The second of two groups seeking a bid to provide economic development services for Cole County made its pitch Tuesday to the County Commission.
The Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce gave a 20-minute presentation, with Chamber President Randy Allen and board Chair Bill Plank speaking for the group.
The commission has contracted with the local Chamber of Commerce for economic development services for more than 20 years. In April, the commission approved another contract with the chamber for $150,000.
If the county decides to continue having the chamber handle economic development matters, it would come with an increase in cost with the new proposal presented Tuesday.
"When you look at the chamber's annual report to Jefferson City and Cole County governments over the past 11 years, we have facilitated in helping to bring in over 2,000 jobs," Allen said. "That has resulted in over $66 million in new wages and $303 million in new real and personal property investment. All this happened despite the county losing 2,500 state jobs since 2007 when we had around 16,500 state jobs."
"As we all know, the private sector is the key to growth, and that's what we are focusing on," Plank said. "Our population has grown, our total taxable sales has grown, and wages have grown in this time period."
Allen said chamber figures show the average wage for workers in Cole County is up 18 percent with more than $2.1 billion in wages paid for jobs in the county. Employment within the county currently stands at 54,000 jobs compared to a low of 51,000 in 2013, he said.
"While we lost 2,500 government jobs, we gained almost 3,000 jobs in the private sector," Allen said. "I wonder what it would be like in this economy if we didn't replace those jobs. We don't lay back. We take a leadership role. The bottom line is we will continue to do that and think outside the box.
"Bringing together partners for the Heartland Port Authority is one of those examples as well as how we worked to bring in the Special Olympics of Missouri training facility off of Christy Drive."
Since 2016, the chamber has worked with the Cole County and Callaway County commissions and Jefferson City Council to assemble a proposal for a Missouri River port facility in the area. They should know next month if they will get the needed approval from the Missouri Department of Transportation to proceed.
In 2015, the chamber was instrumental in bringing the Special Olympics Missouri Training for Life campus, currently under construction, to Jefferson City thanks to a donation of 15.5 acres near U.S. 54 and Missouri 179 by Land Investments.
Commissioners emphasized they do not want to stop working with the chamber on economic development regardless of the decision they make on these most recent proposals.
The commissioners are seeking a firm "capable of providing consulting for the commission in the attraction and retention of businesses and the promotion of the county before the Missouri General Assembly another State of Missouri governmental bodies," according to the commission's request for proposal.
Some specific items in the proposals include developing a community relations plan for the county to work with Jefferson City, the Chamber of Commerce and "key influencer group officials to execute county priorities."
Chamber officials said under their proposal Jefferson City firm RJ Scherr & Associates would be available to handle the county's lobbying needs in either the state Capitol or the national Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Last week, officials with Victory Enterprises and Strategic Capital Consulting talked with commissioners about how they believe they could help the county.
Victory Enterprises is a political and corporate consulting communications firm based in Davenport, Iowa, with many politicians among their clients as well as corporate clients. Strategic Capitol Consulting represents large companies, professional associations and municipally owned utilities.
In its proposal, Victory/Strategic said they would analyze the county's existing policies, infrastructure and amenities, and how they relate to business attraction and retention, then develop and execute an "exhaustive public relations, messaging and media delivery plan to better tell Cole County's story on why businesses should locate here."
They also stated they would work to develop and locate a river port in the Algoa area and support research to extend JeffTran bus service to current and potential employers in the Algoa area.
If chosen, Strategic would serve as the registered lobbyist for the county on state matters.
If the county opts to go with Victory/Strategic, the cost would be $10,000 a month - $120,000 a year for the annual contract.
The Chamber of Commerce proposal would keep its current economic development fee at $150,000 and add $18,000 for lobbying efforts, bringing the total cost to $168,000.
Commissioners approved putting out requests for proposals for economic development services in June after discussing for several years whether the county should look at more ways to attract economic development.
The winning group will write and submit grants on behalf of the county for state and federal opportunities as they arise and would participate in industrial relations, business development activities, and community support and development.
Presiding Commissioner Sam Bushman said Tuesday there is no set time frame on when the commission could make a decision regarding the economic development proposals.