Economic Vitality Committee Agenda and Packet 2022 04 22

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Cityof ECONOMIC VITALITY COMMITTEE Louisville COLORADO -SINCE 1878 SUBJECT: DISCUSSION- 2021 ANNUAL BUSINESS RETENTION REPORT DATE: APRIL 22, 2022 PRESENTED BY: MEGAN E. PIERCE, ECONOMIC VITALITY DIRECTOR SUMMARY: Business retention visits are a key component of the City's overall strategy to retain the existing businesses already operating in Louisville. Visits provide a human point of connection as well as a format for dialogue. The dialogue often leads to key learnings about the businesses' needs, but can also help the City to address issues relating to services and processes. From the economic development standpoint, the investment in retention is sound: keeping a business that is already established generally requires much less effort than attracting a new business to fill a vacant space. The relationships created also enhance the likelihood a company will reach out if they encounter future issues or are considering a relocation or expansion. DISCUSSION: Economic Vitality staff established a regular process for outreaching to companies as well as tracking responses and key themes heard in 2019. Attachment #1 displays the survey tool staff uses for tracking feedback from retention visits. 2022 is the second annual report on retention programming and activity. Staff performs the majority of business retention visits independently, since retention is a core economic vitality function. In 2021, staff continued to offer both in -person and virtual visit options. Visits are approximately one hour, and the business is invited to bring in members of their team and offer a tour if feasible. Following the visit, staff enters the survey information in the database, tracks any questions or concerns that require follow-up, and sends a personal thank you note. Information that may come up about a particular service or department is shared by the economic vitality staff with other City staff. With approximately 750 brick -and -mortar businesses, it is important to target a certain number of visits each year and to continually be scheduling these opportunities. In 2021, staff saw a continuation of the trend for businesses to decline a visit or simply to not respond to multiple outreach attempts. Staff does track the visits conducted as well as the attempted outreach. We also focus on outreaching to new businesses, usually three to six months after opening, as well as certain industry areas (food manufacturers, life science firms, etc.). And, not every business interaction is tracked as a retention visit. We reserve these visits to dedicated time with the businesses that is focused on an opportunity to engage and learn —not just to assist in resolving a current need or issue. So day-to-day contact with businesses remained high in 2021, but is not reflected in these more formal activities. In the past, the Business Retention & Development (BRaD) Committee assisted in identifying targets for visits and also participated in some meetings. As a result of our Agenda Packet P. 7