Cedar City wins economic development consultation

BY SAMANTHA ARNOLD • sarnold@thespectrum.com • April 7, 2010

CEDAR CITY - The Cedar City and Iron County Economic Development office won a free consultation with Hickey & Associates, one of the top site selection firms in the country at the Governor's Economic Summit on March 29.

Represented by Economic Development Director Brennan Wood, of Cedar City, won in The Dating Game-style contest against Weber and Davis counties at the summit.

Wood said the questions ranged from funny to serious, focusing on Cedar City's economic development advantages and strategies.

"I had a chance to really talk about the community," he said. "It's a huge compliment for us. I was pretty excited when we won the visit."

Wood and the rest of the economic development office gets to meet with a representative from Hickey & Associates to help go over Cedar City and Iron County's strength and weaknesses for attracting companies.

"It's very difficult for a community to get attention from a site selector," he said. "Just the chance to get them to come out ... this is a great thing for our community."

As one of the top site-selector companies in the country, the opportunity to receive feedback is great, said Clark Caras, marketing director for the Governor's Office of Economic Development.

"Cedar City really has a lot going for it," he said. "Cedar definitely came off as a good date."

Because the firm represents so many companies throughout the country, the visit from one of the representatives is also a good opportunity for Cedar City to demonstrate why it is an economically viable site to locate, Caras said.

"We hope the date turns into a good match or marriage," he said.

Wood said as part of the meeting, he plans to take the consultant around the area to show off some of Cedar City's strengths like the airport, Port-15 business area and Interstate 15.

"The first battle of economic development is to get in front of these consulting firms," he said. "We want to sell them our community. They'll give us a review and a one-on-one opportunity to talk to the consultants to find out what works and doesn't work in our community presentation."

A representative from the company is expected to pay a visit to Cedar City in June, Wood said.