VIROQUA, Wis. – In 2017 the Vernon County Economic Development committee hired an outside agency (Place Dynamics) to develop a five year strategic plan for economic development for Vernon County. The plan that was produced identified a number of key economic development priorities that the county should focus on, and to do that, one of the highest priorities was a recommendation to “acquire the services of an economic development contractor”.
Vernon County Economic Development Director Timeline
The Economic Development Committee did contract with an Economic Development Coordinator, in 2018 they hired Christina Dollhausen as a contract employee to manage Vernon County’s economic development plan. Since being hired Dollhausen has set out to implement as many of the recommendations in that strategic plan as possible. Dollhausen has undertaken a number of communications initiatives to increase Vernon Counties visibility. She began a “Naturally Vernon County” branding effort that include a website and social media presence. Dollhausen was instrumental helping to create the Viroqua Night Market, the Music in the Park events, the Live in Viroqua music events and created the Get Lost in Vernon County column that appears in the Vernon County View and features the wanderings of Vern S. Quatch, a wayward Sasquatch who stumbles onto the various places and attractions throughout Vernon County. She has also development a quarterly county-wide business gatherings, a micro-loan program, helped manage the county revolving loan program and managed tourism marketing.
The final box in the timeline for an economic development director from that previous plan was to hire a full-time person by 2022 and beyond, with an estimated cost of $80,000 including salary and benefits. That issue (making the economic development director position a paid county position) has been on the Economic Development Committee agenda since the end of 2022. The committee has delayed making a decision on that issue until recently. The committee discussed making the position full-time again at it’s October 5 meeting as part of a 2024 budget discussion.
The committee is also in the process developing another five year strategic plan and has once again hired Place Dynamics and the Mississippi River Regional Planning Commission (MRRPC) to help develop that plan. Jon Bingol with MRRPC has been compiling economic development data through surveys and focus group meetings around the county in order to develop that plan. Bingol said they are still compiling the data from the from preliminary responses but some themes have emerged from that data.
“I would say the biggest highlight from the last plan is the addition of the person (Economic Development Director), being Christina (Dollhausen) has made a huge difference,” said Bingol. “Because now you have a presence that you didn’t have before. People have a resource you didn’t have before, and there’s a feeling of direction, and the ability to ask questions. So that’s the big thing.”
The committee also heard from Mark Tallman who is a Regional Economic Development Director with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). Tallman said he has seen a definite increase in economic development in Vernon County since the county brought in an economic development director. Talllman said there are counties he works with that have a single point of contact and some that don’t, and the ones that do are usually more successful.
“Vernon County, you’ve got one contact person and you have an economic development office,” said Tallman. “You’ve been sincerely engaged in economic development for a number of years now and it’s paying off. Christina and her offices have been impactful here.”
Tallman begin to list the Vernon County economic development projects he has partnered with Dollhausen over the last several years.
- Ontario – Community Development Investment (CDI) Grant for $250,000
- Hillsboro – Redevelopment of two downtown businesses – Mr Bs ($180,000) and Millers Chiropractic ($250,000)
- Westby – Evanstad development of downtown building ($106,000)
- Viroqua – Viroqua Food Co-op expansion 2018 ($250,000)
- Viroqua – Hotel Fortney – second and third floor ($250,000)
- Viroqua – Round River Distillery – property redevelopment ($250,000)
- Coon Valley – Three substantial business development projects in the works
Tallman said for each dollar spent on these projects the money turns over many times in a community so the overall impact is likely millions of dollars of economic activity.
“So your economic development office is paying for itself. Hand over fist. If I did not have a direct contact to your economic development point person, and your economic development point person did not have a direct contact to me, with the knowledge of who does what in the county, that is huge. You cannot measure that.”
Regional Economic Development Director – Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation MarkTallman
“So your economic development office is paying for itself,” said Tallman. “Hand over fist. If I did not have a direct contact to your economic development point person, and your economic development point person did not have a direct contact to me, with the knowledge of who does what in the county, that is huge. You cannot measure that.”
Tallman also pointed out there are two new business parks (Viroqua and Westby) and Dollhausen is a key contact for those developments.
The committee then took up whether to make the economic development coordinator position a full-time county salaried position rather than contracted.
“I’d like to see parameters on this job position. Couldn’t we put some, with this whole thing, it’s never been held to parameters.”
Vernon County Economic Development Committee Member Kevin Larson
“I’d like to see parameters on this job position,” said committee member Kevin Larson. “Couldn’t we put some, with this whole thing, it’s never been held to parameters. So the economic development person in Grant County, he’s got to verify 100,000 new square feet of new business every year. He’s got to document he talked to the top 25 businesses in the county and do a report on each business. What they need. I don’t see any specifics in this job description. So that would just be one recommendation.”
Vernon County Administrative Coordinator Cassie Hanan said typically those parameters are put into place once a person is onboard but not in a job description, and there can be specific parameters attached to each aspect of a job description that are reviewed.
“We have never been specific in what we expect so therefore to go on like this is not acceptable,” said committee chair Kay Stanek. “To many committee members they’d like to see more specifics. I don’t know how to say it more delicately.”
“Part of looking to make this into a permanent position, they will have someone to report to,” said Hanan.
The position was included in the final draft of the county budget at the County Finance Committee meeting on Oct. 24.
“But we’ve got to be a little more forward thinking with respect to the position and what we’re asking from it. That’s right for the county as a whole, but don’t put up a roadblock with economic development, or what any individual is doing in that capacity. Because I think it’s going to limit, it’s not just an expense item. You’ve got to look at it as an investment and get the proper support behind it. So, I just wanted to share that comment. It’s not just an expense item. It’s an investment in the county.”
Economic Development Committee Member Tom Weston
“I respect that comment (about measurable parameters),” said committee member Tom Weston. “But we’ve got to be a little more forward thinking with respect to the position and what we’re asking from it. That’s right for the county as a whole, but don’t put up a roadblock with economic development, or what any individual is doing in that capacity. Because I think it’s going to limit, It’s not just an expense item. You’ve got to look at it as an investment and get the proper support behind it. So, I just wanted to share that comment. It’s not just an expense item. It’s an investment in the county.”
“At the same time to be fair to Kevin it is not in the budget,” said Supervisor Rod Ofte. The budget is not approved. And the position is not approved. So if we’re really saying, okay, it’s open books here, people we’ve got all these ways we can get it done but it also makes me feel like we’re kind of shoving it down a pipe and it’s either this role or that role. It’s a contractor or it’s not. This is $100,000 almost on the tax levy people. And it is still an option, very much so, to not hire the position right away. To not extend it. Or to hire it at a later time. Because the budget’s not been approved, and the position’s not been approved. So the Investments are good things to discuss but until things are formally approved, and the budget is approved, it is not approved per se.
The committee clarified that there was a line item included in draft budget for the position,
“So I still think we need to challenge ourselves. How can we do the good things that we like seeing, while maybe trying to get away from some of the things that maybe aren’t really critical. Because it’s $100,000 is $100,000 tax levy, regardless.”
Economic Development Committee Member Rod Ofte
“It is proposed in the budget,” said Ofte. “Yes, there’s a draft. Yes it’s been proposed by this committee to go forward to finance (committee), but you know first thing I would say is what’s the approved role? That’s been slotted a certain pay scale by general government (committee) and that’s not even gotten that far, and I think there is a debate first before we get there. You know nobody is comfortable with the contractor position. I understand that, but still adding a significant amount, nearly $100,000 total to the taxpayer levy, at a time when our county’s, you know we heard today our county’s gone back, our unemployment’s low, we’re automating because there’s no workers. And here, over about a five year period we have a 400 percent growth in economic development roles in Vernon County. ($50,000 per year for five years). That’s massive. And government growth is never the answer. So I still think we need to challenge ourselves. How can we do the good things that we like seeing, while maybe trying to get away from some of the things that maybe aren’t really critical. Because it’s $100,000 is $100,000 tax levy, regardless”
“I want to echo Tom,” said committee member Karen Dahl. “It’s an investment and I don’t think it’s an investment for just 10 years from here. I think we’ve got a dynamo team here. I mean aren’t they something? …it’s everywhere housing and food transportation and then the businesses….This need is now it’s not next year, or 20 years from now.”
Committee member Katie Helseth who also works on economic development in the city of Westby said she saw the value in the position recently while working with Dollhausen on trying to attract a fabricating business to Westby’s business park.
“I will say, I was even on that meeting,” said Helseth. “It was nice to have her (Dollhausen) there. And you could say that meeting could have taken place without her, but the part that she added to it was her knowledge of some of the different grants that are out there. So that’s where the discussion came in, have you looked at potentially moving your headquarters here? Because they are looking at expanding and she took it a step further and reached out to Brad Pfaff and got Mark (Tallman-WEDC) involved. So it’s some of those little things, somebody that can be out there actually meeting with the business. Not somebody that’s just in, you don’t have those interactions as much with the Mayor, and myself, and different committees. So there’s some of those little things, where now they are considering moving their headquarters. Which would be a significant expansion for Westby, and for Vernon County. That would be tax revenue coming in. So I will say I was more impressed today. I think we got more factual information on our return of investment that we’re getting out of this.”
“I personally I would wonder how much would come if we weren’t even here? If there was nobody here how much would just come because it would come? How much, it’s an immeasurable number.”
Vernon County Board Chair Lorn Goede
“I personally I would wonder how much would come if we weren’t even here?” asked Board Chair Lorn Goede. “If there was nobody here how much would just come because it would come? How much, it’s an immeasurable number. I mean it’s easy to say, okay, they brought in $250 million here, but you know how much of that is, are we responsible, sitting here for? And how much of it is going to happen whether we’re here or not?”
“I think lack of structure, of any structure, with a company, business, regardless of size, not having it in place is going to make them question whether or not they’re going to write a check and move here,” said Weston. “And that is real.”
“I think lack of structure, of any structure, with a company, business, regardless of size, not having it in place is going to make them question whether or not they’re going to write a check and move here. And that is real.”
Economic Development Committee Member Tom Weston
“Especially for the bigger corporations,” said committee member John Pedretti. “Small entrepreneurs will do what they’re going, but a big company if they feel like the community is behind them then they’re more willing to. Definitely.”
“Yeah, you don’t get big corporations without a lot of support,” said Stanek. “You don’t get those just at a whim.”
Dahl said she has seen momentum building with economic development in the last five years like a snowball and that needs to be continued and supported.
“I think if we don’t do this we’re going to lose all of that,” said Dahl. “We need continuity, depth, and we need experience.”
Dahl made a motion to approve the position as described with a commitment to define measurable parameters once someone the position is approved.
Ofte advocated for reworking the job description.
“I think we’re kind of half halfway there and not all the way,” said Ofte. “And I guess I would just feel a lot more comfortable to take one more crack at it distribute it to everybody. Tighten it up and make it less of a marketing person, an event manager, and a real business driver. I could support that. I think we there’s still it’s just a little bit mushy, for me, in the job description. But maybe that’s just me. I’ve read a lot of them and and my problem is, we help write the first one and and as I looked five years back, the first job descriptions were miles away from those deliverables. And that concerns me. And those could deliverables haven’t changed so why are we still five years later miles off. That should be an alarm for a lot of us. And if we are miles off were they right? Were they wrong? Are they still valid? If they’re valid, why not build them back in and let’s get it done.”
Hanan suggested including the position as part of proposed wage study that look at comparable job duties.
“Now there’s plenty of excuses, but here we are five, six years later still talking about it, and we’ve not made one inch of progress on that area. And that’s that’s massive for me because it’s not only about the money, it’s the principle. So if it is only $100,000 (the position is budgeted at $80,000) a year, five years later we’ve invested half a million. So don’t say we haven’t put any money into this. It’s massive and those things for me need to be shored up before we even have the discussion about putting this forward because we firmly believe in what this role is. What it should be. And what it has to deliver.”
Economic Development Committee Member Rod Ofte
“That’s fine Cassie,” said Ofte. “And that’s down the road. It’s more for me that we’re really really all happy and we’ve challenged ourselves openly on really shoring up this position to be rock solid in terms of deliverables, and that we don’t look back two years from now and have something that’s wandered into an event organizer, and we’re saying, geez, why didn’t we ever deliver on healthcare? Or, you know, housing? Or child-care? Or, you know, a main mission that we all agreed in economic development was we’re going to strive to make this thing self- sustainable. Generating revenue. We had meetings after meetings after meetings and we’ve not delivered one penny in revenue from room tax etc. Now there’s plenty of excuses, but here we are five, six years later still talking about it, and we’ve not made one inch of progress on that area. And that’s that’s massive for me because it’s not only about the money, it’s the principle. So if it is only $100,000 (the position is budgeted at $80,000) a year, five years later we’ve invested half a million. So don’t say we haven’t put any money into this. It’s massive and those things for me need to be shored up before we even have the discussion about putting this forward because we firmly believe in what this role is. What it should be. And what it has to deliver.”
Goede questioned shifting the funding to another position since the UW-Extension office added a Community Development Educator that is shared with surrounding counties.
“We’ve got Hannah (Altimus – UW-Extension) here now on the education part of it,” said Goede “Are we going to be duplicating services? Would it be better if we’re going to spend the money, would we be better off putting another person in the grants department?”
“So for for my role it’s research based and it’s education heavy,” said Altimus. “So it does not work with businesses in the capacity in which an economic development coordinator would, and should. It also has a level of business coaching that they would do that I am not um able to do in the capacity within my role. That’s not saying that I can’t help a business navigate an area or a pathway, or connect them with Christina within what I’m able to do, but my role is to look at the needs of the community do needs assessments, and figure out the education around that. To help people and communities grow and build that entrepreneurial capacity. Mine’s very specifically tailored for the county, and with that partnership with UW-Extension. So it limits what my capabilities are.”
After more discussion the committee reached an agreement to have the position evaluated as part of the wage study to look at comparable positions to set the wage and to have specific deliverables attached to the position that match the new strategic plan when it is completed.
“I think it’s important for us to recognize at least what I glean from his (Mark Tallman’s) comments,” said Weston. “I feel that we’re at a competitive advantage with someone in this capacity compared to other counties. Just getting his Insight with respect to, are these contracted? Are these county positions? Those types of things, I just feel strongly about supporting it because of that competitive advantage to coordinate.”
The committee voted unanimously to send the job description to the wage consultant and the line item for a full-time economic development position has been included in the county budget approved by the finance committee. The Economic Development Committee will meet again on on Nov. 2. The full County Board of Supervisors will consider the 2024 budget on November 14, including the economic development budget. If approved the position will still need to go the General Government Committee. The contract position with the county will end at the end of 2023.
Add comment