By Pepper Parr
January 4, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON.
The Burlington Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) Strategic Plan was introduced to a Council Stranding Committee recently. There was a blessing from Council and a sigh of relief as well as the hope that the desperately needed leadership was finally in place. Newly minted Executive Director Frank McKeown left them feeling confident.
After far too many years of expensive consultant’s reports the hope is that there is a board that means business and will do business
The updated Strategic Plan incorporates the principles of the BEDC which they believe will deliver the outcomes the City desires and in some cases redefine achievable results envisioned. There is now a dose of reality as well as a reality check.
The BEDC has had a difficult four years. Under the direction of the former Executive Director, it was never able to get beyond commissioning report after report. Significant Burlington companies chose to leave the city – at least one was taken from us right under our noses.
The Board decided that it had had enough and dismissed the Executive Director in 2013 – on All Hallow’s Eve – and began taking a look at what was needed. A high powered group of executives was brought in as advisors and with all kinds of input from former city manager Jeff Fielding they looked as if there wasn’t a business they didn’t want to get into.
It is amazing what sensible, proven executives will think of when they feel they have their hands on the public purse and not all that much in the way of genuine oversight. A one point they were going to create close to half a dozen corporations to get into property acquisition and development.
Former city manager Jeff Fielding had all kinds of ideas on what could be done with the Economic Development Corporation.
When Fielding bought a one way ticket to Calgary some of the high flying ideas were given a reality check and a new board was installed; they appointed Frank McKeown, formerly Mayor Goldring’s chief of staff.
The BEDC Strategic Plan was developed to address key economic community needs:
a) Investment and assessment growth;
b) Growing local employment opportunities and
c) Accessible Industrial Commercial Institutional (ICI).
The BEDC then adopted a number of key strategies to pull this off:
Develop an Economic Vision for Burlington that will fit into the City’s Strategic Plan. The plan will have very specific goals and tactics that are well researched and can be executed.
Develop and maintain critical economic data, reports and policy; this will require an upgrade in capacity but will form a long-term basis for better insight and decision-making.
In his report to Council McKeown said: “It is vital that Burlington increase the investment at the Industrial, Commercial Institutional level – relying on the residential portion of the tax base is a recipe for a financial disaster for the city.
Frank McKeown, while the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, attempts to fix the clock in Council Chambers. He now gets to set the clock for economic development.
In an exclusive interview McKeown explained part of his problem. “We don’t have an economic vision”. He added that part of the problem in creating an economic vision is the need to tie that to the vision the city has for itself – and at the moment the best Burlington can do is point to the three pillars in the Strategic Plan put together in 2011: Prosperity, Vibrant Neighbourhoods and Good Governance.
What has Burlington got going for itself other than a lake at the bottom and an Escarpment at the top – which is basically geography. The city has talked about eco-tourism and making the cycling opportunities more attractive – but Burlington isn’t France and there is never going to be a Tour du Burlington.
We did have a shot at some major cycling events in 2012 but that one got away when the cost of policing the event just wasn’t feasible financially.
The federal Inland Water operation has been around for years and was thought to be a possible anchor for the creation of an economic cluster.
Burlington does have a very significant cluster of corporations involved in the water business – some 60 of them. With the federal Inland Water Centre serving as an anchor there was the hope that something could be developed. Turns out that most of the companies in the water business didn’t want to cooperate all that much for fear they would get to know each other too well and poach specialized talent from one another.
The city does have a nascent pool of engineering talent and significant depth in the 3P field which, combined, gets Burlington corporations involved in some major projects. 3P’s are Public Private Partnerships that bring private funds and expertise to the table to build public infrastructure projects; from the water we drink to the roads we drive on.
Recent reports suggest that these 3P project end up costing the government much more than if the government did all the work themselves. The other side of that argument is that governments tend to go over budget and well beyond the planned delivery date.
The Joseph Brant Hospital is a 3P project that involves a number of Burlington corporations.
The Joseph Brant Hospital re-build is a 3P project that recently announced who the lead contractor is going to be. That team includes local financial expertise.
McKeown is focusing on who the major property owners are in the city. He has a list with nine names and has already met with five of the nine to determine what they have in the way of land holdings and what their long term objectives are. This includes the development, in coordination with land owners and developers, of a 5 year investment profile around potential development and a proactive approach to local development opportunities. He then has to square that with the city Official Plan. It is a challenge.
The BEDC is being restructured around services. We must be able to answer the question – How can BEDC help grow our business? explained McKeown. Services being evaluated include access to senior government funding, accessibility to McMaster research for Small Medium Enterprises (SME’s), export growth support, support for start-ups, and key peer networking opportunities.
These will be largely partner driven. The BEDC will partner with the city to create a surplus land marketing pilot. Burlington doesn`t have all that much surplus land but the pilot will allow the City and BEDC to establish principles around land development opportunities and for BEDC to develop land development/marketing competencies in a low risk focused way. Surplus lands will remain under City ownership in this process until the transaction is completed.
Frank McKeough, former Chief of Staff to Mayor Rick Goldring asked about how politicians can handle complex issues when voters tend not to be informed. As the Executive Director of economic Development he can now be very proactive at informing the voters.
When McKeown was the Mayor`s Chief of Staff his biggest frustration was the rate at which things got done at city hall. McKeown was frequently heard muttering `”there isn`t any speed at city hall”. Culturally, BEDC will re-tool its processes and activities to respond at the Speed of Business to business and opportunities.
In addition, they will be following a partnership strategy to help us achieve the outcomes the community needs. These partnerships will include clear definition and agreement on activities. BEDC will be pursuing a broad range of partnerships expanding on its partnerships with the City and Team Burlington to include partnerships with the Halton Region, HalTech (local Research and Innovation Centre), McMaster University and an expanded partnership with the Burlington Chamber of Commerce. They will also be working to establish ongoing stakeholder engagement with the important actors in the development community and key business sectors.
One of the areas the BEDC has not managed yet to do the job that has to be done is finding a better more relevant and effective way to communicate with the public. The communications team was dissolved and a more fresh approach is being created.
The BEDC is getting out of the networking business and has passed that along to the Chamber of Commerce – they will share the networking opportunities. McKeown tells people that their networking events brought in a lot of money – but they also cost a lot of money to make happen and while staff were immersed in putting on events they weren’t able to get much done in the way of attracting new business to town.
Frank McKeown, then the Mayors Chief of Staff explains a concept to Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman. Both are strong believers in the need for solid, verifiable information before decisions are made.
McKeown wants to see much better data. Much of the data coming out of the Region is “less than reliable” according to McKeown. The approach he says to measuring results in a number of areas is “not consistent and we end up with data that doesn’t tell us what we need to know”. Putting systems in place to gather the data, validate it and then make decisions based on that data will take time and it will cost – but McKeown knows better than most that without good data you cannot make good decisions.
Many of the areas of focus for BEDC are new or currently unmeasured. The organization has identified how they we will measure performance and will begin immediately to track and report on these identified measurements. Over a short period of time they will have benchmarks established and performance results published.
The BEDC board has decided it will not move forward as a Land Development Corporation.
During his time as city manager Jeff Fielding began the developing of a relationship with the Fraunhofer Institute. They are Europe’s largest application-oriented research organization whose research efforts are geared entirely to people’s needs: health, security, communication, energy and the environment.
Fraunhofer has aligned itself with McMaster University and Burlington wants to become part of that relationship. McMaster currently has a meaningful project with Fraunhofer in life sciences.
McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business is seen as a prime resource by the economic development people. The connection is being developed.
McKeown explains that McMaster is the number two research and development university in Canada (University of Toronto holds the number one spot). “Part of what we want to do is achieve much better access to these people and the commercialization of some of the research they do. They are a tremendous resource.
For once we have an agency that isn’t pushing its snout into the public trough and asking for more money. The BEDC proposes to operate in 2015 at the existing base budget level. As they evaluate the pilot land marketing activities they will have a revenue measurement which they will use for future evaluation.
When McKeown got into involving the public in economic development his report said: “Earlier discussions regarding BEDC reorganization identified some public engagement requirements. BEDC is not reorganizing the corporation at a level to trigger this requirement. BEDC will be actively engaging stakeholders and the public during their development of the Economic Vision.
Not exactly an invitation for the public to voice an informed opinion is it?
This time around there is a board in place to get a job done; no longer are there a bunch of people who sat at the BEDC board table to protect the interest of the organization they represented. A welcome change.
The ball is now in McKeown’s hands – assuming the Board he reports to acts as a Board and not a group of people with personal agendas. McKeown has a proven track record – he can pull this off if he is given the room and the resources. He is financially prudent and knows what risk is and how to measure it.
The biggest unknown for McKeown is what his former boss is likely to do. City Council has to create a vision for the city that is real and compelling.
