Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Economic Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Auburn reports new economic development website and stepped-up business outreach
Summary
City economic development staff previewed a soft launch of a new site and summarized 2024 outreach that included hundreds of business contacts, a small-business spotlight series and targeted recruitment work.
Auburn economic development staff on Jan. 27 told the City Council that a new department website has launched in soft form and that staff made large in‑person outreach gains across downtown and the broader city in 2024.
"Good evening, everybody. I am Emerson Fokker, economic development coordinator," Emerson Fokker said as he introduced the team’s update. Jen Francis, Economic Development Manager, joined Fokker in presenting the department’s year-end work and plans for 2025.
The presentation said the department contacted roughly 170 businesses for recruitment and visited 260 downtown businesses, and that the department’s meet-and-greet effort to introduce staff to downtown merchants was completed ahead of schedule. Staff characterized approximately 60% of the contacts as introductions and 21% as recruitment-related.
Jen Francis described the new site as a “soft launch” and said it will host pages for downtown opportunities, sites and buildings, business support, and featured real estate one‑sheets for properties such as Divine Court and Verge. The address shown to council is dev.auburnlaw.gov, and staff said the site will be refined with feedback as it is rolled out.
Francis and Fokker outlined marketing work including a small-business spotlight video series produced with the city multimedia team, which the presentation said has attracted tens of thousands of views. They also listed new downtown leases and openings that staff have tracked, including an escape-room business and new restaurant tenants.
Council members asked about implementation details: Council member Baldwin suggested adding QR codes for property owners to link store windows to the new site; Francis said the team will explore that option. Council member Trump Manuel and others asked for hotel‑occupancy data tied to events; staff said they had contacted hotels directly and used STAR reports when available, but cautioned it is difficult to attribute occupancy to any single event when multiple tournaments and trade shows overlap.
Why it matters: The new site and expanded outreach are intended to support recruitment and retention of businesses downtown and citywide, and to provide a single public portal to available sites, permits, incentives and featured properties.
The presentation materials were informational; council did not take formal action on the item at the study session. Staff said they will continue the soft launch, collect feedback and bring additional materials and possible promotional tools (including QR-code and printed handouts) to future council meetings.
