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This decision by the state is outrageous. Here we are struggling through tough economic times and they decide to save money by taking away our key connection to state economic development resources. If any of you have had the pleasure of working with Clark, you’ll understand what a tremendous resource we are about to lose here. If you care about the economic health of Central Oregon, you owe it to this community to contact the people listed in this notice from EDCO,

“Dear EDCO Board Members:

Earlier this week I received a call from Oregon Economic & Community Development (OECDD) Manager Karen Goddin that, in a cost-cutting measure, the Department would be eliminating the Central Oregon Business Development Officer (BDO) position currently held by Clark Jackson effective at month’s end. The Department has approximately 125 employees including BDOs across the state and is planning to eliminate a total of 5 FTE positions, which includes closing an office in Taiwan. The Central Oregon BDO position was the only of its kind to be cut by OECDD. Additionally, the decision comes on the heels of another decision within OECDD to hire a manager for the BDOs, which are proposed to be cut from 12 to 7. With the elimination of this position, his employment with OECDD will end June 30.

The EDCO team is very concerned about this announcement, especially in light of the fact that we have the state’s highest unemployment rates. The OECDD BDO has long been a critical liason and member of the regional economic development team in Central Oregon for most of the past two decades. Having a local go-to person serving the tri-county area for business development, business finance, industry recruitment and on the Governor’s Economic Revitalization team has been important to EDCO’s ability to help local companies, communities and business attraction. In the past, EDCO has provided testimony to OECDD and the Oregon legislature about the importance of their field staff, and specifically Business Development Officers. In our opinion, they are among the most important positions in the Department. It is my understanding that OECDD has already had discussions about serving our region with other existing BDOs based elsewhere in the state. Given the current state of our regional economy and the fact that our region would be the only of Oregon’s six metropolitan areas not served by BDO living in close proximity, we believe that this arrangement is unacceptable. Over the past eight years, Central Oregon has created more jobs (not just at a higher rate) than any other area outside the Portland, so it is clearly not a question of whether there is activity to support the position. From a capcity standpoint, we feel that the OECDD BDO is part of the region’s economic development team. Without this team member, a greater workload is effectively placed on EDCO to help bring to bear the state’s programs and resouces for economic development projects. While we market those programs on a regular basis, we are not the state’s agents, nor do we have any authority with regards to its programs.

For the past 2.5 years, Clark Jackson has held this position and been active throughout the tri-county region and within every one of its eight cities. Over the past year, he has played a pivotal role in helping many of our local manufacturers and technology-based companies with expansion and relocation. Specifically, he has helped link companies with OECDD finance programs and the banking community in the region at a time when these connections were more important than ever. To better prepare the communities for successful business development he has worked dilgently on infrastructure issues including rail, transportation (including numerous ODOT Immediate Opportunity grants), sewer and water, in coordination with Mike Solt, OECDD Regional Coordinator for public works projects.

I would like to ask for your support in encouraging OECDD Director Tim McCabe and the Chair of the Oregon Economic Development Commission, Wally Van Valkenberg, to reconsider this decision and allocation of personnel. If you feel comfortable expressing your opinion on this matter, in your own words, please email or call them at timm@econ.state.or.us (503-986-0110), wvanvalkenburg@stoel.com (503-294-9514). If you know other leaders in the region that would be concerned about this issue, please feel free to pass this message on.

Thank you for your time and consideration of this important matter.

Sincerely,

Roger (for the entire EDCO staff team)

Roger J. Lee
Executive Director,
Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO)
541-388-3236
www.edcoinfo.com

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