Barton County Economic Developer - Robert Harrington - attended the Solar Power International Trade Show the week of 10/17/2011.  This is the second time that the Community Development Corporation has sent Harrington to this annual trade show to market Barton County.

Solar Power International (SPI) is North America's largest, most comprehensive solar power trade show and conference. This annual, business-to-business event was the first of its kind in North America and grows bigger and better every year. Nearly 24,000 professionals from 125+ countries attend. With one out of five attendees coming from outside the United States, SPI is truly a global event. In 2011, over 1,200 companies from all vertical markets in the solar power spectrum will exhibit in a space of more than 1 million gross square feet.

Harrington says this show has led to many leads and opportunities to showcase Barton County to Solar Industry Manufacturers as the Barton County Community Development Corporation continues on their mission to market Barton County and assist the County and Cities to create new jobs in our area.

Solar and "green power" jobs are a high growth market, especially with support of the Federal Government and is one of the targeted industries that is being marketed to as a high growth, long term solution to unemployment concerns in Barton County.

Study by leading brokerage firm lists Missouri in the "Top 10 Pro-Business States for 2011"

The fiscally-sound policies and job creation strategies of Gov. Jay Nixon's administration were praised by the nation's premiere international brokerage and consulting firm as it rated Missouri as one of the top U.S. states for business. Missouri came in at number 8 in the Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States for 2011, an annual study considered as the most comprehensive in the economic development industry. This is the second year in a row that Missouri has made the list, moving up two spaces from number 10.

The Pollina study giving Missouri high marks comes after a recent report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for 2011 that also had high praise for the state's fiscal soundness and Gov. Nixon's economic policies to attract business. That report listed Missouri at number 7 among the states as "a leader in business-friendly tax and regulatory climate."

"The annual study by Pollina is a respected benchmark that evaluates the states on their success in being attractive to new and existing businesses," Gov. Nixon said. "Our efforts to grow Missouri's economy, create jobs and maintain a state government that lives within its means are paying off not only in this recognition by Pollina's, but also through the positive direction that the state's economy has clearly taken."

Pollina's Corporate Top Pro Business States is an annual study of job retention and creation efforts by the 50 states. It examines more than 30 factors relative to state efforts to create business-friendly environments, including taxes, human resources, energy costs, infrastructure spending, economic incentive programs and state economic development efforts.

The most recent report on unemployment, issued last week by the Missouri Department of Economic Development, put the state's unemployment rate at 8.7 percent, its lowest point since March 2009 and down eight-tenths of a point since the beginning of 2011. In addition, Missouri's exports through two quarters for 2011 are up 13 percent over 2010's totals, which set a state record.

Under Gov. Nixon's leadership, the state of Missouri has maintained its spotless Triple-A credit rating while continuing to invest in critical priorities like job training and education. Since 2009, the Governor has worked tirelessly to help businesses thrive, including:

• Cutting the franchise tax on more than 16,000 Missouri businesses;
• Launching a small-business loan program in 2009;
• Passing a comprehensive jobs bill that expanded our most successful economic incentive programs, such as the Missouri Quality Jobs Program;
• Called a special session in July 2010 to pass legislation to support tens of thousands of automotive jobs in every corner of Missouri;
• Invested $27 million in small and medium-sized businesses through the State Small Business Credit Initiative;
• Increased funding for job training by 52 percent in the 2011 budget;
• Invested millions into programs such as Training for Tomorrow and Caring for Missourians, educating students at Missouri community colleges and four-year institutions for high-demand careers.

Business Retention & Expansion

Everyone wants to land the big one - all of us do.  We want the O'sullivan building working, with a full parking lot, and lots of people working close to home.  We want even more new factories to expand our work force base and to increase the overall income of the citizens of Barton County. 

It is just as important, according to Robert Harrington Barton County Economic Developer, and even more important to remember our focus on home grown businesses.  Helping the companies that already call Barton County home and are working hard every day.  They may only employ one to five people today - but with help and the support of their neighbors, 80% of economic growth will be accomplished by them.  They may expand and add a new service, or get a new set of contracts that allow them to hire five more employees.

The Barton County Community Development Corporation is committed to working hand in hand with existing businesses and helping them to grow and expand.  Companies such as Standley Milling LLC, Fast Eddies, Redneck Hot Rods, and Versacourt have all seen start up and expansion in recent years and we applaud them.  We are committed to making sure they have the assistance they need for any future expansion and call attention to their businesses as they are employing right now.

This in no way lessens our work in marketing Barton County to the world and working on attraction of a new manufacturer, indeed the two aspects work in conjunction one with another.  Local expansion fuels the economy and powers it and attraction helps even more local business expansion as they grow to supply the needs of any new business.

Robert Harrington - Economic Developer for Barton County - travels to Chicago today, July 27th, 2011.

The Community Development Corporation often sends Robert to trade shows to market Barton County to major employers - these are large events with many other organizations, states, and vendors looking to garner the same attention as Barton County.   Trade shows are a successful and vital route to the economic development of Barton County - but to supplement these - and based on contacts made at these large events - today Robert will be taking one on one meetings with several Site Selectors in Chicago.

Site Selectors are realty specialist who focus their work on helping large corporations find an appropriate location to expand their operations.  They are the first contact to getting attention from companies looking to expand and create jobs - so getting Barton County placed firmly in their minds is an important target.

We are very excited that the work of the past year has developed with these site selectors welcoming a meeting with Robert.  While at each one he will be hand delivering to them the BCCDC's new printed marketing material - locally designed and printed by Horton Marketing Solutions and Morrison Printing LLC. This material gives all the vital statistics of Barton County that the selectors need to supply to their clients and includes special inserts with that targets specific industries.

We know Robert will meet with great success in this trip and look forward to seeing the results!