Springfield leaders bring ideas home from Knoxville

That’s the consensus from members of the 38-person Springfield delegation that traveled to Knoxville, Tenn., Aug. 9–11. The trip was the 14th annual community leadership visit coordinated by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

Knoxville was chosen because of its similarity to Springfield, particularly in economic development and downtown revitalization programs, said Sandy Howard, the chamber’s vice president of public affairs.

Development efforts

After seeing Knoxville’s downtown, BKD LLP accountant Andy Lear said he feels good about downtown Springfield’s redevelopment.

“We all came away thinking that in downtown redevelopment, while (Knoxville’s) is larger, we’re doing most things just as well, and we’re doing some things with unique partnerships that they’re not doing yet,” Lear said, referring to downtown projects such as College Station and the Heer’s building, which are being facilitated through agreements between city government and private developers.

Springfield industrial developments in comparison also have benefited from public/private partnerships, said City Utilities General Manager John Twitty, who was on his fifth leadership visit.

“Anytime you go somewhere else and look at what they’re doing, you always come back feeling good about the partnership industrial centers,” Twitty said, referring to PIC and PIC West, which were created after the city and City Utilities purchased land and added infrastructure to entice new industrial business. “We have very high levels of cooperative spirit. In the trips I’ve made, I haven’t seen indication that anyone is doing that better than we are here.”

Lear, however, said that while public/private partnerships are strong locally, he noticed an emphasis in Knoxville on partnerships between local governments.

“They talked a great deal about partnerships, and how their county and the adjoining counties – because their city limits are filled up – are working together,” Lear said. “There’s a lesson in that. The tertiary markets are important, and I think they’re paying attention to that maybe to a greater degree.”

State support

One particular concern for Springfield Councilman Gary Deaver was the relative lack of state government support for education in Missouri compared to what’s happening in Tennessee.

As an example, he pointed to a University of Tennessee project at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory studying the use of alternative crops for energy production. That project received $70 million in state funding, which the university was then able to use to leverage an additional $70 million in federal funding.

“That could be the next generation in technology that we’ll be using in this country, and they have that in their state,” Deaver said. “We became very concerned about how we have to scrap and fight for our institutions to get funding to move the state forward.”

Tennessee officials, he said, also have a stronger dedication to creating jobs in the technology field.

“They made the statement that they don’t want an auto plant in Knoxville – they said those jobs will be the cotton pickers of 100 years ago, replaced by robots and higher technology before you know it,” Deaver said. “They’re thinking of the high-level engineers and astrophysicists. These are the things that they see as the jobs of the future.”

Deaver pointed to the Roy D. Blunt Jordan Valley Innovation Center, which has received $55 million in federal funding for building renovations and scientific research, as an example of local educational initiatives to benefit technology research, but he said the area still needs more state support for such projects.

“We’re doing a lot of great things in Springfield, in my view, in spite of state government, not because of it,” he said.

Related News: Brian Fogle, vice president of community development for Great Southern Bank, gives a firsthand account of the leadership group's trip to Knoxville. Click here.[[In-content Ad]]