During the Governor’s State of the State Address, Governor Walker spoke about a newly proposed Rural Economic Development funding effort, which would give the 56 counties in Wisconsin qualifying as rural, up to $50 Million a year for 20 years. That’s a billion dollars, and Grant County qualifies.
I was contacted by State Representative Tranel and his staff and asked if I would review the proposed bill. My first impression was “where’s the rest of the bill?” It was 2 pages, but only about 2 paragraphs referred to the actual funding. Simply put, the bill clarified what makes a county “rural”, which was population density. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) would administer it with their existing programs and other programs created to utilize the funding. My comment to Rep. Tranel was that it was very vague. That’s where he suggested that we work to amend the bill to something more definitive in use of the funding.

The proposed amendment would allocate funding of $250,000 to each county for revolving loan creation or expansion. There is language that requires that the county Economic Development Organization must demonstrate that they are experienced and qualified to run a revolving loan fund program. A second proposed use was to allocate $50,000 annually to each county and regional economic development corporation for operations. A third point would allocate up to $250,000 to a municipality to be used for infrastructure in an industry park or a new housing development. I was very supportive of these points or uses of the funding. Having done this job for 18+ years, I knew they were needed. A quick survey of other county EDOs around the state showed strong support. It should be noted that this proposed amendment would only have designated the use of about 7% of the funding.

Rep. Tranel has seen the request for additional funding for a revolving loan fund and for county EDO funding before. We had proposed it several years ago but couldn’t quite get the traction needed to get it through. Like economic development, it is not a quick results activity, but rather an activity measured in years.

Speaking of time, I waited 6 hours in the Joint Finance Committee meeting hall before getting a chance to speak. The delay was due to 2 other bills that were scheduled that day. The Rural Economic Development testimonies were given by Rep. Tranel who was the bill’s author, and myself. Our time was close to 30 minutes total. That is how things go sometimes. The response during the next day’s vote by the JFC was unanimous approval. However, the 3rd point of infrastructure funding was dropped from the bill and the $50,000 devoted annually for operations was changed to a one-time occurrence. But, I am fine with that for now.

Now it is on to the Senate and Assembly for full votes. If successful, it goes to the Governor’s desk.
Is this bill needed for rural economic development? Representative Nygren and Senator Marklein both noted a report from WEDC, that in 2017 only 18% of WEDC programs went to these 56 rural counties. So Yes, it is needed! Hopefully the bill keeps moving forward.

I have found that I can associate almost everything in economic development to either farming or sports. Recently, I have noted the importance of the classic 3-legged stool in economic development, much like the classic milking stool. It has to be a priority if it uses the classic piece of dairy barn “furniture”.

The 3-legged stool in economic development refers to business retention and expansion, attraction of new business and visitors (for those that do tourism), and entrepreneurship and small business development. Those are your 3 legs. Marketing falls within the attraction of new business. Workforce development falls within all 3 legs or tasks.

My office also focuses on tourism. The new 2018 Grant County Travel Planners are hot off the presses and we are sending those out now to individuals and travel centers around the country.

I have noticed through my years in economic development that some economic development organizations do not focus on or address all 3 legs of the stool. They like to lean on just one leg of the stool. Those entities tend to fall or tip within a year or two. Good economic development is very much a balanced approach. Plus, in this day of results, you are evaluated on your performance as much as on your proven outcomes. You need to focus on all 3 legs. If you don’t, one will fall.

As I stated earlier, workforce development supports all 3 legs. Entrepreneurship will lead to an existing business that will eventually be part of the retention/expansion leg. Drawing more visitors or tourists to our region through marketing, will support existing businesses, drive more small business development, and encourage entrepreneurship.
My office is working to help develop a housing study for Fennimore and several other communities in Grant County. Where does a new house or apartment fit into the 3-legged stool? Well, it fits into all 3. Businesses support the housing construction. It is also a strategy to address the workforce shortage. Adding more housing can mean more workers, who will become available to our businesses. You start to notice that any project connects to all 3 legs numerous times. That is true economic development. But, what if you ignore one of the legs or saw off one or two legs of the stool? Anything less than 3 legs will not last long and it won’t support the farmer or the community it’s there to serve. I always remember this when I look at strategies for my corporation. You need all 3 legs and you must work to support all 3.

by: Ron Brisbois

A short time ago I watched a documentary on television about how anthropologists had found ancient human remains in some European mountains and that they could tell what these ancient humans had done for a living just by the analyzing their bones. Some were hunters, some were farmers, and others were merchants or aristocrats. They could tell this mostly by looking at their hands. Hands of farmers and hunters differed but both showed the signs of years of hard labor. The merchants had some telltale signs as well, while the aristocrat’s skeletons didn’t show the signs of heavy labor.

In the world of economic development, I firmly believe the hands of a good economic development person will look more like those of a farmer. A good economic developer does not shy away from hard work and knows that they will have to get their hands dirty on a regular basis. We do have to deal with manure from time to time. A good developer will readily plunge their hands into the dirt because we are working to grow a crop. In our case, it may mean developing an environment that is suitable for a business or planting a seed by working with an entrepreneur or small business. Retaining a larger, more mature business is relative to cultivating a crop.

There are economic developers that have never had dirt or grease under their fingernails. I have seen this first-hand. Those that would rather talk about how things should be or tell someone to do the job are not uncommon. However, just like the story of the Little Red Hen, when no one would help till the soil, plant the seeds, or harvest the grain, but they would help eat the bread, so goes the world of economic development. Fortunately, there are some that will work the soil and not shy from hard work. You will see results from those economic developers .

Those developers who shy away from work will suffer the same fate of the fictional animals that shunned work in the story cited above, they will all go hungry. Unfortunately though, the community, county or region that has hired the developer, may also go hungry and miss opportunities.

So to me, metaphorically speaking, a quality economic developer will have the hands of a farmer. With their hard work, a community will thrive through the difficult times as well as the good.

Ron Brisbois