Economic development partnership plans progressing

By Mark Johnson

Plans for a partnership to promote economic development in the community are proceeding with the city, Raytown School District, Raytown Main Street Association and Raytown Area Chamber of Commerce weighing the merits of the potential venture.

Representatives of the entities have also been meeting in recent months to determine what form that partnership could take.

“Clearly, we could be doing a better job,” Irv Jensen, the group’s facilitator, said about economic development. “We’re concerned about missed opportunities.”

That’s one reason why, he explained, there is a desire from the representatives for the partnership.

“Our future depends on how well we work together,” he said.

Raytown Alderman Pat Ertz said would like to see the partnership come to realization.

“Having all of these entities work together could solve a lot of problems,” he said, following a presentation at City Hall.

That presentation stressed of a collaborative effort.

“Locally and regionally our competition for development is becoming better organized,” Jensen said. “Our community has organizations and committees that address parts of our development needs but no one organization looks at the entire picture.

“We need to think of economic development as a business.”

Jensen said a question that has yet to be answered is how the partnership would be organized.

He said other cities have been successful using equal representation from the public and private sectors of the community.

He also recommended that it be independent.

“You could call it the Raytown Development Partnership (RDP),” he said.

The partnership, as currently envisioned, would have an executive director and the different entities would be responsible for their areas of expertise.

For the chamber, that would entail business support and information along with community promotion, Jensen said.

The Raytown Main Street Association would handle business stimulation and promotion in the downtown area.

Jensen said the city would be a development liaison and work on product improvement while the school district would focus on community culture, the arts and diversity.

Where funding for the partnership would come from has yet to be determined.

Jensen said in similar situations it has required contributions from the members with a portion of the costs offset in later stages through grants.

Raytown Alderwomen Charlotte Melson then asked what the next step in the process would be.

Jensen said a presentation was going to be made to the school district and then, if there was positive feedback, the group would come back to the city and the other groups.

Raytown Editor Mark Johnson can be reached at 358-6397 or mjohnson@npgco.com.