Economic Development Newsletter March 2017

What is an Economic Development Authority (EDA)?

Welcome to the Economic Development Newsletter! Read on to learn what an EDA is, what we accomplished last year, and what to expect in the future from this newsletter.

Cities have many boards, some that may sound more familiar to you than others:

Parks & Recreation
Airport Commission
Budget Committee
Personnel Committee
Economic Development Authority (EDA)

The City Council is composed of elected officials that make final decisions on behalf of the City of St. James. The other boards of the City are composed of two Council members and community members appointed by the Mayor.

The St. James EDA is a 7 person board. Current Members are:
Pete Eggen, Chair
Paul Harris, Vice Chair, Council Member
Ray Hahnfeldt, Council Member
David Krause
Myron Johnson
Rich Olsen
Jake Wegner

The Economic Development Authority has the ability to buy and sell property, offer tax incentives for business and housing development, manage revolving loan funds, work on Business Retention and Expansion (BR&E), collaborate in marketing the community, etc. The overall goals of the EDA are to create high quality job growth, expand the tax base, and improve quality of life in the community.