Economic Development

April 24, 2006

This past week, I participated in meeting of the Business Roundtable of Oakland County’s Economic Development Committee. The Business Roundtable provides advice to County Executive Brooks Patterson on business, economic, and land development matters in order to insure the preservation of the County's quality of life and economic vitality for the benefit of its citizens, communities and businesses. The specific group I serve on, the Economic Development Committee, makes recommendations to increase and improve economic development within Oakland County. 

The meeting focused on a presentation by Richard Blouse, President and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce and a program called Design Regional Detroit. Design Regional Detroit is an ambitious and innovative regional planning process for the 10-county Detroit region. When fully implemented, the process will lead to improved economic prosperity in the region—Genesee, Lapeer, Lenawee, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, Washtenaw, and Wayne Counties—by identifying priorities and developing action plans to address these priorities 

Sitting directly across from me during the meeting was another Roundtable member, Doug Smith. Doug is the Real Estate and Development Director for the City of Troy. As I listened to Mr. Blouse, he frequently referenced Mr. Smith’s participation in this program on a local, state and regional level. At some point during that meeting it hit me like a thunderbolt ---- during my three years on the Roundtable, I don’t believe Novi had has ever been mentioned as a player in regional or state economic development efforts. Troy, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Rochester and just about every other major community in Oakland County have been active participants. Why not Novi? 

I think there are several reasons. First, our City has experienced meteoric growth during the past ten years. Only in recent years have our elected officials and City administration begun to consider what lies ahead. Second, we are about as far from Pontiac (and the County headquarters) as you can get and at times I believe we are the forgotten jewel of Oakland County. Third, our business community leadership has not been as active in state and local economic development efforts as those from the communities previously stated. If we don’t engage in the process, we will be left behind. 

For these and numerous other reasons, I strongly encourage our Novi City Council to consider creating and funding a Director of Economic Development position -  something that was briefly discussed during the recent budget sessions. This City employee, not some outside consultant, would be hired by the new City Manager and would be responsible for developing an economic development strategy (retention and attraction) and promoting and managing the economic growth of the City of Novi, with primary emphasis on nurturing the growth of private business. Their services would involve providing information and assistance required by a business to make a decision on expanding, improving, or locating in the City. This is cannot continue to be a part-time role of our elected officials and City Manager. 

The Director would also maintain contact with local businesses, industries, and developers. In order for Novi to play an appropriate role and reap some of the benefits of regional economic development, the Department would work closely with the local, state, and federal government to ensure the completion of necessary infrastructure improvements. 

I strongly believe that this is a necessary step for Novi to create an economic base that is strong and balanced, and to help promote economic vitality for the next 25 years.

I finally got an opportunity to watch the remainder of the special budget meeting this past week. I was very pleased to see strong support for paying down the retiree health care liability, support for park improvements and the aggressive neighborhood road construction project funding.

I echo the comments of City Council Member Gatt in congratulating the administration for bringing on a “lean and mean” budget that does a lot in many different places. The next meeting is April 30 and could result in a budget that has considerable positive effect for our City.

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- Well done is better than well said.

Benjamin Franklin US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer (1706 - 1790)

In the tradition of Ben Franklin, the Novi Post provides informed political commentary on current events in Novi, Oakland County and all of Michigan.