When City Commissioner David Schauner reads an article – like he did this week – suggesting tax abatements are costing cities and states $50 million, he would like to know whether it’s true.

And he’d like to receive that expert opinion from someone on the city’s payroll instead of an official from the Law-rence Chamber of Commerce.

“I think what the city really owes itself is to have its own staff member who reports just to the city on these type of issues,” Schauner said. “I think right now you have divided loyalties in a way.”

Schauner is reviving an idea for City Hall to hire an economic development planner. Schauner said the position could handle such tasks as advising the city on where new industrial parks should be located, providing financial analysis of companies applying for tax abatements and monitoring companies to determine whether they are producing the jobs they promised.

And given the unexpected resignation Thursday of Lynn Parman, vice president of economic development for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, Schauner wants to move ahead on the position sooner rather than later. City Hall splits the cost of Parman’s position with the chamber and Douglas County government.

“I would like to see if we have the money to do it right away,” Schauner said. “I think we do kind of have a golden opportunity here.”

Recruiting, planning

One commissioner’s golden opportunity, though, is another commissioner’s lump of coal.

“I just don’t see that it makes sense,” said City Commissioner Sue Hack.

Hack said the community had plenty of resources in place to tackle the issues Schauner envisions for an economic development planner. She said ECO2, a county-appointed board, was diligently working on locations for a new industrial park, and that all tax abatement applications went through a vetting by a city advisory board and an analysis by Kansas University’s Policy Research Institute.

Plus, Hack said the city had plenty of ability to ensure that the chamber was running its economic development division in a manner that met city goals. The city provides one-third of the operating budget for the chamber’s economic development division. The other two-thirds come from the chamber and the county. This year, the city’s share amounted to approximately $96,000.

“If we give money to the chamber for economic development, and in a year’s time it produces no jobs or only $6.50-an-hour jobs, then we can look at it and say we’re not getting our money’s worth,” Hack said.

But Schauner said he’s not proposing the new planning position because he’s displeased with the chamber’s efforts. He said he just the thought the chamber wasn’t equipped to do everything that the community needed.

“There’s a difference between a recruiter and a planner,” Schauner said. “I think the emphasis here really needs to be on the planner part of this.”

‘Important relationship’

Schauner said he thought it would be likely that the city would continue to fund the chamber’s economic development department, even if the city added the new planning position.

“I think the chamber does a good job of recruiting,” Schauner said. “But the chamber is not in the planning business. I don’t think that really is their strong suit.

“I don’t, however, think there’s anything to be gained from us cutting off our relationship with the chamber. That is an important relationship.”

But Schauner stopped short of saying that the new planning position wouldn’t result in a cut to the chamber’s funding. The city hasn’t done any research to determine how much a new position may cost.

Schauner does have some support from fellow commissioners. City Commissioner Mike Rundle has been a long-standing supporter of the concept.

“Economic development has been one of the primary goals of the city since I’ve been on the commission, yet we don’t have a staff member devoted to it,” Rundle said. “I think just getting well-researched information would take some of the contentiousness and politics out of future economic development discussions.”

Chamber leaders said they were withholding judgment on the idea until they heard more detailed information about the proposal.

“We need to visit about what the expectations are,” said Lavern Squier, president and chief executive of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce. “But we do feel like we have been good stewards of the process.”