Economic development may be one of the hardest assignments in local government because there are very few quick victories.
A county can spend years investing in roads, broadband, utilities, workforce programs, and business recruitment without much visible evidence that any of it is working. Companies change plans. Funding comes and goes. Even successful projects can take years before the public sees the results.
It requires a long view, some luck, and perhaps most importantly, someone with enough patience to keep pushing when there isn’t much to show for the effort.
In Dorchester County, Susan Banks has been doing that work for nearly 13 years.
Banks joined the county’s Economic Development Office in January 2014, first as business development manager and later as director. Now, some of those long-term investments are beginning to show.
“We put years into infrastructure and trying to become development-ready, and it’s finally coming together,” Banks told the Spy.
She is quick to share the credit.
“It’s not all me,” she said. “It’s taken a lot of people to get where we are now, and there’s still a lot of room to grow.”
However, there are some very visible signs of progress.
Fire & Risk Alliance is expanding into the Dorchester County Technology Park, where the company is developing a major research and testing facility. Banks says the company has acquired six lots in the park, with another letter of intent covering two additional lots.
That is a significant change for a technology park that for years was more promise than activity.
“We’re getting to a point where we’re ready for anybody to come in,” Banks said.
The progress extends beyond the Tech Park. Dorchester has invested in broadband, repaving Woods Road, workforce development programs, and expanding Cambridge’s Rails to Trails project.
The trail project is a good example of the less visible side of economic development. Woods Road is home to some of the area’s larger employers, but getting there can be difficult for workers without cars. The new trail will provide a safer route for people walking or biking to jobs in the industrial corridor.
Economic development is not simply recruiting a company and holding a ribbon-cutting. Sometimes it is making sure an employee can safely get to work. It also means helping local businesses and workers grow. The county is working with Chesapeake College and Mid-Shore Behavioral Health on workforce development, while programs such as BEAMS continue to provide support for small businesses.
Banks sees all of those pieces as connected. “Our main goal is to create an environment where businesses can come to Dorchester County, grow, succeed, and find skilled employees.”” she said.
She also sees economic development as increasingly regional. “A business in Talbot County is a win for Dorchester. A business in Dorchester is a win for Wicomico,” Banks said, noting the number of people who commute across county lines for work.
Perhaps the most telling thing Banks said during our conversation was also the simplest.
“If you’re in economic development, you have to be patient.”
For much of the last decade, Dorchester’s economic development story has been about preparation. Now some of that groundwork is starting to show.
Readers can hear our full conversation with Susan Banks in the accompanying Spy podcast which runs eight minutes. For more information about Dorchester Economic Development please go here.
