With last year’s completion of the Iowa Highway 5 bypass project south of Des Moines, many Warren County residents believe that “growth will come eventually.”

That’s not soon enough for Rich Wilkey. The former Des Moines city manager was hired last year by the Warren County Economic Development Corp. to promote the county as its development consultant.

Warren County, which is home to many Greater Des Moines commuters, is working to capitalize on its potential for growth as highway development brings other parts of the metro area within closer reach. At the same time, it’s working to convince commercial developers and companies that it’s a viable business site in its own right.

“What we’re trying to get going here is a certain momentum,” Wilkey said. “Once momentum starts going, it builds on itself, and that’s what my goal is. We’re in the early stages here to get some projects going, particularly in the (Highway 5) beltway area. Right now people are thinking west. We want them to start thinking south.”

Wilkey works with Tiffany Coleman, who was recently named the organization’s executive director.

Warren County’s economic development efforts have ranged from non-existent to underfunded. The Warren County Economic Development Corp., a 10-year-old organization, last year underwent a reorganization that increased both its budget and its staff.

“Probably the biggest change, and a change for the better, has been going from a reactive organization to a more proactive organization,” said Kevin Halterman, president of the WCEDC’s 11-member board. Through increased private and municipal contributions, the organization’s budget has doubled to approximately $250,000 a year, said Halterman, who is president of Indianola-based Peoples Savings Bank. That funding has allowed the WCEDC to hire Wilkey to augment a staff of one full-time director and a part-time assistant.

“Truthfully, we could use another body,” Halterman said, “but we’ve made great strides in where we’re at.”

County leaders are among the first to admit that Warren County is trying to shed a negative image.

“I think the one thing that Warren County must do is change the impression that it is anti-development,” said Bob Sandy, chairman of the county’s board of supervisors, and a member of the WCEDC board. “That’s where I think Mr. Wilkey is so valuable, to get it across to developers that we aren’t anti-development. Once they feel the attitude has changed, I feel we’re going to move in the right direction.”

Sandy said the likeliest areas for new development are near the four interchanges along Highway 5, three of which are located within Warren County.

Halterman said the two most important priorities are to extend water and sewer from Norwalk west to Interstate 35, and to identify the major parcels of land that are available for development at each of the interchanges.

One Carlisle business owner said the county has good ideas about economic development, but “the execution is lacking.”

Sean McMurray employs 141 people at DataVision Inc., a data processing outsourcing company in Carlisle. Being located in a small community provides a conducive environment for the company, which hires many seasonal employees from the adjoining rural communities, he said. Last year, the company’s workforce temporarily swelled to more than 280 people.

“From an outsource business perspective, we can be competitive being in a small town, because we don’t have the overhead of a Des Moines,” he said. “The small-town work ethic is unbeatable; it’s what we sell to our customers.”

However, when he wanted to expand his operation, he ran into numerous roadblocks from local governments, such as the requirement that his Des Moines electrician pay $75 to be certified to work in Carlisle.

“There’s a lot of turf protection going on,” he said. “I could tell you 10 other stories like that from my expansion.”    Sandy said the county should consider instituting a unified permitting process. “There’s nothing that’s been in that regard to this point, but I think it’s something we need to take a look at,” he said.

Warren County does not currently budget funds to offer economic development incentives to businesses. In the past, it has funded incentives from its contingency fund on a case-by-case basis.

The biggest change in the past year, Halterman said, is that Warren County Economic Development Corp. has become a facilitator for companies.      “Our job is to assist and make them successful,” he said. “I think there was a point in time when that was not going on. But I think each community figured out that their budgets are so small that they weren’t getting anywhere going it alone. I think they’ve taken the attitude that what’s good for one community is good for all the communities.”

COLEMAN BRINGS NEW VIEW

Building relationships has been one of the most satisfying aspects of her career, says Tiffany Coleman.   Recently hired as executive director of the Warren County Economic Development Corp., Coleman will have plenty of opportunities to form new relationships. For the past two years, she served as economic development director of Polk County, Mo., near the Springfield metropolitan area.

“The diversity of large and small communities is what attracted me to Warren County,” said Coleman, who lives in Indianola. “Just being back in the metro was a positive.”

She replaces Stacie LoVan, who left the WCEDC after three and a half years to accept a position as manager of business assistance for the Greater Des Moines Partnership.

Coleman, who holds a degree in biology and worked briefly as a teacher, has five years of economic development experience. Before working in Missouri, she served as a project manager with Dallas County Development Inc., now known as the Greater Dallas County Development Alliance, in Adel. She holds several professional certifications, including completion of the Economic Development Institute, a 120-hour course offered through the University of Oklahoma.

Coleman was a good choice, said Kevin Halterman, president of the WCEDC board.

“Tiffany has the vision, marketing ability, as well as a sound understanding of the processes involved with economic development,” he said.

Working together as a team is an important part of economic development, Coleman said. “It’s not just one person or one organization,” she said. “You have to have that team effort and that communication.”

According to its 2003-05 business plan, the WCEDC’s short-term goals include recruiting three to five significant new businesses into the county; assisting at least 12 potential business expansions or retentions; creating at least 250 living-wage jobs through new and expanding businesses; and securing at least $5 million in new private capital investment over the next three to five years.

The organization recently moved from the county administration building to an office in the Wells Fargo Bank building, 515 N. Jefferson Way, in Indianola.