Earlier this month, the Clayton town council was scheduled to hold a public hearing on an economic incentives package that was being considered for a business recruit.
The agenda packet the newspaper typically recieves ahead of the town council meeting included no supporting material about that agenda item. That didn't surprise me terribly because economic development issues can be so terribly secretive right up until the last moment.
The next day, I learned council members didn't discuss the issue because there were some hold ups.
Economic development issues can be frustrating news to cover. State law allows a lot of secrecy in the process and elected officials and bureaucrats, typically, are quite capable of keeping those secrets.
As you can imagine, secrets aren't received really well at a newspaper.
But part of me understands the need for negotiations to go on in private.
In an email, I asked Town Manager Steve Biggs a question about the issue. He responded quickly with an answer that prompted another question.
So I e-mailed him back.
A few hours later Biggs sent me a lengthy response unlike any I've ever gotten from a public official.
It was, to say the least, educational and incredibly enlightening.
In his note, Biggs explained the economic development recruiting process in a way I've never heard.
My assumption has always been that businesses approach towns, counties and states and ask what incentives and infrastructure they are willing to provide to lure that company there.
According to Biggs, it doesn't work that way. Large companies, Biggs said, settle on a handful of sites, then form teams within their own company to work with the local governments on a deal that will provide the company the most benefit.
The teams work independently with the community they are assigned to put together the best package they can.
Those packages, Biggs said, sometimes include tax incentives based on job creation and infrastructure like roadways or water lines, but they also have a timing component.
The company works with the town or county to review the regulatory review process to make sure they can start operating quickly enough to start making money.
Some companies, Biggs said, have committed to Clayton because the regulatory process was more favorable than in other places. Companies have turned away from Clayton because the timing of that process wasn't fast enough.
Those site teams, Biggs said, are actually competing against each other and they keep their work close to their vests even within their own company until they are ready to lay all their cards out on the table.
In his email, Biggs pointed out that townspeople expect their government to create new jobs and the process requires that level of secrecy.
To be sure, Biggs is correct that local residents and taxpayers want new jobs created.
And, Biggs and the town council did not invent the process that companies and economic developers use.
But they are caught up in it and they have to play the game if they want to meet residents' expectations.
As true as all that is, though, it's still a tough pill to swallow when government business is conducted in private.
The way the process works, the public has a chance to weigh in on the cost of these incentives before a final decision is made. But unlike the town and the company they are working with, there's not a lot of time to assess a deal. Residents are really left to trust that their government is making a reasonable deal for what it gets in return.
