A city economic development coordinator could be a positive addition to the economic development team serving Lawrence and Douglas County through the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.

Much depends, however, on how the position is defined, the true goals of those supporting this proposal and who is hired to fill it.

Interim City Manager David Corliss has included a new position he called an economic development coordinator in the proposed budget that city commissioners will begin reviewing at a study session today. Corliss said the new coordinator would provide analysis on issues such as retail demand, downtown redevelopment, revitalizing neighborhoods and other issues related to economic development.

He emphasized that the position wasn’t intended to detract from or compete with the economic development marketing efforts of the Chamber of Commerce, and the city’s funding of those efforts also is included in the proposed budget.

That is a key point, both for taxpayers and chamber officials. Lawrence doesn’t need to split or duplicate its efforts to market itself to new or expanding companies, but city government and the attitude of city officials toward growth and expansion play a key role in economic development efforts through zoning, infrastructure, tax incentives and other policies. A city coordinator who works with the Chamber’s team as well as providing analysis and information about how and when the city can best support economic development projects could enhance the overall effort.

There are a couple of points commissioners should consider if they approve the new position. First, the timing on filling the new position may be tricky. It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to hire a new economic development coordinator before hiring a new city manager and a new city-county planning director, both of whom would presumably work closely with the new coordinator.

Second, it is important that the new job is filled with a highly qualified analyst who is driven by facts and data and not any political or planning agenda for Lawrence. This person’s job should be to ferret out information and present the best data available to city commissioners and other city officials.

If, as is the case with recent figures about retail saturation in Lawrence, there is conflicting data, the new analyst should dig deeper and try to explain the discrepancy. The job is to use facts to enlighten the city and allow officials to make informed decisions on important economic development matters.

Most observers agree that if Lawrence wants to maintain its current quality of life and level of city services, it needs to work aggressively to broaden its tax and employment base through business expansion. If a new city coordinator can enhance our economic development efforts by providing more ideas and information and better coordination, it would be a good investment for Lawrence.