Glen Ellyn pulls plug on development corporation
Glen Ellyn will stop funding its economic development corporation with an eye toward doing more in-house work to attract and retain business.
The EDC, created as a not-for-profit in 1991 through a partnership between the village and chamber of commerce, has received funding through a special service area tax levy on commercial properties.
But the annual village contribution to the EDC has gone down in recent years, from $191,000 in fiscal 2010 to $125,000 this year. And it was only after lobbying by the EDC’s lone full-time staff member and volunteer board of directors that village officials agreed to spend more than $70,000 on the corporation.
Now, village officials say they plan to take on more economic development duties, which includes the creation of a new position — an economic development manager — who will be “the point person for the village’s business recruitment and retention efforts.”
“We need to eliminate duplication of effort, increase alignment and accountability, and decrease the costs of our economic development efforts,” Village Manager Mark Franz said in a news release announcing the changes.
Village President Mark Pfefferman hinted during budget discussions last April that the future of the EDC was in doubt. Since then, the village hired Franz, who Pfefferman charged with assessing the future of economic development efforts in town.
“What is the strategy?” Pfefferman said in April. “Should the (EDC) position be full- time, part-time, or be cut?”
The village board agreed at the time to fund the EDC through the end of the current fiscal year, which ends April 30.
Franz said the EDC served a meaningful purpose, but the village’s economic development needs have changed.
Janie Patch, the EDC’s executive director, had no comment on the village’s action.
Franz said Patch will have the option of interviewing for the new village position, and Pfefferman will ask members of the EDC board to join the village’s new economic development committee.