McHenry Market Pulse: CALEA Reaccreditation; Chamber Update; Business Expansion and Reopening; Arbor Day Celebration and D15 School Expansions!!!!

· There are a few key fundamental principles to a successful economic development program which I don’t believe can be overstated. I have always been a firm believer in the importance of maintaining positive, healthy and productive relationships to facilitate business growth, retention and expansion, as well as to sustain a community’s economic well-being. I am also a strong advocate of community engagement as well as taking a holistic approach to economic development and interrelationships between business attraction, expansion and retention, tourism and community events and festivals!

· I’ve also stated economic development is not only about filling a vacant building or constructing a new one but selling an entire community; quality of life; educational system, emergency management/public safety, working collaboratively and partnering with other stakeholders because at the end of the day businesses are, in a figurative sense, buying into everything a community has to offer not just a building or site. At the end of every blog post I state: Please continue to provide feedback, submit questions and comments because economic development is a community-wide effort!!!

· At the City Council meeting this past Monday many examples of the aforementioned points were displayed. First the McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce provided their quarterly update to the City Council. Representatives from the Chamber spoke about their Business Network Scramble on April 24, 2015 to assist small business development and matching businesses with resources and other businesses which may complement or supplement their efforts. The McHenry Area Chamber will also be coordinating a Scavenger Hunt on April 28, 2015, hosting their Annual Golf Outing on May 20, 2015 and Fiesta Days will take place July 10-July 19, 2015. More information about these and other Chamber events can be found on their website: http://mchenrychamber.com/.

· McHenry Elementary District 15 received zoning approval to construct building additions to replace mobile classrooms at Chauncey H. Duker Middle School as well as Hilltop School. These are the first two schools which will have additions constructed over the next several years in an effort to remove all the mobile classrooms at all schools in McHenry Elementary District 15.

· Also at Monday’s City Council meeting an expansion to the existing conditional use permit for Chain O’ Lakes Brewing Company, located at 3425 W Pearl Street was approved. This expansion will allow Chain O’ Lakes Brewing Company to offer outdoor seating and entertainment as well as host food trucks at their site on a permanent basis. Previously, they had done so but were only permitted during specific time periods. This approval provides them more flexibility and opportunities to be even more successful.

· You may have noticed the gas station at the southeast corner of Elm Street and Meadow Lane has been undergoing extensive renovations and remodeling. At the City Council Meeting on Monday night V3 Gasoline Inc. doing business as Marathon was approved to sell packaged alcohol. This station will be reopening in the near future….

· The City Council also approved a Professional Services Agreement with FGM Architects to complete design and facilitate construction administration at the City’s Municipal Center. In the coming months, in addition to the construction of the first phase of the McHenry Recreation Center renovations will also be completed at the Municipal Center in an effort to make the Municipal Center more customer-friendly and provide a consolidated one-stop shop point of service contact for multiple City services….

· Police Chief John Jones announced the City of McHenry Police Department’s successful reaccreditation from The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). The City of McHenry Police Department was the first law enforcement agency in McHenry County to attain CALEA Accreditation 12 years ago and must undergo an extensive reaccreditation process every three years. This is quite an accomplishment and a great deal of work is required to even be considered for accreditation and intensive training, ongoing procedure review, community outreach, policy formation and implementation is necessary from the moment an agency receives its initial accreditation in order to maintain and receive reaccreditation. This is an incredible honor and immense source of pride for the City and I’d encourage you to learn more about CALEA by visiting the following website: www.calea.org.

· Mayor Low read a Proclamation on Monday night recognizing the City of McHenry as a Tree City USA, an achievement the City has maintained for more than 20 consecutive years!!! The Tree City USA program is administered by the Arbor Day Foundation. The City must apply annually to receive this designation and specific criteria are utilized to qualify and be considered. This is another great source of pride for the City and its Parks and Recreation Department and specifically Tom Schmidt, Superintendent of Forestry and Park Planning….

· The City of McHenry Arbor Day Celebration will be held on April 24, 2015 at 3:00 p.m. in the City of McHenry Council Chambers. I’d encourage you to attend this event as it is a great opportunity to learn more about the program and how residents can participate by donating a tree which is planted in one of the City’s many parks. To learn more about Arbor Day, its history and the Tree City USA Program you can visit the following website: http://www.arborday.org/programs/treeCityUSA/index.cfm?TrackingID=400&utm_source=ArborDay&utm_medium=ArborDAy&utm_campaign=SepOct2014ArborDay.

· As you can see just in this blog post the City of McHenry has cultivated and maintains numerous productive working relationships with many public and private agencies throughout the City and County. As I stated at the beginning of this post community engagement, quality of life, partnerships and working collaboratively is critical the City of McHenry’s economic well-being and will assist in its business retention, attraction and expansion efforts!!!!

Please continue to provide feedback, submit questions and comments because economic development is a community-wide effort!!!!!!!

Coming in future blog posts:

What are economic development clusters and value chains?
What are SIC, SOC and NAICS codes and what were/are they used for?
What factors do non-retail businesses consider when thinking about relocating?
How do brick and mortar businesses remain competitive with on-line businesses?
Chicago Metro Metal Consortium..
Challenges Businesses Face when Road Construction occurs
Customs and Export Controls and Sanctions Compliance Seminar….
Illinois Small Business Development and International Trade Center…
Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy Update…
What are Class A, B and C spaces?
Franchising? What is it? What companies offer it and what challenges are associated with attracting a retailer which operates exclusively using franchising?
Future trends in economic development: “market segmentation;“ “pop-up” stores; “placemaking/third places” and “creating an experience”….
Challenges associated with economic development…