City’s Economic Development Director to Be Named Soon

Four months after the Ventura City Council approved spending nearly $240,000 to implement a business development plan, City Manager Donna Landeros is nearly ready to name the department’s new chief.

More than 75 people from several western states applied for the job of economic development director, responsible for aiding existing businesses and recruiting new ones, Landeros said.

As the city’s top official, Landeros in late February was given broad authority to hire whoever she felt was most qualified.

Over the past several months, a selection committee has pared the number of applicants to 20; Landeros then interviewed her top six choices.

She said she has whittled the pool of applicants to two. But she declined to identify the finalists, saying she would announce the new economic development director late this week.

Economic analysts said spending $238,000 to open a business development department is a good way to serve industry.

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“It’s the right thing to do,” said William Fulton, a Ventura economist who publishes the California Planning & Development Report. “Cities can’t afford to take their local economies for granted.”

The new department head will receive about $95,000 a year, including benefits, under the approval given Landeros by the City Council in February. The other costs include a part-time clerk to aid the director and office-related costs.

The director’s duties will include:

* Aiding existing businesses and industry.

* Marketing the city to firms interested in moving to Ventura.

* Coordinating business-assistance programs.

* Obtaining state or federal business-development grants.

* Streamlining permitting processes.

* Promoting tourism.

“It’ll be interesting to see what this person’s approach is,” Fulton said. “Because there’s heavy competition between Oxnard, Camarillo and Ventura for the businesses that produce a lot of sales tax.”

Ventura business leaders said they looked forward to working with a specific person who reports on economic activity directly to the city manager.

“It will be nice to have a contact so that I or future presidents can discuss the business at hand--strong, thriving economic development for the city,” said Jim Friedman, president of the Ventura Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s another link in the channels of communication, and that’s critical,” he said.

Others agreed.

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“Further economic growth will only help existing businesses and the labor pool,” Kinko’s spokeswoman Laura McCormick said. “Kinko’s is one of the larger employers here, and Ventura has been very good to us.”

Lu Setnicka of Patagonia said her company “welcomes the opportunity to meet and work with the city’s new economic development director.

“We look forward to discussing our perspective on issues facing the city,” she said.

The executive director of the Ventura County Taxpayers Assn. said investing in local business is a sound idea. But Michael Saliba said there should be assurances built into the system to verify its success.

“Economic development is fine, as long as there is a periodic review to make sure that what they’re spending gives a sufficient rate of return,” Saliba said.

“You have to make sure that after a relatively short period of time, there’s a very close review of the expenditures,” he said. “And there are ways to track that.”

But businessman Eric Wachter, who recently opened Pineapple’s restaurant at Ventura Beach and plans to open another eatery at the Ventura Pier, said the new director would help others like him.

“It’s important that our businesses are heard and that the city continues to promote the city as an attraction,” Wachter said. “The more we can do to stimulate and refine the business community, the better.”

Fulton said the business development manager could help shore up declining sales taxes, which have dropped from more than $14 million in recent years to about $12.5 million last year.

“We have not been as aggressive as other cities,” he said. “Ventura could face a real slide if we don’t pay attention to it.”