Clovis adopts economic development plan

Nov. 22—The Clovis city commission adopted an economic development plan on Thursday that experts say is more comprehensive than any plan to date.

TIP Strategies, Inc., an Austin-based consulting firm, wrote the plan.

"We're excited to see this plan," said Tina Dziuk, executive director of Clovis Economic Development, in an interview on Monday.

"Clovis Economic Development was rebranded this past year," Dziuk said.

She said the city's economic development organization was formerly named the Clovis Industrial Development Corporation, but it is now called Clovis Economic Development. A nonprofit, CED contracts with the city to perform its economic development services.

The city's economic development focus in the past had primarily been on its industrial park, but now that there are contracts in place for the remainder of the park, the city can focus more on the greater business sector, she said.

Clovis Economic Development will expand its economic development efforts to the greater business sector, which will include business recruitment, business expansion and retention, she said.

"It's a great time to commission TIP Strategies — they are experts in the field, in my opinion," said Ernie Kos, executive director of the Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce. "It's a great roadmap for all of us involved in economic development."

The plan is comprehensive and includes goals, strategies of how to accomplish them and a timeline, Kos said.

Dziuk said the first thing the city plans to do is meet with its economic development partners, including Clovis MainStreet, the Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce and the New Mexico Workforce Connection, to take an inventory of "what has already been done in economic development in Clovis and where the organizations are in this effort."

Kos said the city previously had an economic development plan, "but not this extensive and also it was not as collaborative with all the members in the community involved in the effort."

"It does seem like all the planets are aligned," she said. "The mayor got the Local Economic Development Act for retail, which is an incentive for retail."

"Just at lunch today, I drove past two new restaurants under construction," she said. "I feel the future is definitely bright for our community."

City Manager Justin Howalt said in answer to questions posed by the News in an email: "The City currently has a contract with the CED for $80,000 annually. With the passage of the statute allowing local economic development funds to be utilized for retail and the fact the City had not fully developed an economic development plan, it was felt contracting with a consultant to guide and assist in the process was the best course of action. Previously, the goals, strategies and priorities were outlined in our ordinance pertaining to economic development, which focused on traditional industrial development. The approved Economic Development Plan includes not only business development, but also includes talent and quality of place, making it more comprehensive. These two additional factors play a key component in business development.

"The plan also includes an implementation matrix outlining the goals of each section and the lead organization and supporting partners.

"The most important reason for the plan is to have a common focused goal to increase our local economy, which not only benefits our citizens through business opportunities, job creation, local shopping, etc., it also helps local dollars stay local which increases gross receipts tax," Howalt said.