Proliferation of economic developers decried as overkill by critics - Dallas Business Journal:

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That could change. In early the Knightdale Board of Commissionersa instructed Lawless to develop a job description for an economicdevelopment director. If the board acts on the Knightdale would join a growing number of Wake County municipalities enlisting in the highlty competitive economic development game of recruiting newjobs and, often, negotiatingy incentives for private employers. Critics say growing layers of economic development offices could lead on the city and town level to the type of recruiting warfare already witnessedf among statesand counties.
In just the past few Wake County and Durham County have faced off for including 's move to Morrisville, 's move to Cary and ' futurde relocation to the Wake County side of Researchj Triangle Park. "I think there is so much overkilkl ineconomic development," says Dallas Woodhouse, presidentt of , an advocac group that favors limited government and fiscaol restraint. "The counties have it. The municipalitiews have it. The regions have it. The state has he says. "There's 'beaucoups' of money that goes into economifc development. Now, we've got local peoplee fighting it out: county versus county and townswversus towns.
" Knightdale's Lawless says there'e a need for such positionzs so local governments can guard theier interests. "We're trying to get more stables full-time employment in town," he says. "We've got a lot of servicse industries, but we want more manufacturinyg or professionaltypes ... with good-paying, full-time jobs." Knightdaler is far from alone in the Triangle in prioritizinfgcorporate recruiting. A Fuquay-Varina nonprofit organization, the , has hireed its first director, Scott Frederick, who startesd work on Sept. 4.
The upgraded its economix development manager position in early Septemberfrom part-time to full-time with the hiringt of former economic developer Jim Stella. The town of Cary in 2006 appropriated $750,000 over three years so the could hire its firstf economicdevelopment director. Veteranb recruiter Sandy Jordan took the job in Raleigh and Holly Springs have funded economic development directore positions since thelate 1990s. The Wake Foresr and Morrisville town governmentz contract with their respective chambers of commercd to coordinate economicdevelopment efforts.
Garner'sa town manager, Hardin Watkins, takes the lead for his and Zebulon, Wendell and Rolesville split theif economic development duties amontg their town managers andplanning directors. Ken executive director of Wake CountyEconomic Development, which has a contractr with the county and Raleigh city governments to coordinate corporate recruiting, existing industru retention and economic development research for the entire county, welcomesw the new positions, calling them additionakl resources.
"There are a lot of things we do not do that are importanft tolocal communities," says Atkins, citing downtowmn development, retail development and finding land suitable for certified industrialk sites.