Merced County joins forces with six cities to promote economic development

A new agreement that unifies the economic development efforts of Merced County and its six cities is off to a strong start, according to some officials. It’s their hope that the effort will make the area a more competitive place to attract and grow businesses.

The Board of Supervisors earlier this week approved a memorandum of understanding to formalize the collaborative relationship with the cities. The agreement places the county in a leadership role when it comes to economic development, officials said, but each city will benefit from the united approach.

The cities of Dos Palos, Gustine, Livingston, Los Banos, Merced and Atwater unanimously approved the agreement at their respective city council meetings. The plan will include a new website and other marketing materials to promote the cities and county to those looking for a location to open a new business.

Economic development leads come from a number of sources, including the governor’s office or site selectors working with businesses to find new locations or those considering expansion. Sometimes the leads are anonymous and require a response within a day or two.

“Our role is to bring the right people around the table to ensure each of our six cities receive the leads,” said Mark Hendrickson, Merced County director of community and economic development. “Our job is to help them package things up appropriately as to make their sites more competitive. If you’re not competing, you have no chance to win.”

The joint partnership doesn’t trump the economic development efforts of each individual city, but rather helps to support and enhance those efforts, Hendrickson said.

“We work with the cities to find sites that would work for the potential project and then we respond,” Hendrickson said. “We want to position Merced County as the go-to place for business for years to come.”

The approach has already led to 45 business leads and 1,600 face-to-face contacts, Hendrickson added. The collaborative approach doesn’t mean the cities will fight over business leads, because more than one city can be submitted for a potential opportunity.

“This is about showcasing the strengths of Merced County. If a job is created in any corner of the county or city or unincorporated area, it’s a win for the entire county,” Hendrickson said.

The cooperative approach is working for the city of Livingston, officials there said. The city has received one to two business leads per month for the last six months, said Odi Ortiz, Livingston’s finance director and assistant city manager.

“We started receiving those as soon as we started participating in the program,” Ortiz said. “It puts the city of Livingston on the map because it will create the opportunity for us to attract more businesses.”

Participating in the effort will also allow Livingston to apply for economic development grants, Ortiz added. “Every extra option helps, especially after we lost the Redevelopment Agency funding,” he said.

Atwater Community Development Director Scott McBride said the initiative also allows the county to respond to regional and state business leads it was missing out on after the dissolution of Merced County’s economic development corporation, a private-public nonprofit that facilitated those efforts.

“This gets us back in the ballgame to receive the leads that we were missing out,” McBride said. “You wouldn’t want to miss out on any opportunities out there looking for a home.”

Merced County also recently updated its “Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy,” a document that allows the county to compete for federal funding for economic development projects. The county paid $42,000 for a consultant to work on the document, which hadn’t been updated since 2009.

This story was originally published December 11, 2014 at 7:58 PM with the headline "Merced County joins forces with six cities to promote economic development."