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City seeks recruiter to fill position Medford's having a hard time finding a good economic development coordinator By DAVID PRESZLER For six months, the city of Medford has been searching for its first economic development coordinator to help existing companies expand and recruit new ones. The idea is to add an expert representing Medford in dealings with regional efforts such as Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development Inc., the nonprofit formed in the 1980s to bolster the area's economy. "We need somebody to represent Medford specifically because Medford has some unique things to offer," says Councilman Bill Moore. "Instead of always being part of a region, we need to focus on Medford," says City Manager Michael Dyal. But after more than 80 applications failed to yield a match, the city is hiring a professional headhunter to recruit its recruiter. "We have nobody else to interview and nowhere else to go," says Dyal. "It's time to bring in a professional." At Dyal's request, the city council voted last week to spend $15,000 of the salary it had planned to pay the coordinator to hire Richard Thrasher, a former executive director of the Texas Department of Economic Development. Thrasher has a worked in economic development in half a dozen states and Dyal says he has a wide network of contacts in the field. City officials met Thrasher after he applied for the top executive position at the Chamber of Medford/Jackson County, a job that went to longtime Chamber marketing director Brad Hicks. Even with Thrasher's assistance, Dyal says the city may need to boost its compensation package -- an annual salary of $55,137 to $70,380 with full benefits -- in order to get a top-notch coordinator. "These people are sought after," he says. "If they are good, they command six-digit plus salaries in many parts of the country." Raising the salary could prove politically tricky since it would soon enter a range similar to what city department heads now make, Dyal admits. But the city may consider other forms of compensation such as car allowances to make the package more attractive. The city has been very selective in evaluating candidates, trying to lure a top-tier professional who has actually completed company recruitments. Dyal says someone with those skills is "not necessarily easily found." "We've met with and interviewed a lot of people," he says. About a dozen candidates have been interviewed either in person or by phone. The city offered the job to a woman last summer, but she declined. The prolonged search makes for bumpy beginning to a project the city council has been looking at for some time. "It's been one of our goals for couple of years," Moore says of the full-time position. He says the coordinator will help existing companies seek grants and other assistance to grow as well as try to bring more industry to under-utilized areas like west Medford. Dyal says the job has three main focuses: helping existing businesses expand, targeting new industries or companies that fit well with what's already here, and helping ensure that the city's technology and telecommunications infrastructure is strong enough to compete in the digital age. How that mission dovetails with efforts such as SOREDI, which gets some funding from the city, remains to be seen. "I don't know what they specifically have in mind for that position," says Gordon Safley, SOREDI's executive director. He says he hasn't met with the city to discuss how the city coordinator's efforts would mesh with SOREDI's. Moore says SOREDI and the Oregon Economic Development Department have done a good job for Medford and the region. "This isn't any criticism of SOREDI and Oregon Economic Development," he says. Dyal says the city's coordinator is intended to be "complementary" to other efforts. Both Grants Pass and Josephine County have their own economic development officials as do other cities and counties around the nation. Safley says his organization and the representatives from Grants Pass and Josephine County have worked together "very well" and that he doesn't see why working with a Medford representative would have to be any different. "We're here to do the same thing," he says. "We feel we do represent the interests of Medford. We also understand they have certain needs that we don't address. We all want to do what's best for the city and the region." As for Medford's difficulty finding the right person for the job, Safley says it can be tough to find someone who's actually closed recruitment deals. Still, "I know they've interviewed some pretty sharp people." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA