Aurora is considering seed money for a new economic development organization being formed from four traditional city organizations.
Aldermen are scheduled to vote at the Oct. 22 regular City Council meeting on seeding the new group with $5 million that would come from money the city received as an economic development settlement with Cyrus One, a data center company building a new facility on the far East Side.
The new organization would merge the economic development components of Invest Aurora, a not-for-profit economic development arm of the city; the Aurora Regional Chamber of Commerce; the Quad County African-American Chamber of Commerce; and Aurora Downtown.
The organizations would continue as they are, with the merger affecting their economic development components.
Aldermen heard some details of the merger at this week’s Committee of the Whole meeting.
Kelly O’Brien, president and CEO of Invest Aurora, said the idea for consolidation of the organizations’ economic development components came from other communities that have done the same thing. She said the four organizations all have economic development efforts, but they vary, and while there is a history of cooperation, sometimes the efforts are not coordinated.
“The idea that this was fragmented does not serve our community in the best way,” she said.
The merger idea came out of a June study, titled “The Ecosystem Review and Best Practices,” that surveyed six business-oriented organizations – in addition to the four that are currently part of the merger, it also included the Aurora Regional Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
After the study came out, all six organizations took part in discussions about the fragmentation, and exploring the idea of consolidating their economic development efforts. By the middle of summer, the boards of the Aurora Area Chamber of Commerce, Aurora Downtown, Invest Aurora and the Quad County African-American Chamber of Commerce had voted to consolidate.
O’Brien said the Aurora Regional Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has not responded, but officials are hoping they would join the consolidation. It was agreed by all involved that the Convention and Visitors Bureau did not fit the new organization because they are not directly involved in economic development.
The final form of the new organization is still being worked out by an attorney, O’Brien said. She said the plan is to have a board of 13 people – five chosen by the mayor and two representatives from each of the four organizations – to run the group.
There would be a larger, overall advisory board – what she called the “mothership” – made up of all the existing boards of the four organizations.
The $5 million would be used for what is being called the Transformation Fund, and could go toward, among other things, a national level consultant to an economic development strategic plan; creating departments within the organization for shared resources and decreasing duplicated efforts; stabilizing the financial position of the organizations.
Goals of the new organization could go toward developing small, minority and women-owned businesses; advancing workforce initiatives; innovation and entrepreneurship; promoting Aurora’s downtown; and economic development partnerships with the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development at the city.
Chris Minick, the city’s chief economic development officer, said while there would be interaction between all the groups, the Office of Economic Development would continue “making strategic decisions” when it comes to economic development.
Minick also said the $5 million would come from the $16 million settlement the city made with Cyrus One during the process of the company planning to build its new data center along Bilter Road, next to the Eola Road interchange with Interstate 88.
That settlement helped the city recapture some of the costs it paid toward development of the interchange, in anticipation of economic development there.
The area has now become a data center area, and the city negotiated the $16 million settlement in lieu of other kinds of economic development in that location.
Minick said the city is working to integrate the $16 million as part of the 2025 budget process, which is just beginning. The money would go toward economic development or community development goals.
He said officials are contemplating $9 million going into a city revolving economic development fund that would finance city involvement in economic development projects. The fund would be revolving, meaning as the funded projects pay the city back, the money would go back into the fund for more investment.
Officials also are looking at putting an additional $1 million into historic preservation projects, and another $1 million into an existing facade business improvement program.
The $5 million toward the proposed Transformation Fund would round out the $16 million.
Ald. Ted Mesiacos, 3rd Ward, asked how $5 million was arrived at as the amount for the fund. While Minick cited no metrics for that specific amount, he called it “a good figure to allow beneficial seed money.”
“It was available as part of the recapture,” he said. “It could provide a good base to develop a strategic plan.”
