None at this time. Council may provide direction as to the proposed Business Retention and Expansion Incentive program, which is one means to encourage existing businesses within the targeted sectors to stay and grow in Flagstaff.  Staff will be asking Council to adopt a resolution formally approving the program at the May 19, 2020 Council Meeting. 

City of Flagstaff Economic Development Offices are charged to enhance the local economy through a variety of means including developing programs to assist local businesses to stay and grow in Flagstaff. Existing businesses have already committed to operating their business, employing other residents, and making a life in Flagstaff. Time of distress or expansion can be a challenge to the business to stay viable. The Business Retention and Expansion Incentive will help to retain those businesses or to help those businesses to expand. $30,000 will be made available annually, as budgets permit, on a first come first served basis to businesses in existing targeted sectors to retain and expand such businesses within the City of Flagstaff city limits.

The City of Flagstaff has a history of providing incentives, financial and non-financial, for economic development purposes. Flagstaff City Council approved  an Economic Development Policy Including Incentive in 2002 which was developed in partnership with the Northern Arizona Economic Development Advisory Committee (NAEDAC) and the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce. In 2009, Economic Development staff presented the City of Flagstaff Economic Development Incentive in partnership with the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce. The proposed Business Retention and Expansion Incentive Policy used the previous policies as a template to assist existing businesses.

Targeted industries are the following: Entrepreneurial companies, small business, start-ups, biosciences, medical device, air-side companies for the Flagstaff Airpark, research and development, health care, clean energy, software development, and education. The targeted industries typically provide high wage jobs that also have a low environmental impact. As wages are variable in each of those sectors, a high wage will need to be considered to that specific sector. Additionally, low-environmental impact is hard to quantify. The interview process will help the applicant and staff to navigate that conversation through these two variables. There is an assumption that a business currently operating within the city limits understands the community value to respect the environment and to have that respect incorporated into their practices. 

Business Retention and Expansion staff has worked with internal and external stakeholders, and private business to ensure that the proposed policy appears sound and will meet the objective of helping to retain and expand existing businesses. A proposed application review team of Economic Development, Procurement, and City Manager's Office staff will ensure integrity of the process. Follow-up by staff will ensure that the recipients have used the funding according to the program and their application's proposed use. 

Recipients will be required to reimburse the awarded funds only if the business leaves the Flagstaff City Limits within three years of award.