What makes a good Web site? One measure might be a good mix of cool stuff and useful stuff.
Jackson County has put up a site like that to make economic development a little easier.
“We’re trying to put more tools in the toolbox for our communities,” said Robbie Makinen, the county’s economic development coordinator.
In fact, the county’s site at http://gis.jacksongov.org/econmap/ is a tool even Johnson County, Kan., doesn’t have, Makinen said.
It starts with a map of the county, but a user can pull up a good deal more than that. Looking for office space of a certain size in Independence? Looking for commercial space in Blue Springs? Just click through a couple of pull-down menus, and a list of locations comes up. Keep going, and you’ll find who’s selling and for how much, whom to call and where, what the zoning is and what the taxing jurisdictions are. You can even punch in your house and find out how much of your local property tax dollar is going where.
The idea is that a potential investor in Boise or Beijing could look around and get some basic information without getting on a plane or even getting on the phone.
Plans are to add demographic information and other data over time.
“I can’t wait to see what it looks like two years from now,” Makinen said.
Makinen said his boss, Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders, revived the county’s economic development efforts when he came into office in 2007 and gave Makinen the job of rebuilding relations with the area’s various economic development groups, such as the Independence Council for Economic Development and the Blue Springs Economic Development Corp.
“What can we do? What do you think our role should be?” were the questions Makinen said he took to those leaders.
This Web site is one result, and it’s been done at little cost.
“It was all done with staff in house, and it’s updated in house,” he said.
Makinen add that another site – www.kcsourcelink.com/ – is nationally recognized and outlines available resources as well.
Jackson County Economic Development is at www.jacksongov.org/econdev/
