Johnson: Business input needed for state's economic development plan
Courtesy / Governor's office
Heather Johnson, commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.
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Business input is necessary to help form the state's 10-year economic development plan, Heather Johnson, commissioner of the state Department of Economic and Community Development, told a group of real estate industry stakeholders Wednesday morning.
Public input on forming the 10-year plan begins Thursday with a summit in Augusta, followed next week by a series of 10 sessions that draw in businesses and economic development officials from around the state. Mills announced the initiative late last month. The state hasn't had such a plan for 24 years.
Johnson, speaking at a breakfast forum sponsored by the Maine Real Estate and Development Association in Portland, told the group that the focus will be on three or four targeted areas, and it's important to have business input for another perspective on new ideas and challenges.
Initial strategic goals are to drive the value-added contribution per job from $87,160 in the state, while protecting Maine’s quality of life; equitably grow the annual median wage/job from $31,550; grow the workforce from 700,000, according to the plan summit packet.
A variety of "success factors" go with those goals: developing research and development for all industries, increased productivity in the state, greater environmental responsibility, recession-resistant strategies and more.
The point is to talk about possibilities, "not where we've been," she said.
"If we're going to create an impactful plan, everyone is not going to be happy in the end," she said. She said the state will pick a couple of things that will work, get them running, "then pick a couple more things and get them running."
Thursday's session is from noon to 5 p.m. at the Augusta Civic Center, and includes a discussion of trends and goals, as well as regional and statewide strategies. The plan is due to be completed by Nov. 15 and presented to the Legislature in December.
Changing the business landscape
In December when Johnson and Mills met to discuss the DECD job, they talked about six topics crucial to Maine's economic development — workforce, connectivity, industry drivers, the state's brand, stability of the marketplace and the state's economic plan. The first five topics were ones Johnson brought to the meeting. The sixth — the state's economic plan — was a topic Mills introduced.
"Things that would really change the business landscape," she said Wednesday morning.
Six months later, those topics are still at the forefront of her department's mission, she said.
One state initiative that will be implemented is a branding effort that will combine disparate ones that will focus on Maine's economic opportunities as well as quality of life.
"You'll start to see us talking about Maine in a different way, and you'll start to see other people talking about Maine in a different way," she said.
Another goal is to focus on letting the dust settle from a busy legislative session common to a new administration. She said businesses need stability to be willing to invest in Maine.
"One thing [state government] can do is to stay quiet, and let investors work it out and see where investments can work," she said.
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