Cass County, Michigan isn’t quite ready to renew its contract for economic development help. Market One aims to attract and retain businesses – as well as secure grant funding – for Cass and Van Buren counties. It’s asking Cass County for a three-year contract renewal, at a total cost of $373,488.
During last week’s county commissioners meeting, Market One Interim Executive Director Dan Peat pointed to the growth of trailer manufacturer Modern Buggy, plus several projects in the pipeline. Beyond that, he said Cass County would still benefit, just from the grants it’s secured.
“For every dollar that the county has invested over the last three years, more than five-and-a-half dollars have come back in the form of grants,” Peat told the commissioners.
But the county’s Economic Development Corporation has some concerns. EDC Board Chair Ambrosia Neldon said those include communication, financial transparency and the alignment of priorities.
"Right now, the only evaluations of Market One come when it’s time for contract renewals, so every three years," Neldon added. "That leaves a lot of time between evaluations for feedback, so we wanted to address that."
Going forward, the EDC wants the contract to include quarterly reports and six-month scored evaluations. Members are also suggesting a two-year renewal instead of three, and a shorter notice requirement to terminate the contract early.
During public comment, resident Roger Boyer told the commissioners that he wasn’t in favor of the contract as proposed, and he wasn’t convinced Market One has had a significant economic impact. “It’s very easy to compile data, to embellish data and so forth, to make results look very, very real and very concrete,” Boyer said.
Still, Commissioner Roseann Marchetti said she’s seen a huge difference, compared to the part-time employee the county had working on economic development in the past. "Without Market One, we don’t have anything," Marchetti said. "We have nothing. We have nobody doing economic development."
In the end, the commissioners voted to renegotiate the contract and possibly consider a new proposal at their May 21 meeting.
