“Subcommittee to support, analyze SBDC efforts” |
| Subcommittee to support, analyze SBDC efforts Posted: 16 Jan 2011 04:04 PM PST By Brandon L. Summers • Daily News The Wahpeton Community Development Corporation (CDC) sub-committee met Tuesday afternoon to discuss contracting a consultant to assist with economic development. The group discussed the language in the job description to better define its role and set measurable goals for the position. As observed by committee member John Richman, North Dakota State College of Science president, though, "When we started this initiative, we didn't have a SBDC (Small Business Development Center)." Created in 2010, the SBDC assists individuals who want to start a small business, which matches the economic strategy intended for the consultant position. Dan Reilly currently operates the SBDC. According to the position's job description, the consultant oversees business and retention for the CDC, acts as a liaison between it, the city and other local groups, provides "high quality business assistance" and provides technical assistance in job creation and retention, and helping burgeoning entrepreneurs."There's a significant amount of overlap" between the two positions, said City Economic Development Director Jane Priebe. "We were in a very gray area" when the initiative began. The job description for the consultant position hasn't been finalized. Richman moved that the group should take a year to assess the SBDC's efforts before adding a full-time position. With both positions at work simultaneously it would be hard to assess which person accomplished what in terms of economic development, he added. "It just adds another variable to the equation," he said. The position, if added, however, is not intended to infringe on the SBDC, Richman said, but rather to enhance its resources. Committee member Geri Coyne concurred, saying they should "give (Reilly) an opportunity and help to do his job." She further noted that the SBDC is already funded, and they couldn't afford him and a consultant just for the CDC at the same time. More than simply bolstering Wahpeton area businesses, "Dan brings in that regional component," said Priebe. "That's what we're all interested in. That's the trend now." "Their role is exactly what we want them to do," said Richman, of the SBDC's role in supporting local entrepreneurship. Priebe suggested determining what areas, if any, of economic development are being overlooked and filling in those gaps. The committee agreed that if the SBDC "goes off in a different direction than we want," as Richman said, they will reconsider opening the consultant position. Committee member Rick Steckler argued that the SBDC should be more proactive. He conceded that Reilly was very "reactive" in helping those who request the center's assistance, but wanted to have that specific language noted in the job description. Steckler worried that without it, he would miss opportunities for Wahpeton, since it wasn't inherent in his position and being proactive was one of their desires for the consultant. Richman concurred, saying this could be one of the gaps they could address over the year, actively finding opportunities that may exist for the community on a nationwide scale. "We'll watch how SBDC operates over the next 12 months," said Richman, relating the consensus of the sub-committee. The issue will be fully discussed when the full CDC board meets next. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Content Keyword RSS To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment