Thursday, June 14 th 2013

 To establish a strategic plan for economic development that will aid existing industry expansion and allow for new industry opportunities  Formulate a marketing plan to carry out the strategic plan

 Steps involved to establish the strategic plan:  To review existing conditions  Formulate a shared vision  Develop achievable goals  Formulate an action plan  Establish “dashboard indicators”

 Expand our long term economic development strategy to promote growth  Develop an industrial and business retention and expansion plan  Pursue partnerships with educational institutions to retain an educated workforce  Continue to develop an infrastructure support plans which will allow growth within and around Washington  Continue to foster a pro-development approach to business development and enhancement  Consider a business recognition program  Continue public-private partnerships  Retain a full-time Economic Development Director for the city

 Increase the economic vitality of downtown in both attracting and retaining business  Investigate feasibility of establishing a façade improvement program  Create architectural design guidelines  Promote the use of financial incentives such as historic tax credits to renovate and revitalize  Promote residential living downtown

 Broaden the city’s economic base by attracting diverse businesses  Maintain an inventory of existing businesses and develop a marketing plan to target undeserved economic development interests  Continue to work closely with the state to indentify key properties for development and the city’s interest in developing those parcels  Create a high-quality marketing plan and distribute it to targeted businesses  Actively pursue development of an office park in the community  Work to establish a small-business incubator to expand the city’s business base

 Review the City’s policy concerning the use of economic development incentives to create economic opportunity  Ensure that financial incentives are linked to specific performance criteria such as the number of jobs or wage rate targets  Work cooperatively with the school district and other taxing jurisdictions regarding the use of tax incentives

 Focus on making the city a destination location in the St. Louis metro area  Increase marketing of both tourism and non- tourism aspects of the Washington area to attract visitors  Develop a unified thematic approach to better identify the Washington Community  Investigate various financing strategies to promote and enhance the tourism market

 In 2012, in conjunction with Franklin county and Ameren Missouri, a workforce survey assessment was conducted by growth management services  In 2013 the results were formulated with 22 participating industries, 8 of which were located in Washington, MO  The results covered workforce characteristics such as product quality, productivity, safety, honesty, work ethic, reliability, trainability, attitude, team compatibility, initial skills, educational achievement, availability of job applicants

 In January of 2013 Franklin County, through application to the Department of Economic Development was recognized as a Work Ready Community in training

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