County Asks How to Be More Business-Friendly

County Board Member Dan Koukol knows what it takes to get 50 Kendall County business leaders in one room: a free breakfast. Well, that and the chance to sound off on ways to make the county more business-friendly.

Koukol, chair of the county’s economic development committee, offered both Wednesday morning at in Yorkville. Koukol’s committee is preparing to make recommendations next year to the County Board, and he’s hoping to get as much input from the business community as he can.

Last year, the committee conducted a survey of residents, and found that 42 percent of those responding believe there are not sufficient jobs in Kendall County. 79 percent would like to see the county protect agricultural lands, while 75 percent want more commercial and retail growth. Seventy-three percent would like to see more offices in the county, while 72 percent want more manufacturing.

Kendall County has 114,736 residents, according to the 2010 Census, and Koukol said 67 percent of them leave the county every day to go to work elsewhere. He’d like to see that change, and he asked the business leaders on hand Wednesday how to go about doing that.

The answers were varied. Greg Terwilliger, real estate director with the Opus Group of Rosemont, said his clients are all looking for the same things: access to local labor, transportation and tax abatements. The Opus Group has built two office and retail spaces in Kendall County, Terwilliger said.

Mark Baum, of R.C. Wegman Construction in Aurora, said a proposed Oswego Metra station is a key component to bringing in more businesses. And Rob Eberhardt, of K2K Associates in Oswego, said small businesses are the lynchpin of any economic development plan.

“You need to find individuals who are considering starting their own businesses, and have this discussion with them,” he said.

Mary Kay Pilmer, of in Montgomery, said more education on state grants and other business funding would be helpful. She praised the for connecting her company with some of those programs.

But the strongest comments of the morning came from those hoping to get the county to move faster when it comes to development services.

Rebecca Oliver, of HRM Properties in Oswego, said it has sometimes taken her clients up to 18 months to get their permits from the county. She said there are “hungry” municipalities all over the area willing to pick up the pace for a big project, and the county needs to follow suit.

“You have to do what you say,” Oliver said. “Once it gets out of your hands as the leadership of the county, you have to make sure your staff and administrators support your words. We get businesses to come to you, businesses who want to be here, but everything once it’s out of your hands tells them you don’t really care.”

“Your actions equal profit or they equal loss for everyone,” she said.

Michael Cassa, head of the Oswego Economic Development Corporation, said the right perception of county services is vital to economic growth. He used the example of people searching for a good dentist, saying they are likely to ask family and friends for recommendations.

“If they’re looking for a referral for a decision like that, imagine if they have a $40 million project,” he said. “They’re going to ask their peers, ‘What have you heard about Kendall County?’”

Koukol said this was the first of three planned roundtable discussions with the business community. The committee plans to return in November of this year, and February of next year, with more information on the economic development plan as it comes together.

He expects county approval on the plan before March of 2012.

“Absolutely,” Koukol said, when asked if this discussion gave him what he was looking for. “We want to open the communication lines between businesses and the economic development committee.”