If there’s a blanket approach to drumming up business growth, a silver bullet with which to slay unemployment, Clark County’s new economic development manager is unaware of it.
Jeff Swanson said there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to economic development, so he plans to use his background in the private sector to address regional economic needs.
The county can’t treat all situations the same, he said.
“I think that each business is very different and has different needs,” Swanson said. “Every business locates or expands in Clark County for different reasons.”
Swanson, 37, was permanently named to the position in April.
He had served as the county’s interim economic development director following the resignation of Kelly Sills, who left the county in February to take a job as the parking control manager for the Portland Bureau of Transportation. The position paid $85,236 a year when Sills was in it.
The new job is a promotion of sorts for Swanson. The county hired Swanson last July as the county’s railroad coordinator and quickly identified him as someone whose knowledge exceeded the railroad position, Clark County Administrator Mark McCauley said.
Swanson had previously worked as a land-use and economic development consultant for clients throughout the Portland metro area.
McCauley said he expects the position to change “vastly” under Swanson’s watch. Swanson’s duties as railroad coordinator will be embedded into his economic development duties and there will be a greater emphasis on the county’s 33-mile short line railroad.
“Jeff’s credentials are impressive,” McCauley said, adding that Swanson had forged partnerships with the ports as well as the Columbia River Economic Development Council. “He has definitely elevated the profile of economic development for the county.”
The county expects to make another new hire soon. It will add a policy analyst to conduct research and, among other duties, investigate constituent concerns. The shuffling of resources will be cost-neutral for the county, McCauley said, because Swanson will continue his railroad coordinator duties and the county won’t have to rehire for that position.
Swanson said he plans to listen to the business community, while at the same time finding the best use for parcels that could be used for industrial development. He said he’ll use demographics to assess what needs exist in the county.
His goal, Swanson said, is not simply to help incentivize business growth, but to raise the county’s median income by bringing living-wage jobs to the county.
“If we are trading off prime industrial land for employment yielding low industrial wages,” Swanson said, “that might not be a good trade-off.”
Areas the county plans to identify for business development include the Discovery Corridor, along Interstate 5, and the St. John’s and Barberton areas, Swanson said, which are ripe for development.
