The Kane County Board is expected this week to consider an agreement with a soon-to-be-launched countywide economic development organization that the board previously approved $3 million to fund.
The Kane County Economic Development Corporation will be a private-public partnership led by representatives from county industries and local government, tasked with guiding growth and supporting business within the entirety of Kane County, according to the draft agreement.
The agreement passed the Kane County Jobs Committee on Sept. 26 and the Executive Committee last Wednesday. It is now set to go before the full County Board Tuesday for final consideration.
“What we’re talking about here is expanding Kane County’s outreach to try and help all businesses that are in place, to try and soften the soil for all businesses that might be interested in coming here, in increasing our labor pool and how well they’re paid and in looking for opportunities for us all working together to make a more prosperous Kane County,” Council Member Deborah Allan said at the Executive Committee meeting last Wednesday.
Kane County is the only large Chicago collar county without an economic development organization, according to a presentation given by Mark VanKerkhoff, director of the Kane County Development and Community Services Department, at the Sept. 26 Jobs Committee meeting.
He said currently, the county does not have the “institutional infrastructure” to coordinate growth across the county’s 29 municipalities, but forming the Kane County Economic Development Corporation will be an “important first step.”
Although many individual cities within Kane County have their own economic development groups, the county has never had its own organization guiding the overall direction of economic growth, Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pierog previously told The Beacon-News.
Kane County’s economic development consultant is in the process of submitting paperwork to officially form the nonprofit organization, VanKerkhoff said in an interview with The Beacon-News on Oct. 1.
This is happening at the same time as the draft agreement is making its way through requisite Kane County committees so that the organization can launch sometime this month with the funds needed to get started, he said.
Back in May, the Kane County Board approved $3 million in federal pandemic-era relief funds to launch the organization.
Those funds will be paid out over three years, with $500,000 going to the organization this year and $1.25 million to be disbursed in 2025 and 2026, according to the draft agreement that is set to go before the County Board on Tuesday.
Kane County officials have previously said the $3 million will hopefully be the single largest public investment needed to support the organization, and the plan is for the organization to be primarily funded through private investment.
The draft agreement between Kane County and its soon-to-be-formed economic development organization outlines a number of roles the organization will play once it gets up and running.
Other than the broad objective of coordinating business development efforts across the county, the organization would also be tasked with creating new business recruitment marketing programs and establishing business expansion programs for existing companies, among other programs, the draft agreement states.
Another of the organization’s goals would be to maintain a database of several economic data points, including the county’s population, primary employers, workforce development programs, business assistance programs, economic indicators, educational facilities and more, according to the draft agreement.
The Kane County Economic Development Corporation will be led by a board of directors that is made up of representatives from both local governments and private industry, county officials have said.
According to VanKerkhoff, the County Board chair and the Jobs Committee head will each have seats on the organization’s board. However, Pierog said the organization will be driven by private industry with the county acting in a support role.
“That will be the role of county government: to support private industry to expand appropriately,” Pierog said at the Executive Committee meeting.
The organization’s efforts will be based on the recommendations and information outlined in the recently-completed Kane County Economic Development Strategic Plan, which will be gifted to the organization after it is formed, county officials have said.
Like the draft agreement between Kane County and its soon-to-be-formed economic development organization, the plan has also passed each of the Jobs and Executive committees.
The plan was created by Chicago-based economic development firm RW Ventures, which was paid using a $150,000 grant from the state, VanKerkhoff previously said.
According to the plan, Kane County is at an “economic crossroads.” The county has done well for itself as an agricultural center, bedroom community and industrial hub but needs to be deliberate about its economic development as the global economy changes, according to the plan.
The plan’s vision for the county is that it “will become a dynamic mix of traditional industries and emerging sectors – a center of innovation” and that its “industrial base will grow alongside leading edge agricultural practices and quality of life for residents.”
Kane County has a number of strengths, such as its strong manufacturing, large number of business services and agricultural assets, but also has a number of weaknesses like gaps in the labor market, little private innovation and high levels of government fragmentation, according to analysis included in the plan.
To achieve the plan’s vision, it recommends increasing support for manufacturers, improving support for start-ups, creating workforce programs that are informed by employers and diversifying crops, in addition to recommending the coordination of economic development through a county-wide organization.
“I expect success because we are not inventing the wheel,” Allan said at the Executive Committee meeting. “Virtually every county in the state of Illinois has a strategic plan and an office working to try and tie the bits of the county together, and we’re just kind of late coming to the party, but here’s our opportunity.”
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
