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Cedar Hill steps up business plan

February 12, 2005

By LOYD BRUMFIELD, News Editor
Today Newspapers

Now that business is booming in Cedar Hill, the city is working on ways to make sure existing companies stay happy here.

Toward that end, the Economic Development Corporation is reaching out in the form of a business survey and the formation of a Cedar Hill Manufacturers Association.

“The sexy part of economic development is chasing new businesses and getting them to come to our town, but we also want to make sure our existing businesses and retail outlets are taken care of,” Economic Development Director David Miracle said.

Miracle became Cedar Hill’s economic development director in April of 2003 when economies everywhere were still reeling from the effects of terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

“After 9/11, the economy went downhill everywhere and there wasn’t a lot of expansion going on,” Miracle said. “Everybody was just trying to hold on to what they had.”

Several industries suffered major blows, especially in the areas of hospitality, tourism and airlines.

“So it became a major policy for a lot of cities to maintain what they had,” Miracle said.

As a result, Cedar Hill moved forward with the creation of a business retention plan, specifically known as a Business Expansion and Retention Program (BREP).

BREP is at the top of the list of a five-point strategic plan passed by the city council about a year ago. “It’s just smart on our part to know what’s going on with our current business - what leases are up and what we can do to make sure people want to stay here,” Miracle said.

Sherie Ellington, marketing and retention manager for the Economic Development Corporation, drew up a survey that’s being mailed out now to Cedar Hill’s expanding retail roll.

The survey asks for basic information such as company name, company type (manufacturing, retail, distribution, etc.), years in business, square-footage information and products or services provided.

The survey also asks for demographic information such as number of employees and they types of skills they have, whether or not a business is adding or cutting back on the number of employees and where their employees live.

The city also wants to know if employers plan to renew leases if applicable and if they plan to relocate, expand or add new technology.

“We need to find out what their needs are and how we can help them be successful,” Ellington said. “We know that if they have an issue that doesn’t get resolved, they can go to a specific person for help.”

The survey also asks businesses to rate Cedar Hill on a business-friendly scale (from excellent, good, average, poor or not applicable). Twenty-five areas are spelled out, from labor costs, education and training opportunities, quality of life, infrastructure and police and emergency services, among others.

The other four priorities in the strategic plan are:

  • attract desirable industries;
  • attract a competitive business park;
  • upgrade infrastructure supportive of business (water, sewer, roads, telecommunications, etc.);
  • create business-friendly policies.

Each of the five priorities in the strategic plan also have several objectives, and each objection has several ‘action steps’ that must be taken.

“A lot of consultants will recommend that a company not move somewhere that doesn’t have a BREP plan,” Miracle said.

Another prong in Cedar Hill’s plan involves the creation of a manufacturers association.

Miracle, a former economic development director for Midlothian, formed that city’s association, which meets on a monthly business and contributes financial resources toward several civic charities and organizations.

“Those cement factories (in Midlothian) are fierce competitors, and we didn’t know if getting them together would work out,” Miracle said.

But eventually the companies did meet and found out that sharing resources didn’t hurt anyone’s business.

“A lot of these businesses have common interests. Every-one has labor and equipment issues, and they can help each other out,” Miracle said. “That’s what we’re trying to do here.”

An initial meeting is planned for April 8 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Cedar Hill Recreation Center.

It’s just an informal get-together to see if there’s interest in starting an association,” Miracle said. Once the pieces are in place, then the association would decide on a meeting schedule and how to fund things, Miracle said.

“It won’t be a city-run organization,” Miracle said. “It’s not run by the city and it’s not funded by the city. Economic development is forming the group, but once it’s up and running it will be up to the organization to decide who is going to be the overall organizational entity.

Somewhere down the road, possibly in the summer, the economic development corporation wants to form a Cedar Hill Retailers Association, as well, and brief information about it and the manufacturers association is included in the BREP survey.

“Before this survey, there wasn’t a formal program (for reaching out to business) at all,” Ellington said, other than a newsletter.

The BREP program came up during Miracle’s job interview, he said.

“I asked if they had one, and they said no. I asked if they had a strategic plan, and they said no,” Miracle said. “So I told them we needed to get one developed.”

Loyd Brumfield can be reached at cedarhill@todaynewspapers.net .

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