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When a municipality has economic development personnel on staff, our team works closely with them to provide a fresh perspective and introduce best practices-based solutions that are tailored to the community’s vision. Our economic development perspective and strategies are based on decades of service to local governments on hundreds of economic development projects. While best practices and creative solutions are a great starting point to establishing a vision and plan, our professionals understand that no two communities or projects are alike, and that crafting and executing a plan is always a unique process. In engagements where the client does not have economic development personnel on staff, our team acts as an out-sourced extension of the local government. Establish a Project Team The successful completion of a project requires extensive collaboration between a community’s staff, its consultants and our team. Key representatives from each of these groups form a collaborative team, and the responsibilities of each team member are mutually established. Establishing a project yeam early in the process creates effective lines of communication, clear accountability, and a collaborative tone for the successful completion of the project. Create a Plan Working as part of the project team, our professionals will identify and articulate the community’s specific goals and needs. Based on these foundational criteria, we will identify the scope of services necessary to achieve the desired results. We then develop a roadmap for success that includes: • A phased project plan, with milestones and timelines. • Task identification and assignment to team members. • Creation of a communications plan, including set team meetings, collaborative websites and status update procedures. • Budgets for each phase, as well as an overall project budget. Manage the Process While it is essential to couple knowledgeable and experienced team members with a well conceived plan, the final element of our record in achieving results is how we manage the collaboration of the team towards a common goal. For this reason, we dedicate an experienced project coordinator to each project team as a single-source contact for all project activities including: • Leading the implementation of the communications plan. • Building and managing a project-specific, secure extranet site where all resources and stakeholders can share and comment on work product. • Holding all team members accountable for agreed-upon time schedules and tasks. Coordinating regular update meetings with the community’s elected officials. |
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