Ron Brochu
In the midst of a lingering recession, Northwestern Wisconsin leaders are engulfed in a dispute that could hinder efforts to better promote the area and fund new development.
For months, members of various economic and job development bodies have complained the 10-county area lacks an overarching regional marketing group to seek new private investment. Similar entities – such as The New North, representing a coalition of business groups in 17 counties surrounding Green Bay – already have been created in eight areas of Wisconsin. Only the northwest lacks a unified organization.
But there’s sharp disagreement over who should manage that entity, if it’s created, and the angst has flowed all the way to Madison through a series of letters to the Commerce Department.
In June and July, the dispute came to a rolling boil when Spooner-based Wisconsin Business Innovation Corp., a private nonprofit affiliate of Northwest Regional Planning Commission, was awarded a $30,000 state grant to facilitate creation of the regional marketing group. Within a month, a competitor for that grant, Opportunity North, raised the stakes, declaring itself the “New Regional Economic Development Authority in Northwest Wisconsin.”
“Opportunity North will enable the economic development corporations, governments and member businesses to have their economic interests and concerns communicated to State of Wisconsin and federal officials,” the group said in a July 18 news release. “The mission of the agency will be to bring agencies, businesses and governments together, including tribal governments and municipalities, to improve economic development conditions and the quality of life for residents living and working in this part of the state.”
That announcement caught many by surprise, including Doug Finn, Northwest Regional’s board chair. He said Opportunity North threatens the concept of a unified marketing effort.
“We can’t afford to go in different directions,” he said. “I don’t have a lot of time for people who don’t want to work together.”
Myron Schuster, executive director at Northwest Regional, also was surprised.
“I have no idea what’s going on” with the formation of Opportunity North, he said.
Nonetheless, friction between the groups was hardly a secret in state and local development communities. From Ashland to Hayward, written complaints were filed with the Commerce Department last December after WBIC submitted its grant application to the state. Representatives of city and county development groups and the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal Governing Board said that WBIC, in its grant application, claimed their allegiance without seeking their consent or making any contact whatsoever, an accusation Schuster denies.
“The LCO Tribe knows nothing of the details or the goals and objectives of the (WBIC) grant application,” Michael Isham, a member of the LCO governing board, said in a Dec. 29 letter to Mickey Judkins of the Wisconsin Commerce Department.
“We have had no input and do not support the (Planning Commission’s) application,” Ashland Area Development Corp. Executive Director Dale Kupczyk wrote in a similar letter of complaint dated Dec. 22. Development officials from Washburn and Sawyer counties also submitted written objections, along with former Barron County development director David Miller.
Their response emerged following several months of meetings during 2010 at which the city and county developers discussed creating a regional economic development authority (EDA). Miller led that group until Barron County decided it could no longer afford to fund his position. Scott Allen also was at those sessions. The executive director of Sawyer County Development Corp., he currently is a spokesman for Opportunity North.
“One of the sessions was held in Northwest Regional’s own meeting room in Spooner. Myron (Schuster) didn’t attend. Myron never showed any interest in the project, nor did anyone else at Northwest Regional,” Allen said.
He said participants submitted a grant application to the Commerce Department. Then one day, a state official called to ask if they’d provide a letter to formalize their support for the competing proposal authored by WBIC. That’s when they first learned about WBIC’s application, Allen said, and when they first learned that WBIC claimed region-wide support.
Allen contends Northwest Regional and its WBIC arm wasn’t interested until it learned the incoming administration of Gov. Scott Walker was putting a sizable amount of money on the table for the state-recognized regional marketing groups.
“When money went on the table, Myron Schuster suddenly became interested,” he said.
Others who attended the sessions, however, said they weren’t making much progress.
“All I can do is guess that Scott Allen is upset that his (grant) proposal wasn’t selected” by the state, Schuster said.
In an interview, Allen said Opportunity North intends to proceed without the state’s $30,000 grant. With a budget of less than $1,000, he said his group has formulated bylaws and incorporated as a non-profit to represent the economic interests of Sawyer, Bayfield and Ashland counties. He questioned why so much money was needed to launch a marketing group.
“This is not an ‘Us vs. Them’ situation. We hope they form an EDA for the remaining counties. But the other three have unique needs and unique demographics. Our number one employer is the tribes. We also have significant tribal populations. We have no large cities or interstate highways, and our economy is dominated by forestry and tourism – seasonal jobs,” he said.
An administrator in Wisconsin’s newly reorganized Commerce Department, however, said the state will only sanction a marketing group that represents all 10 counties. Strategic Policy Adviser Amy Young said the state’s goal is to bring “all players to the table,” and it won’t support an entity that represents less than a third of area.
The process to facilitate creation of a regional marketing group will begin in August, Schuster said, and WBIC is interested in becoming that group.
“We have the resources and staff to do what the state wants to get done,” he said, noting that WBIC has $3.2 million in assets and manages a $2 million loan fund.
“I think Northwest Regional Planning Commission is the right group. They make things happen,” said Michelle McKercher, assistant director of the Development Association, which represents Superior and Douglas County. “We’ve had a great working relationship with Northwest Regional. Whenever we’ve contacted them for assistance, we’ve got it.”
Some feel the rift is not as deep as it may seem.
“There might be some pushback because Northwest Regional has such a long history,” said Mari Kay-Nabozny, who directs the Northwest Wisconsin Workforce Investment Board. “When you’re that old, you’re bound to have some people who don’t like you. Maybe some people just wanted something new.”
Opportunity North intends to hire an executive director having grant writing, development and private sector business expertise, Allen said, who will seek funding through foundations and the federal government
These days, that’s a challenge, said Bill Bay, president of Almena, Wis.,-based Impact 7. Government spending cuts have slashed the availability of many funding sources, he said. Meanwhile, banks face federal lending restrictions.
“These are the worst conditions I’ve seen in 43 years in the economic development business,” he said.
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