Completed Move

My move from Concordia to Hillsboro is now complete. The house finally sold and the household goods are moved. I actually stayed in the same town for more than 10 days last week. My biggest problem was to find an auto shop to do the work that Charlie and Steve did for me. I think I found one!

I am going to use this Blog space to write about Hillsboro now. If you want to hear about what we are doing here, I invite you to stay registered. If, however, you want off the list send an email to lpaine@cityofhillsboro.net and let me know you want off the registered user list and I will remove your name. What I need is your email address. Some of the addresses do not let me connect a name with an address so just sending your name won't help me remove your address. It is a manual process.

I am finishing month 4 here. It has been quite pleasant compared to the Concordia environment. Imagine that!

About two months ago, we approved a plat for a new business park along highway 56 on the north end of town. The subdivision has 11 lots in 21 acres. We have two businesses interested in the property already.

The second business contact was interesting. The company called the Mayor, a realtor, and said we are interested in coming to your town, do you have some "dirt." Evidently that is developer slang for developable property. That was the week we were approving the Plat.

Being a curious sort, she asked "how did you find us?" The company used a "site selector" company called Buxton. Buxton uses a large number of data sourses to match businesses with communities. They work with 4,500 companies in the US. Additionally, they work with over 300 communities to help them find retailers for those communities. Hillsboro will become a client shortly.

Hillsboro has a number of projects tied to the sales tax revenue so development of retail markets is important. We have a very nice "cement pond" that is being paid for by sales tax money. Developing solid property tax and sales tax generating business, therefore, is very important.

Over the next 90 days, we expect to review 50 to 200 companies that match the buying patterns of Hillsboro folks to see who we can recruit here. It is an interesting concept that I will write about as we go thorough the process.

One important decision that the City Council considering is to make the marketing data available to the existing retail community so they can be more effective in their retail niche.

In doing a background check on the Buxton folks, I talked to a City Manager I know who said "with this information, I know exactly how many refrigerators will be sold in this market. Now I can talk with the retailers in town to prepare for that market demand." It is specific information like that that makes the service valuable to the local folks.

Once we identify the target business we want to go after, Buxton will help introduce us to the company. Our economic development person - who, by the way, is a private sector person like Kirk Lowell - will join me in making the pitch to the selected companies. (Note to the woodshop: now, don't spill your coffee; the private sector model works and it works here too!)

It has been fun sharing this information with you. I hope to get a group of Hillsboro folks signed up now. I need to get a new picture too for the masthead. Later!