the Year in 2022.
— Redevelopment continued in Shelby with the completion of the downtown streetscape (phase one) and the securing of funding for Phase Two, which will see a new Blackfork Commons Plaza.
— Increased workforce development with business outreach funds, producing 35 employer-profile videos, a Richland Works social media campaign and a podcast series that tells the story of the local workforce community.
— Helped lead the countywide branding effort, partnering with Destination Mansfield-Richland County.
Commissioners said they were pleased with the “return on investment” they see from the annual funding the county provides to the chamber.
“I’m delighted,” Commissioner Cliff Mears said. “I think the return on our investment is exponential.
“I said not that long ago that Richland County is the place to be. And I hear things like this (report) and I’m even more energized (about) the assets we have, the resources we have.
“We’re not close to being optimized, you all are getting us there. So I’m just absolutely delighted with the progress we’re making,” Mears said.
