Corridor collaboration efforts seen including governmental change

This is the first in a series of occasional stories that will take a look  at efforts, issues and decision makers involved in marketing the Corridor as a single economic region.

The big question is this: Would the different government entities and economic-development agencies of the Corridor work better together?

The retired CEO of a major Cedar Rapids employer believes a merger of economic development organizations in the Corridor to form a single regional identity could happen "if we can get the right people together."

Pat Baird, former president and CEO of AEGON USA (now Transamerica), facilitated a Nov. 19 meeting requested by investors of the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance and the Iowa City Area Development Group.

The goal of the meeting, which involved the executive committees and investors of both organizations, was to determine "how to be better together," said Chuck Peters, ICAD board chairman. "We need to rethink how we do economic development."

Baird said participants at that meeting primarily discussed whether thinking regionally is really a net win for the Corridor.

"We asked two questions," Baird said. "'Can you do the same functions for less, or can you do more for the same?'

"'If we hold ourselves out as a region with more population, amenities and attractions, will we get noticed by more radar companies looking to locate somewhere?'

"In my opinion, the answer to those two questions was 'yes,' and therefore it should be a net gain for the region. I felt that  also was a reason for us to keep on meeting."

While executives of the Metro Economic Alliance and ICAD have represented the entire Corridor on such activities as marketing trips in the United States and abroad for more than 15 years, Baird said investors attending last month's meeting pointed to situations where there was duplication of effort.

"They've been to job fairs and trade organization gatherings where they've seen groups from the north and south ends of the Corridor doing the same thing," Baird said. "There are a number of investors who are concerned about expenses and costs. They're wondering if we put the two organizations together, can we do more for less?

"When companies are scoping out potential locations across the country, we are not showing up on their radar screens because we're promoting our communities as individual entities like Cedar Rapids, Coralville, Hiawatha and Iowa City. If we held ourselves out as a region, we would probably have what it takes to get their screens."

Peters, president and chief executive officer of Iowa SourceMedia Group, parent company of The Gazette, said that point was driven home repeatedly by many government representatives who visited Cedar Rapids in the aftermath of the June 2008 flood.

"Everyone, to a person, who met with us four years ago told us that we had one of the most amazing regions in the world," Peters said. "'To have a region with your agricultural bounty, value-added agriculture, a world-class research university, a tertiary care research hospital, one of the best community colleges in America and ACT, Pearson, AEGON/Transamerica, Rockwell Collins and Whirlpool, this degree of educational, financial services and manufacturing diversity is truly amazing.'

"They also said, 'You don't have an identity, you don't articulate well what you have, certainly do not celebrate what you have, and do not connect your tremendous set of assets to the rest of the world.'"

Baird said creating a unified regional identity may need to involve merging more than just economic development organizations.

"There are other areas of the country who have done this, and we need to look at other models and learn what we can about them," Baird said. "I became familiar with Louisville, Ky., because of business that we had down there, and they went all the way to regional government.

"Jerry Abramson, the former mayor of Louisville and now lieutenant governor of Kentucky, told me that Louisville did not move to city-county regional government (in January 2003) to reduce taxes. It was done 100 percent for economic development, and he was able to get the votes needed to approve it."

Baird said resisting a regional approach to economic development appears to be more of a government issue.

"A majority of the private investors in the Metro Economic Alliance and ICAD say 'Let's do it.' We don't care whether a business locates in Cedar Rapids, Hiawatha, Coralville or Iowa City," Baird said. "We all win if one of those entities gets a new employer.

"From a governmental entity standpoint, we have good elected officials and city managers, but we don't pay them to watch out for the community next door. They are advocates for their own communities.

"When I say that we need to get in and explore how the net gain to the region is divided up, I really think that is the key."

Baird said another factor to consider is investors' willingness to continue supporting separate economic development groups within the Corridor.

"I know at AEGON the last time I gave both organizations checks, I told them I only wanted to do it once the next time," Baird said. "Amana/Whirlpool said the same thing. I'm also hearing that some companies are writing a single check and telling the organizations to figure out how to divide it."

Part two of this series will take a look at how other communities elsewhere in the nation have merged and consolidated their efforts.