Business groups’ merger keeps executive busy

Published 11:07 am Thursday, March 31, 2011

EVERETT — The name for Snohomish County’s new business enterprise organization — now being built on the shoulders of the Snohomish County Economic Development Council, Everett Area Chamber of Commerce and South Snohomish County Chamber of Commerce — will be announced early this mon

th, CEO Troy McClelland said in late March.

After weeks of exploring the scope of the new entity’s roles and responsibilities, significant steps are being made toward morphing the three groups into their new structure, he said.

“There are so many stakeholders in the region that we’ve worked with to provide the appropriate amount of inclusion (in selecting the name) and that’s been difficult,” he said. “We invited many people in to talk about goals and alignments, then we went through some traditional naming and branding exercises and talked with many businesses and … (city and county) governments to see what resonated with them.”

From those efforts, six names were chosen and then checked to see if they were available for trademarks. Afterward, more names were evaluated for clarity and another list of eight possibilities was created, he said. From that group, a final name selection is expected around April 6.

“The next step we’re working on is bringing together these three separate nonprofit corporations within the proper legal context. Each group has its own bylaws that tell us how to do that, so those groups will continue to exist until they are dissolved in a plan accepted by the state. This month, each of the various boards will need to vote yea or nay on dissolving. Assuming that is done, a consolidation plan will be filed with the state. Once that’s accepted and approved, the new group can incorporate,” he said.

Afterward, choosing a location for the new organization has its own challenges for satisfying the majority of stakeholders, he said, noting “it’s too early yet to know (a possible location) … There are (existing) leases to consider, too … Right now the EDC remains in its present offices and the Everett Chamber remains in downtown Everett. The South Snohomish County Chamber offices have moved (from Lynnwood) to right next to the EDC offices, in the same building (in south Everett).”

Pragmatically, he said, the next major phase of the consolidation involves blending service programs of the three entities.

“We’ve already begun testing for valued services, evaluating whether they’re as effective as they need to be, if they could be improved or if they’re ones maybe we don’t want to continue in the new organization because they lack value,” he said. “We have 50 to 60 services that clearly fit into the new organization, including industrial development, business retention and expansion, as well as marketing the region.”

In “the spirit of continuous improvement,” he said, EDC and chamber leaders are talking about a more effective model for all the various business lines, programs and other items.

“We will continue all of those things that are still valued and make them even more supportive for those who are served by the new organization,” McClelland said. “We have the opportunity for coordinating a much broader set of business lines.”

Government affairs, transportation issues and new resources for supporting a vital business community in a traditional economic model will all be part of economic resource development in the new group, he said.

“This is where we have a chance to engage with the whole region and make sure we’re doing our best to represent all the needs of the region on legislative issues, things we usually see chambers doing. This is an activity we want to maintain and even improve,” he said.

Four central purposes have guided the consolidation project: growing the number and quality of jobs and increasing family wages in the county; exerting greater influence on public policy at all levels of government by speaking with a unified, inclusive voice for all of Snohomish County; enabling a broader network for business leaders to implement innovative solutions to problems; and becoming a respected, authoritative voice for Snohomish County on economic vitality.

While there is much to do yet to launch the fledging group, McClelland noted that the effort isn’t plowing fresh ground so much as it is building on proven reorganization structures that have been successful across the country.

“That’s a key point,” he said. “This type of consolidated economic development and chamber organization has been very successful nationally and in our own back yard. The Greater Spokane Inc. project is a great example of a very successful program. This is not just some ‘flavor of the day’ idea, it’s part of an ongoing national trend that began as early as 1976 and gained momentum in the mid-1980s. Business groups are finding it’s a necessary way of being more successful in serving the businesses in their region.”

Four years ago, the Spokane Area Economic Development Council and Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce became the state’s first economic development groups to merge, forming Greater Spokane Inc.

Since then, GSI has assisted with 10 company expansion and retention projects that resulted in more than 421 new direct jobs; helped attract One Earth Starch, a manufacturer of biodegradable packaging products; assisted 80 new business clients; produced 19 business workshops; and connected $23 million in government contracts to local companies through the Procurement Technical Assistance Center, a federal contracting program already available through the Snohomish County EDC.

At the same time, GSI retained 93 percent of the two organization’s prior membership and set a 10-year record for new membership growth, hosted career exploration days for more than 50 companies and 1,400 students and created 15 Teach the Teachers workshops that hosted 159 area educators.

In mid-2010, the Ellensburg Chamber of Commerce and the countywide Economic Development Group of Kittitas County merged to establish a more united voice for supporting local business and recently the Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Northwest Economic Council announced plans to begin consolidating their efforts into one agency.