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MALONE — Industrial-development officials will visit Franklin County municipalities to find a way to help each attain their economic-development goals.
The county's Industrial Development Agency is implementing a policy shift it announced several months ago that concentrates on small businesses.
That also includes plans to "increase the visibility and presence of the IDA in Franklin County," said Board President Tim LaShomb, which will include reorganizing its Web site to be more business oriented and helpful to communities.
"We also want to have a good handle on the needs of the communities and what kinds of special-project development they have and their plans for infrastructure," said IDA Executive Director John Tubbs.
GOING ON THE ROAD
To that end, LaShomb and Tubbs have set a 90-day timeline to visit the key community players and elected officials in each town and village because "the more people involved in economic growth, the better."
Timing for the visits is important since 2010 is also the year the agency's 5-year-old Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy report must be updated.
EARLIER REPORT
The report, which was written by former IDA Executive Director Brad Jackson, outlines the county's short-range and long-term economic-development goals.
The strategy's emphasis was on growth in wood-products industries, forging international partnerships with Canadian firms and pursuing clean jobs by inter-connecting with regional, state, federal and international think tanks.
Jackson's report emphasized the need for the county-planning entity, which is under study by the County Legislature, and pointed to the lack of affordable housing in the southern end of the county as an obstacle to growth.
He called for a partnership with Paul Smith's College to develop a "center of excellence" in the wood-products industry to link new and existing businesses with specialized markets worldwide.
He also proposed an alliance between the IDA and the Du Haut-St. Laurent Local Development Corp. in Canada to create a cross-border industrial association to link the county's forest industries with Canada's.
REVIEW THIS YEAR
Tubbs said these strategies will be among those reviewed to see if they are still desirable goals in the 2010 economic climate.
"We will exam the CEDS to determine what should be kept and modified and look at what hasn't been working," he said, adding that development of broadband access, improvements in infrastructure and support of the St. Lawrence Gas pipeline expansion will remain priorities.
He said the IDA's vision is to meet in the communities with "all of the people who matter with economic development to create a plan that is fully endorsed by the county and a working document that's going to make sense to help the county and communities more forward."
E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com
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