Kent officials this week are celebrating landing new truck trailer manufacturing jobs, with MAC Trailer purchasing the old Fontaine Trailer plant.
Kent economic development director Dan Smith said Tuesday that state and local tax credits, as well as state loans, were critical to the deal that will bring 165 new jobs to the city by next year.
On Tuesday, Smith was busy attending the first public gathering of JobsOhio officials, the state’s new privatized group that will be the go-to organization for such job-creation deals.
Smith said in an interview that “like everybody” at Tuesday’s session, he wants to “know the new framework” for working with the state on economic development — a setup being established after he started discussions with officials of MAC Trailer of Alliance.
“I want to make sure we’re calling the right people” to secure state financial incentives, “the decision makers.”
Smith was among dozens of local and county economic development officials attending the session at the Embassy Suites hotel in Independence.
Previously, they all worked with the state’s Department of Development. But many of the department’s job-creation and retention duties are being transferred to JobsOhio, a move spearheaded by Gov. John Kasich.
JobsOhio will be funded with state liquor proceeds and private donations.
“Why change?” said Mark Kvamme, chief of JobsOhio, echoing his presentations in other regions of the state.
“Basically, our customer service was not very good,” he told the attendees, and those seeking to bring jobs to the state — companies and bureaucrats — had to deal with “a very slow process.”
“We did not have a proactive sales presence,” he said. “We want to be very proactive, very aggressive” in competing for jobs.
A private organization, he said, can work more efficiently, move faster, unfettered by government regulations.
Kvamme said the group won’t have to tip its hand, and make public various documents as deals are being put together.
Under the old setup, he said, “the governor of Indiana” could put in a public-records request. “It’s a great way for our competitors to know what we’re doing.”
Those who have questioned the JobsOhio concept worry that the organization lacks transparency and accountability.
Kvamme said JobsOhio directors are corporate officials with access to top-level decision makers at companies. He noted that JobsOhio Director James C. Boland, former president, CEO and vice chairman of Cavaliers Operating Co., is a director of Sherwin-Williams Co. and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
Christiane Schmenk, head of the Ohio Department of Development, told attendees that the department’s staff will shrink by about 40 percent and is being renamed the Ohio Development Services Agency. Schmenk said many of the cuts will be through attrition and retirement. Kasich had said earlier that 211 positions will be cut over the next year.
The state will still need to approve tax-incentive programs, she said.
She said the department’s focus will be on federally funded programs aimed at individuals and communities that the department administers, such as the Heat Energy Assistance Program and Community Development Block Grants.
Shifting responsibilities
Many programs aimed directly at job creation and retention will shift to Jobs-Ohio, she said, such as business loans, infrastructure grants and what are called “close-the-deal” funds — money that might not be part of a specific initiative.
The department’s approval still will be needed on tax incentives, she said.
The department will have a contract with JobsOhio and will evaluate JobsOhio’s performance using various criteria.
Tom Waltermire, head of the nonprofit Team NEO organization, spoke at the meeting about his group’s role as the regional arm of JobsOhio.
Team NEO — expanding its role as a jobs-attraction organization funded by area chambers — is getting a $4.1 million, one-year grant from the state’s Third Frontier program to staff and operate the local JobsOhio effort.
Waltermire said the goal is to have new staff work with local officials to help make the deal-making process as smooth as possible. “We’re not going to try to do everything,” he said.
Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic and others have expressed concern that the new setup would add another hurdle in the deal-making process.
Waltermire said in a session with reporters that much of the $4.1 million would be allocated to other economic development groups that would work with Team NEO on job-creation initiatives. A focus would be on expansion of existing companies.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.
