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Regional development group asks Marathon County for $5,000 toward $130,000 industry-readiness study
Summary
Synergy, the five-county regional economic-development organization, asked Marathon County for about $5,000 to support a $130,000 targeted industry-readiness study that would grade local sites with visiting site selectors and deliver an industry-fit analysis; HR/Finance discussed the request and will consider it as part of committee amendments.
Angel, representing Synergy (the regional economic development organization for five Central Wisconsin counties), asked the board to support a multi-phase targeted industry-readiness evaluation that would assess industry fit and have site selectors review 5–6 properties in the region.
Angel said the full scope of the study, including travel and site-selector costs, is roughly $130,000. She described a funding model that would combine a WEDC capacity-building grant (about $50,000), Synergy’s $10,000 contribution and municipal partner contributions of roughly $5,000 each, and she asked county-level support in that approximate range. “By having this evaluation done and focusing on these key industries, we'll be able to work as a region together,” Angel said.
Synergy’s presentation emphasized data-driven target-industry selection, alignment with existing local strategic-planning efforts (including outreach to the Greater Wausau Prosperity Partnership) and an open public report when the study concludes. The group said the work would help smaller communities access expensive technical analysis and make local sites more competitive in state and national site-selection processes.
The HR/Finance and extension/economic-development committees reviewed the request and discussed possible contingency or grant-match funding before forwarding the matter to the full board for Nov. 11 consideration.
What’s next: HR/Finance will consider the county’s contribution and whether to fund a municipal partner share from contingency or another source prior to the Nov. 11 final vote on the budget.
