Economic Development & County Government

The official word
F. Wayne Cooper

This is an historic day in Charles County.

Today, the Charles County Economic Development Commission becomes the Charles County Department of Economic Development. Beginning today, the Charles County government will have a department dedicated to increasing the commercial tax base of the county and the creation of high-wage jobs in our community.

The department will continue to work with local businesses to help them grow, and it will encourage outside employers to move to Charles County or to open satellite offices here.

Economic development is crucial to our community for two reasons. First, the county needs to expand its commercial tax base to help shift the burden for paying for public services such as schools, roads and police protection away from homeowners. Second, the county needs to create better jobs in our community so our residents can work closer to home.

Roughly 60 percent of the working adults in Charles County commute outside our borders to work every day. Fewer commuters will mean fewer cars on the road, less traffic congestion, and cleaner air.

Perhaps most importantly, though, less traffic will also mean more county residents will have more time to spend at home with their families. Stronger families will mean stronger neighborhoods, which means a stronger community overall.

I think it’s safe to say that our future in Charles County is riding on successful economic development.

This is why my colleagues and I on the Board of Charles County Commissioners voted unanimously this spring to transform the EDC into the new Department of Economic Development.

The county chartered the EDC back in 1970. It was a private, not-for-profit corporation, although it received most of its funding from the county government.

The EDC went through several incarnations over the years. The most recent was created in 1997 when the EDC opened its offices on the College of Southern Maryland’s La Plata campus.

But in recent years, my colleagues and I on the board of commissioners have sometimes felt that this arrangement left us less involved with the decision-making and planning at the EDC than we would have wished. Improving the communications between the board of commissioners and the EDC was the prime reason we decided to bring the organization under the umbrella of the county government.

Now, the people who work for the department will enjoy easier access to the board of county commissioners and other local government officials. We will all be part of the same team, working toward the same goal of making Charles County the best place possible to live, work and do business.

Our community joins other jurisdictions in the Washington, D.C., area – including Montgomery County, Md., Arlington County, Va. – that have departments devoted to economic development. These are progressive communities with strong business bases. We are wise to follow their lead by making economic development a function of the local government.

By creating our own department, we hope to send the signal to the rest of the world that we are serious about economic development in Charles County. Making economic development a department in the county government helps demonstrate that in Charles County, our government is in the business of helping business.

We are fortunate that the EDC’s board of directors will continue on as advisers to the new department. The board is comprised of talented residents who represent Charles County’s business world, and the department will benefit from their guidance and counsel.

In addition, we are lucky that the EDC’s staff will become employees of the new department. These individuals are among the hardest-working people in Charles County, and they will contribute mightily toward making the new department successful.

The county is completing a national search to hire an Executive Director for the new department. The person who fills this position must be a dynamic leader, someone who can help take the department – and Charles County – to the next level.

The county expects to fill the job by late July or early August.

For another month or so, the new Charles County Department of Economic Development will be based at the EDC’s old offices on the college’s La Plata campus. Around the first of August, the department will move to new space on Centennial Street near the Charles County Chamber of Commerce’s office in downtown La Plata.

The decision to transform the EDC into the new Department of Economic Development was not made lightly. My fellow commissioners and I believe this is the best way to create jobs in Charles County.

I truly believe our community is poised for greatness. When I think about the future, I envision a Charles County where businesses are prized corporate citizens and every resident who wants a good job close to home can find one.

I am confident this vision will become a reality, and that we’ll all look back on this day – the day the Charles County Department of Economic Development was born – as a significant milestone on the road to that future.

F. Wayne Cooper, a Democrat, is president of the Board of Charles County Commissioners.