Christian County stakeholders are in the process of forming a public-private economic development partnership designed to attract businesses to cities like Nixa and Ozark.
Speaking this morning for Springfield Business Journal’s monthly 12 People You Need to Know interview series, Nixa Mayor Brian Steele said more than $150,000 has been pledged so far for a business development corporation similar to the Taney County Partnership. He said the developing fund - mostly full of private business contributions via five-year commitments - has buy-in from every city in Christian County.
Similar to the Taney County Partnership’s Jonas Arjes, Christian County currently is seeking a “salesman” to lead the business development corporation, Steele said.
“We’ll have a Christian County Jonas who will be able to really get out there and work hard to bring new businesses to Nixa and to Christian County,” he said.
Starting off, the economic development organization’s goal would be to perform marketing studies to identify Christian County’s resources and how best it differentiates itself from other areas. Nixa, for example,
last year brought in Suddenlink Communications to provide gigabit internet service in the city.
After performing studies, the partnership then would move to lasso businesses interested in southwest Missouri.
“At that point then we’ll come in and say, ‘Hey you really want to be in Nixa, you want to be in Ozark, you want to be in Billings, wherever, the place that best identifies with your business,’” Steele said.
In Nixa, Steele said a key goal is landing businesses that can create a greater daytime population, as much of its residents commute to Springfield and elsewhere for their jobs.
It’s tough going given Nixa doesn’t have direct access to Interstate 44 or Highway 65, but promotion of services like high-speed internet can be a boon for what Steele calls the “master bedroom community.”
This year, over 100 new businesses put down roots in Nixa, which is up from 80 in 2015, Steele said.
“We spend a lot of time and effort trying to bring in that business development. That’s one of the key things we have to have to create a sustainable community,” he said. “You can’t just have houses the way that the systems are set up now.”
