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<br />Economic development in Arden Hills will succeed when city staff . <br />turnover is reduced to levels representative of the industry and <br />preferably below that level. In order to accomplish that task, the <br />City Administrator must be commissioned with full administrative <br />responsibility of the city while the City Council bears the responsibility <br />for policy and legislative roles. We would recommend that a <br />consultant be employed to recommend the most effective roles and <br />responsibilities for the City Manager and Council in managing the city. <br />5) Community Awareness <br />The third leg of the economic development is the community itself. If <br />the citizens understand the vision for economic development they will <br />be much more capable of supporting an economic development <br />mission. Toward that end, they need to be perceived as part of the <br />overall economic development effort. Incorporating citizen support <br />for economic development will require that they be informed of the <br />economic development focus of Arden Hills. This will be accomplished <br />by amending the Mayor's already well received newsletter to include a <br />section on economic development. In addition, this newsletter will be <br />appended to the City's recently revamped web page for download. . <br />~ate: Years 4/5 <br />6) Redevelopment Director <br />As a land locked community, Arden Hills is no longer able to stimulate <br />economic growth through the annexation of additional space. The <br />goal for the community now is to optimize the space available to them. <br />Even if the TCAAP project were to never materialize, the need to be <br />more actively involved in the redevelopment of Arden Hills presents <br />itself today. This individual would be strongly skilled in the ability to <br />take existing properties and convert them to new investment and job <br />creation opportunities. <br />Product <br />The next most important component of an economic development program is <br />the product itself. In a similar fashion to a business taking their product to <br />market, the community needs to look at itself as a product that is being . <br />bought, improved and resold over and over again. Enhancing the quality of <br />Strategic Plan for Economic Development Page 14 of 25 <br />Final Draft - Ready for Release Subject to Council Approval and Adoption <br />