Hiawatha launches own economic development group

Hiawatha's new economic development group will pursue slightly different targets than the area's larger established agencies, a founding member says.

"They are whale hunters," City Councilmember Marty Bruns said at this morning's council meeting. "We're setting up HEDCO to go for trout. Sometimes we can't swallow whole whales."

HEDCO is the new Hiawatha Economic Development Corporation, a non-profit corporation registered this week with the Iowa secretary of state's office. HEDCO isn't ready yet to make a formal request, but Bruns said its 10-member board will probably seek about $10,000 a year for operating expenses from the city.

HEDCO doesn't mean Hiawatha will drop its membership in the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce and its development division, Priority One. But Bruns said the new agency will focus on the needs of existing Hiawatha businesses and smaller firms looking to relocate.

"What we see is that we need to work on businesses for Hiawatha that are not the international, big corporations that would go to the Cedar Rapids Area (Chamber)," Bruns said. "We hope to have members that are developers as well as businessmen that own businesses, and through them network to bring start-ups to Hiawatha and sustain our business community."

Bruns said this week's incorporation came after about a year's worth of work by Hiawatha's business community. HEDCO's board will meet monthly.

In June, Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett made a late pitch for about 400 new jobs with the web hosting firm Go Daddy to downtown Cedar Rapids. The firm decided to stick with its plans to expand in Hiawatha.