City of Watertown launches business retention and expansion program

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Beginning this month, two Watertown area businesses will be giving the City the opportunity to hear their opinions about the local economy and City government as Mayor McFarland formalizes an economic development program. Announced at the Chamber of Commerce's "Wakeup Watertown" event in honor of Manufacturing Month, the Watertown business retention and expansion program officially begins this October with visits to local industries to identify their needs and concerns, hear their opinions about local government, and see how the local business climate can be improved.

“Our visits to local businesses have a few main purposes,” said McFarland. “First, we want to open the door to communication and coordination, and deepen the relationships we’ve already established. This is an excellent opportunity for our city government to better understand the perspectives of our business community. Second, we want to understand what their concerns and pain points are. Where possible, we will work to address those at the local level, or advocate at a state or federal level. Third, we are looking to engage our business community in setting our economic development priorities. Based on business visits both before the pandemic related shutdowns and those since, we have been able to coordinate around two of the biggest issues facing our employers: workforce and childcare. We’ve helped facilitate strategic partnerships and creative, short- and long-term approaches. None of this would have been possible without the business community sharing their insights.”

The program is a formal extension of business visits the Mayor and Strategic Initiatives and Development Coordinator, Alex Allon, have been making since companies have eased COVID-19 restrictions. “Mayor McFarland had been performing these visits prior to the start of the Pandemic,” said Allon. “When we resumed, the economic landscape had changed. We both realized that the City could be a great partner to help with some of the challenges our businesses now face. So, we decided to create the City’s first formal Business Retention and Expansion program to demonstrate that we appreciate our local businesses for the contributions they make to our community. We’re ready to go to bat for them.”

Dominic Rilott, of ITW Shakeproof, is excited about the prospect of the City’s support. “Our facility will be undergoing several improvements over the coming months,” he said. “The timing of the City’s effort couldn’t be better.” The program team will visit ITW Shakeproof’s facilities on October 26 and Symbol Mattress on October 19. 

The program is set up to support economic development by helping existing industries. “It has been shown that roughly 80% of economic growth in a community is from existing businesses,” said Allon. He emphasized that the information shared will be strictly confidential. “Individual business responses will be summarized with those of other firms and reported as percentages or averages at specific milestones throughout the program,” Mayor McFarland added.

The core team administering the program includes the Mayor, city staff and the Watertown Area Chamber of Commerce. Chamber Executive Director, Bonnie Hertel, and her staff have been helping schedule business visits for the City’s team and will continue to assist. “We support our members and the broader business community in a variety of ways,” said Hertel. “Having a formal program from the City adds another layer of support and shows that Watertown is serious about helping local businesses.”

The goals for the first 12 months of the program include: performing 18 site visits and 10 interviews, hosting the program’s first annual Industry Appreciation event, and launching a “featured local business” platform.  Program performance will be reviewed every six months. At the end of the first 12 month period, benchmarks will be established and new performance goals set for the next phase. Initial business visits focus mainly on larger, primary companies. As the program grows in capacity, additional business support will be added.

Any local business seeking support from the program can submit a formal request on the program website at https://www.ci.watertown.wi.us/business/retention.php.