In her first address to the Spokane business community recently, Spokane Mayor Mary Verner announced she would be holding a series of three roundtable discussions to talk about topics of keen interest to businesses here.


During her State of the City speech to a well-attended Greater Spokane Incorporated breakfast gathering Feb. 8, Verner said the roundtables would be held next month and would revolve around ways to pay for municipal government, business and development incentives that the city offers, and the centers-and-corridors strategy within the citys comprehensive land-use plan. During her speech, Verner also highlighted a restructuring she has done within the citys planning, community, and economic development division, which included the creation of a new department within that division dedicated to business and development services. In addition, she said that she plans to work with Greater Spokane Incorporated (GSI) on promoting a green economic sector in Spokane.


The roundtable discussions will include an educational component, in which business leaders and others will share their experiences that pertain to the topics under discussion, says Teresa Brum, the citys director of business and development services, the newly created department that is coordinating the discussions. Members of the business community can come to City Hall for the roundtables or watch them on TV or on the citys Web site. Participants in the roundtable discussions will take questions over the phone during the meetings, as well as questions that have been e-mailed to the city ahead of time.


The first roundtable discussion, on municipal finance, is scheduled for March 4 at City Hall. Verner says shes holding the meeting because she wants feedback from business leaders about what they see as priorities for city services and the best financing tools to provide revenue to pay for them. While rumors have circulated that Verner is looking at recommending a business and occupations tax here, she calls a B&O tax undesirable, and says, Ive been wondering where that got started.


Given that we have these tools and these expenses as a city, Id like to know what businesses think should be our priorities, both for services and the tools that we use to finance those services, Verner says.


The second roundtable discussion, which will focus on the citys business and development incentives, will be held March 19. Brum says one of the current incentives that likely will be a main topic of discussion is the multifamily tax exemption, which developers have used to develop condominium projects in recent years. The citys historic preservation incentive also likely will be discussed, she says. In addition, developers who are interested in green construction projects and obtaining Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for their buildings can talk with city officials about ways they can pursue those ideas, she says.


Were asking, Do our existing incentives help achieve what we want them to, and are there incentives we could develop? Brum says.


The third roundtable discussion, to be held March 27, will focus on the citys centers-and-corridors strategy, which is an effort to spur concentrated-development activity in 21 designated areas in the city. Some of those designated districts include the Manito and Lincoln Heights areas on the South Hill, the Garland district in north Spokane, and Hillyard in northeast Spokane.


Verner says shes heard comments from some builders and developers here that the centers-and-corridors plan impedes rather than encourages development activity. She wants to talk with businesspeople about the aspects of the strategy that they think arent working and hear their suggestions for ways to fine-tune it. One option might be to hold land in trust for development in those designated areas, she says.


We obviously need dense development in our urban centers, so my question is, Why isnt this working and what can we do to make it work? Verner says.


That roundtable also will include discussion of the citys neighborhood business centers program, which it developed after implementing the centers-and-corridors strategy, Brum says. The program helps neighborhood business associations and councils in the designated centers-and-corridors areas revitalize their districts through initiatives such as streetscape projects. About six business centers are in operation currently, in areas such as the East Sprague Avenue district and the Market Street district, she says.


Business department


In her speech, Verner also mentioned her restructuring of the citys planning, community, and economic development division, which previously had been called the economic development division. Those changes included bringing the community development department under its supervision. Community development previously wasnt housed within a specific division, she says.


Brum, who has worked in a variety of departments at the city, says that as director of the new department of business and development services, she now can devote her attention solely to business services.


The city has consolidated its business services into that department so it can provide more focused support to business and developers, Brum says. Changes include reorganizing staff members to make them more readily available, and revamping the citys Web site to highlight its business resources. The department also has consolidated the citys incentive programs to provide a one stop application process for businesses and developers, she says.


Information will be more accessible, Brum says. Businesses will have one number they can call for all of the different services we provide.


In addition, the city has assigned staff members to work on special projects, such as the University District, the update to the Downtown Plan, Kendall Yards, and facilitating infrastructure improvements in the neighborhood business centers, Brum says.


Earlier this week, Verner announced she had cut the citys economic adviser position, which was held by Cody George. As part of his duties in that role, George had been the citys designated liaison for Kendall Yards developers.


Green sector


The department of business and development support also is charged with helping the city and the business community meet demand for green jobs and services, and to strengthen current green vendors and suppliers, Brum says. The department has started working with the citys work-force development department to conduct an assessment of the kinds of green jobs that already are here, the strength of demand for green jobs, and the skills necessary to hold those jobs. The departments also will identify city incentives that would help bolster the green sector, she says.


In her speech, Verner highlighted her desire to create a green economic sector in Spokane. She says she has talked briefly with GSI about that priority, and that the city plans to coordinate its efforts with the economic-development group.


Rich Hadley, president and CEO at GSI, says the organization has been working for more than a year on ways to promote clean technology here. While the term clean isnt synonymous with green, the two concepts overlap considerably, Hadley says. GSI plans to work with the city on settling on common terminology it can use when referring to those concepts, he says. Technologies associated with clean tech include sustainable design, clean energy and renewable fuels, and energy efficiency, among others, GSIs Web site says.


GSI is working on creating a clean technology cluster, which would add to the five industries, such as manufacturing and aerospace, on which it currently focuses its business recruitment and expansion work, Hadley says.


By creating a cluster devoted to clean tech, GSI could look more holistically at that sector and its needs as theyre related to business logistics, education, public policy, and taxes that could be tweaked at the state level to foster further growth in the sector, he says.


Early next month, GSI is bringing in an Austin, Tex.-based economic development consulting firm, AngelouEconomics Inc., to help it sharpen its focus on the industry clusters, Hadley says. Representatives from AngelouEconomics will talk with business leaders in those clusters as part of its assessment, and will issue its recommendations to GSI within about a month, he says. As part of its recommendations, AngelouEconomics will give GSI ideas about how to flesh out its clean tech cluster, he says.


Contact Emily Proffitt at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyp@spokanejournal.com.