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County’s economic development leader has a unique perspective of Bluffton, county attributes
Mike Row says a local theater still possible, Wells County well positioned for future
A conversation with Wells County's ED Director:
A year ago, we were celebrating the $350 million in investments on Bluffton’s west side. The economy has surely taken some toll there, but what’s your perception of how those companies are doing?
To be sure, our local economy has taken our share of hits during the global economic downturn. Dawn Foods immediately comes to mind.
Nevertheless, considering how well the vast majority of our companies have done during this period, it is quite evident that we have been blessed.
In talking with the companies in the Bluffton-Decker Industrial Park, I’ve learned that they are doing remarkably well during this difficult time. My perception is that they are well positioned when the global economy bounces back.
What are the prospects of future development there?
We’ve been working with the City of Bluffton and the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership (NEIRP) to build immediate capacity in the Bluffton-Decker Industrial Park and future capacity in other Wells County locations. Through a grant from the Northeast Indiana Foundation, the NEIRP has launched a unique regional shovel-ready site certification program that will allow our region to greatly enhance its site inventory and make us more marketable to global Site Selectors.
Mayor Ellis articulated his vision for an inventory of shovel ready certified sites in Bluffton approximately one year ago during his State of the City address. His leadership has steered this vision to reality and we are wrapping up the last stage of our application for a certified shovel ready site on the northeast corner of the Bluffton-Decker Industrial Park. While economic development is an ultra-competitive global endeavor, we feel confident that this achievement is a very important step in enhancing our Wells County marketing efforts.
In addition, we’ve been working with existing companies to identify new markets and product lines, and develop strategies to fill those opportunities.
In this type of economic environment, what do you find yourself concentrating on?
We have several companies that are involved in “competitive consolidation” situations. I’ve been working with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and local government officials to provide these companies with comparative costs analysis between their Wells County location and the locations of their other facilities. This has been time intensive but very valuable to our companies. The results of these studies proves that Wells County taxes, workforce, utilities, transportation costs, etc., provide corporations with the best possible environment from which to do business. I couldn’t be any more pleased with the outcome of this research.
I’m also focused on the normal issues of economic development: Capacity building, identifying retention and expansion opportunities, recruitment of new businesses, marketing, competitive intelligence, networking, etc.
The new Economic Development Council has a full year under its belt now Has that been beneficial?
Indeed, the Economic Development Council has been helpful in identifying the core functions of our organization and seeing those core functions to fruition. The Economic Development Council meets monthly to discuss various issues and hear reports from its two Committees.
The Wells County Economic Development Council is diverse cross section of community leaders (business, education, agriculture, elected officials, Chamber of Commerce). I receive direction and am able to maintain focus because of the commitment of the members of the Economic Development Council. I am grateful to each and every member for volunteering their time to serve in this capacity.
We haven’t heard much about the possibility of a theatre coming to town for a while. Is there anything new on that front?
I speak with Chris Jones at least every week. Indeed, the theatre project is making good progress despite the economic downturn and we are very encouraged by the interest of potential investors. If people are interested in joining the team of theatre project investors, I encourage them to call me.
What do you think Wells County’s best selling points are when you are working to attract businesses here?
When people from other regions of the world have asked how Wells County has weathered this global economic storm, I respond by saying, “It’s the culture.” As a whole, our community lives out the Golden Rule. This makes for a wonderful environment to live, learn, create and work.
Indeed, when the Golden Rule is applied in business, it translates into value-added for the customer, which, in turn, results in the building of trust between our companies and their customers, which results in economic growth. It’s not rocket science. Always do what is right, always tell the truth, and always treat people the way you want to be treated. This is the highest form of business ethics that is all too often ignored on a global scale by companies and governments, which opens the door for economic chaos. The Wells County public and private sectors not only understands this, they live it out every single day. This is why our companies have an edge on the competition and are better able to withstand the volatility of an ultra-competitive global economy.
Overall, this has paid dividends and many of our companies are not only surviving this latest global economic downturn, they are flourishing by filling the niches that are created in the economy when other companies fail.
In short, culture produces your workforce, which is the greatest economic development attraction in the world.
In addition to the Wells County culture, I believe that we offer excellent logistics to companies that want to ship to either coast. Our low cost of living and exemplary quality of life are the best in the world. Outstanding schools, very generous people and low crime rates are very attractive to prospects. Add the Ossian certified shovel ready site and the soon-to-be Bluffton-Decker certified shovel ready site, and I believe that we are very well positioned for future growth.
Looking into your crystal ball, what do you see in our local economy one year from now; five years from now?
I refrain from making economic predictions.
I will admit a deep concern about the ways in which the Bush and Obama Administrations have responded to the latest global economic downturn. Economies always have ups and downs. There are always winners and losers in economics and there always will be. Based upon economic history, economies do better absent federal government intervention into the private sector. In other words, federal governments typically do more damage than good when they intervene in the private sector.
No one really knows how this is going to play out because this is uncharted economic territory for the United States.
What I do know is this: We, as a community and as a nation, stand the best chance of achieving sustainable economic growth if we love and honor God in all that we say, do and think, and love our neighbors as ourselves.
Obviously, this formula won’t be found in many (if any) economics text books. But what I’ve found in my two years on the job is that this approach to life, business and government forms the bedrock of the Wells County community.
That being said, assuming that we get through this period with minimal economic damage, I think our local economy is well positioned for an upswing. To be sure, Mayor Ellis’ vision for a Specialty Food Business Incubator, the many ideas of our local entrepreneurs and the community assets that I’ve already mentioned combine to position our community very well in the future.