At our July 28th meeting the Board of Commissioners approved the DAC final budget with $100,000 devoted to the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance.

Considering that this has been a set amount for MVEDA for several years, you may not think this is significant. However, if you've been paying attention you know that this was a hard fought battle. MVEDA's funding was almost cut by 40%. 

It's hard to believe that DAC would consider reducing its commitment to economic development during a recession, but that's exactly what was being proposed earlier this year. What a huge mistake that would have been.

Think like a business

There is a simple business principle that when times get tough you increase your commitment to marketing. Over the next few years watch how many small business make the mistake of cutting back their marketing and go out of business.

How does this relate to DAC and MVEDA? Well MVEDA is the marketing arm of economic recruitment for DAC. It's the only group out in the business world who is actively recruiting new economic based jobs for Dona Ana County. Imagine how competitive this environment is right now. It shouldn't take much convincing that just about every economic development agency and every community who is seeing job loss (in other words everyone) has stepped up their efforts making it harder then ever to close a deal. And we almost cut our funding.

Saying all of that, I must admit that I am very concerned about the future. Companies looking to relocate have more options today then ever before. They are being bombarded by recruitment efforts. Our chances of landing deals are slimmer then ever. And next year we are going to rehash the same old argument over the necessity of funding MVEDA. So what are we to do?

Here is my plan

We need to develop a larger economic development plan for DAC. It was a surprise to me that we currently do not have a comprehensive ED plan. Until now we have relied on MVEDA to be our ED plan. We are seeing that this is no longer enough. We can't rely on MVEDA alone to solve all our problems.

There are ED issues in our colonias that need satisfying in order for them to step into the 21st century. We have policy issues that need to be worked out including both setting up a way for DAC to use state incentives for companies to locate here, and strengthening our quality of life. There are also issues throughout our county regarding convenient access to grocery stores, restaurants, recreational activities and other businesses that are not economic based (meaning they bring dollars in and keep them here).

We need a comprehensive plan that addresses all of these issues. And it needs to includes the commercial real estate, developer, and business communities in an effort to work with residents to identify specific needs and find solutions. At the same time we need to increase our commitment to MVEDA's economic base recruitment efforts so that there are more dollars spent within the county that stay in the county.

One of the most clear issues to me is the need for better jobs in Dona Ana County. It was clear long before this current recession. Maybe it's so clear because I've heard so many clichés throughout my life regarding jobs and keeping young people here. Well, I'm not just going to talk about it. I plan to do something about it.