The new CEO of the Spokane Area Economic Development Council, whoever that is, might take charge of a very different organization than the one that exists today.


The EDC is commissioning two studies, one to see what the community, and especially its business members, thinks about the EDCs strengths and weaknesses, and the other to see how it compares with economic-development programs in other communities Spokanes size. Depending on the results, there could be changes made to the EDCs mission, to its relationships with other organizations in town, or to the CEOs job description, board members say.


Were going to go into that research with an open mind, says Randy Fewel, vice chairman of the EDCs board and president and CEO of Inland Northwest Bank here. Whatever the research tells us, we will consider it.


Fewel says the two studies will be launched soon and will be conducted by independent research organizations. The results will be available in about two months, he says.


The decision to initiate the studies predates the resignation last week of current EDC President and CEO Mark Turner, says Jack Heath, an EDC board member and president of Washington Trust Bank.


He says some EDC members felt the studies were necessary because of changes in the community. The incorporation of the cities of Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake, the growing number of other groups that pursue some economic-development initiatives, such as Intec, and the decline of the local economy all have created a new landscape here, Heath says.


I think that our economic-development efforts have been effective (but) as your community changes, you continue to refine how you deliver to your community and constituencies, he says.


One of the two studies, whats being called the stakeholder study, will be paid for by one or more EDC business members, says Lane Guin, chairman of the organizations board and sales manager at KXLY-TV here. It will survey major and minor financial backers of the EDC, city government officials, and companies that havent contributed to find out why they havent, Fewel says.


The other survey, a best-practices look at other communities economic-development activities, will be paid for with funds left over from Focus 21, an economic-development fund-raising effort that ended last year.


Guin says he doesnt know how much the studies will cost.


One of the topics that will be covered in the best-practices study is how other communities align or combine their various business-development activities, such as economic development and business promotion, for maximum efficiency and impact, says Rich Hadley, a board member of the EDC and president and CEO of the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce.


Especially in a tight economy, Theres certainly a lot of discussion in the community about how do we improve upon our success by working more closely together, being less fragmented, having a culture of collaboration, Hadley says.


One model that will be studied is combining the activities of the EDC and the chamber, but both Guin and Fewel say they believe thats an old model.


Interim leader


In the meantime, the EDC hopes to appoint very soon an interim CEO to lead the organization while a search commences for a permanent replacement for Turner. Fewel says several candidates have surfaced to fill that interim position, but he declines to name them.


In coming months, the EDC also will be wrestling with the issue of finding permanent funding for the organization, a topic that Turner has emphasized in the past year.


Although a proposed bill calling for permanent funding for economic development died in the most recent legislative session, the Legislature approved a separate bill that allows counties to levy a 0.3 percent sales-and-use tax, a portion of which could be used for economic-development funding, the Spokane Regional chamber says.


The tax would be subject to approval by local voters, and Fewel says the EDC board will look into the feasibility of bringing such a measure before voters here, although he adds that it could be a year before that happens.


That will be a very hot topic for us to be exploring, he says. I would see us working very hard to get that onto a ballot.


One local observer of the EDC says he hopes the organizations current soul-searching exercise results in major changes.


Erik Skaggs, vice president for external affairs at Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. here and a frequent critic of Spokanes status quo, says he believes the EDC needs a completely new board that includes only those who have skin in the game of economic development, a group he says would include real estate developers, financiers, academicians, and industry and labor representatives.


As for a new leader for the organization, he hopes the EDC taps a retired businessperson for the post.


Youve got to get somebody whos actually invested and developed, who can bring that expertise and is ready to help a community to do the same thing, he says.