The new head of the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council [EDC] is addressing past concerns and critiques of the organization as he lays out his vision for the future.
EDC CEO Tyler Cravens promised robust communication between the council and the City of Bloomington and Town of Normal during a Sound Ideas interview. Cravens said he's had a lot of conversations with the town, city and county to make sure they are all aligned with each other and what they are doing is not duplicative.
“If we're communicating consistently and doing so in a way that we're generally aware of what the others are doing, then people don't want to step on each other's toes, right? People don't want to do the same thing that someone else is doing, but that just takes a lot of communication,” said Cravens.
He addressed past critiques of the organization that included concern municipalities are paying twice for some of the same things their own community development departments do, particularly in supporting existing businesses.
"Anyone can reach out to us. And if it's more in the wheelhouse of a different partner, then so be it. Those organizations will also refer people over to us to make sure that we're each doing what we're best equipped to do," said Cravens.
He said the Economic Development Council still has a role to play in business retention and expansion, though he hopes to make the council a better portal to bring new business to McLean County.
“I think there's a real opportunity for us to be that attraction gateway and to make our presence, both digitally and physically, a modern gateway that brings the people that we want to bring and creates the impression that we want to create,” said Cravens.
Cravens also defended an annual group lobbying trip to Washington, D.C. called One Voice. During that effort, representatives of various community interest groups push for funding for several projects. Bloomington Mayor Dan Brady has questioned the effectiveness of the trip. Cravens said he thinks One Voice trips will continue, though he agreed with Brady in part.
"One Voice is important but to Mayor Brady's point, one of the things he has brought up is we can do a lot of those advocacy things here as well with legislators," said Cravens.
Brady has said local governments also have their own projects for which they want government help. Cravens said it's still valuable to show solidarity on top priorities.
The three largest single funders of the EDC are the city, town and McLean County governments. Over a period of decades, the municipalities have expressed dissatisfaction with the amount of private sector funding.
“The part that I can really get behind, and I think we've all agreed on as we've talked, is there's a lot opportunity for growth in our private sector investment portfolio to be able to do more,” said Cravens.
Cravens acknowledged expanding business support is a priority, but defended what he said was a 60/40 private/public funding mix. He said benchmarks depend on the structure of development organizations.
“Some are fully government. Some are fully private. Some are public-private, like us. If you look at ones that are public-private, that 60/40 split is about the median, about the standard,” he said.
