Council moves forward with chamber partnership

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Updated: March 24, 2012 9:08AM

ELGIN ­— At Wednesday’s committee of the whole meeting, the city council moved along plans for continuing its partnership with the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce to provide economic development-related services for the city.

The agreement for an effort known as the Economic Development Group would pay the chamber $275,000 for its work this year out of tax money the city gets from the Grand Victoria Casino. This is a change in policy from the last two years, when revenue from business licenses was supposed to support economic development initiatives conducted by the chamber and the Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin.

Prior to 2012, the city had entered into purchase-of-service agreements for two-year terms with both EACC and DNA, with the chamber paid $400,000 each of the last two years and a one-time payment of $60,000 for Web design, while the DNA was receiving $135,000 annually. Before that, the city had been budgeting more than $500,000 annually for economic development work done in-house and private with consultants.

In November, the chamber said the Economic Development Group website would be up and running in a couple months. Wednesday night, the council was told the site will go live next week. Among its online offerings will be cost-of-living data; community profile information; geographical information; demographic and labor force information; county and city information; and links to city, state and partner agencies.

The EDG intends to boost Elgin’s economy through initiatives that include new programming for building small businesses and an effort to find Elgin sister cities in South America and China.

The chamber’s plans include conducting a business retention survey; visits with the CEOs of Elgin’s significant employers; and continued “Mayor’s President’s Council” meetings in which city leaders hear from business, industrial and civic leaders.

The EDG work also includes continued assisting and encouraging expansion of high-speed Internet to the city’s business zones, and recruiting new companies to town. Another goal is to encourage local employers to fill job vacancies with Elgin residents through the use of possible financial or training incentives. And the chamber’s Transportation and Development Committee will continue to serve as a clearinghouse for significant infrastructure projects. Members of the committee include representatives from the Kane County Board, the municipalities of Elgin and South Elgin, the EDG, and Kane County Department of Transportation.

Chamber President Carol Gieske, outgoing chairman John Hurlbut and incoming chairman Mike Shales addressed the council Wednesday night.

Councilman John Prigge suggested that the chamber provide a more-detailed accounting on the city’s return on investment including hotel nights spent in Elgin related to local business brought in by the EDG work.

Councilman Richard Dunne suggested that in the future, the city put economic development work out for request for proposal.

Hurlbut mentioned Elgin’s 5.4 percent gain in manufacturing jobs in 2011, which stood in contrast to a good deal of the Chicago metro area. Swiss firm Bystronic North America, a supplier of cutting systems, moved its North American headquarters from Upstate New York to 300 Airport Road in 2011. Its presence will result in 2,000 hotel nights in the city by people in town for Bystronic-related matters, Hurlbut said.