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Hilliard economic development director outlines downtown focus, recent business attraction
Summary
The city’s economic development director described the office’s role in business retention, job creation and attracting companies, citing CityLab and the attraction of “4 c power” as recent initiatives and noting collaboration with Jobs Ohio and 1 Columbus.
The city’s economic development director said the office’s work centers on business retention and expansion, job creation and attracting new firms to Hilliard, and cited downtown-focused entrepreneurship programming and a recent company attraction as examples.
The director said the city has emphasized entrepreneurship and downtown development through CityLab and pointed to the attraction of “4 c power” as a concrete result of that work. “My role as the economic development director is to, lead the economic development effort for the city, which include business retention and expansion, job creation, and then attracting businesses to our community,” the Economic Development Director said.
The director, who said they started with the city of Hilliard a little over seven years ago, described how outside leads and local work intersect. “That started off as a lead from Jobs Ohio and 1 Columbus. And we had to help identify real estate options in the city and then put together some of the financial packages that go into attracting the business,” the director said. They added that staff participate in site visits to showcase the community, attend announcement events and follow up on workforce development and other programming with new companies.
CityLab was presented as a downtown-focused initiative to support entrepreneurship and innovation while staff emphasized accessibility to businesses of all sizes. “Our team is special because first and foremost, we all care,” the director said, adding that team members bring different backgrounds and perspectives that help evaluate policy and business decisions.
The presentation did not include formal actions, funding totals, contract specifics or a timetable for future projects. The director invited community members to contact the office with ideas or requests for assistance.
The director closed by saying, “I love economic development,” and restating an open invitation for local entrepreneurs and businesses to reach out for support.
