12/19/2009 2:59:00 PM La Porte County economic development alliance becoming a reality
News-Dispatch
Craig Davison, The News-Dispatch
LA PORTE - City and county officials hammered out more details of a new potential county-wide economic develop alliance as the date nears when the County Commission will vote whether to contract with it.
Michigan City Mayor Chuck Oberlie said the contract for services would help cover the county with an attraction, retention and expansion, which the county doesn't have. They will also visit all manufacturers in the county to see what their needs are.
Council President Mark Yagelski said they want to keep county economic development coordinator Matt Reardon in the loop. He said he would prefer that Reardon would continue to work together with La Porte's Tim Gropp and Michigan City's John Regetz, the executive directors of each city's development corporation.
"We're starting to get that uneasy feeling," he said about the chance of Reardon not being involved.
The County Council has already allocated the money for the alliance. The County Commission will decide on whether to approve a contract with the alliance at its Jan. 5 meeting.
Oberlie said there would be no problem working with Reardon, even adding that they will need consultants at times, while they work toward building a single organization for the cities and the county over a three-year period.
The contract would be a formalized agreement of the three organizations coming to work together.
Al Walus, vice chairman of the board of the Michigan City Economic Development Corp., said there are about 190 manufacturers in La Porte County. Both of the cities' corporations perform expansion and retention visits to the manufacturers in the cities and would do that for the county.
