Committee bends on LSEDC performance standards

Lee’s Summit may go ahead with funding the Lee’s Summit Economic Development Council, without performance measures for increasing jobs or city revenue.

Council members Bob Johnson, David Mosby and Derek Holland have been pushing for quantifiable evidence that the city’s outlay for economic development was getting results.

But the Finance and Budget Committee chaired by Johnson voted 3-1 to recommend a two-year public service agreement with the Economic Development Council that gives it $217,968 each year without such provisions.

The council had delayed voting on a public service agreement since July, meeting with the LSEDC’s executive board twice, and directing City Manager Steve Arbo and newly-hired LSEDC President Rick McDowell to work out a set of measures.

The agreement does outline several projects that the city and LSEDC are committed to working on together, such as updating its thoroughfare and master plans.

Johnson voted no.

He said the city had been too complacent about bringing high-quality jobs to the city, although he didn’t blame the LSEDC alone.

“We’re not innocent of all this,” Johnson said of the City Council.

He added there are real measures of performance that could be used, such as comparing how the city measures up in adding jobs per capita and average pay.

Diane Forte supported the contract, saying the city had delayed a decision for months after the fiscal year started in July, when the agreement is normally approved.

She said she thought it would be helpful if the council had a liaison on the LSEDC and had joint meetings with it quarterly.

The mayor and city manager are on the LSEDC board.

“If we do it once a year, we never know what’s going on,” she said.

McDowell, the Economic Deveopment Council’s new president, has a strong background in recruiting businesses.

Holland said he was willing to make the appropriation because of a shift in the LSEDC and the city’s approach.

He praised Johnson for “keeping the people’s feet to the fire.”

Holland, too, had been criticizing the city’s economic development plans for not being aggressive in recruitment.

“I’m going to support this proposal, not because it has the kind of measures I’d like to see in it, but because I have seen significant progress in the outlook on economic development.”

This story was originally published September 23, 2014 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Committee bends on LSEDC performance standards."