Economic Development Advisor position created to support annexations and more

By Valerie Cury 

At the Feb. 27 Purcellville Town Council Work Session, the town council voted 5-2 for a part time Economic Development Advisor position. Mayor Stan Milan, Vice Mayor Erin Rayner and Council Members Kevin Wright, Mary Jane Williams and Caleb Stought voted for the position. Council Members Carol Luke and Chris Bertaut voted against.

The position would include identifying key goals, objectives and performance metrics to measure success, according to the town agenda. The economic development advisor would “identify and engage potential businesses, industries, and investors to attract new enterprises” to the town. They will work with “local and other government officials and agencies” as well as “businesses, professional and industrial representatives to support sustainable economic progress.”

They would develop initiatives and programs to retain and support the growth of existing businesses. Identifying locations for businesses to put their companies in town and identifying “infrastructure needs” is part of the job description.

The job would also entail supporting the annexation process for new development of potential companies who want to build on properties which are currently outside the town limits.

The economic director would develop and administer “financial incentive programs, grants and tax incentives to stimulate business development and expansion.”

The new position would enable infrastructure enhancements like advocating for projects “related to infrastructure development and improvements that support economic growth, such as transportation, utilities, and technology.”

One example that the new person who would fill this position could recommend vis a vis transportation would be to extend O Street from 21^st Street to Hatcher Avenue. This is something the owners of the Vineyard Square project had been advocating for, as they need O Street (currently a dead-end street behind Magnolias at the Mill) extended, to dump the traffic from their development onto Hatcher Avenue.

They would also develop marketing campaigns to attract businesses to the town in addition to managing tourism programs and activities. Preparing a budget for economic development initiatives and “ensuring resources are allocated effectively and efficiently” are other essential functions of this job.

Milan said he has been advocating for an economic development advisor for the past 3 years. “I think it’s important that we pursue this because it’s been stated previously that we have a spending problem. No, we have a revenue problem.” 

This is a direct turnaround from what Milan said and ran on just a year ago, which was that the town has a spending problem.

He said the town hasn’t generated any additional revenue “in any large shape form or fashion.” Milan said the position would benefit the town for the business community and surrounding communities of the town. “We have been designated as being the hub of western Loudoun; so let’s be that hub.”

Rayner, who is the council liaison to the Economic Development Advisory Committee, said that her passion is economic development. She said she has been “hustling talking to people to bring in business.” She said part of the new position is “meeting with anybody who would like to invest in our town.”

“We can show them that process, like reignite our business process stuff, but we’re the elected and it needs to be turned over to our team to actually do the paper work to do the process because there’s a fine line – where we can only take them so far. And that is why we need that position because we only have so much manpower.”

Council Member Carol Luke said, “We’ve had 20-25 years to create a process for new businesses when they come in town. The whole process of coming in and starting a business, getting a building [permit] or whatever you need to have done in an orderly and speedy process” is what is needed.

Council Member Chris Bertaut said he was “all in favor of improving the town’s processes. I don’t think this is the way to go about it. A number of these functions are performed for free by commercial realtors – specifically site selection and development.”

Bertaut said, “I am also uncomfortable with the idea of developing incentives, it sounds like an idea of shifting costs from the businesses to the residents. I don’t like that at all. I have already heard it proposed to lower the water rates for businesses to keep them in the town.

“Furthermore, the idea of business attraction and retention – that’s just not a town function. Businesses will stay here if they can afford to stay here. If they are making money, if they are not making money – it’s not the town’s responsibility.”

Bertaut said that businesses are attracted to the town “based on the strength and engagement of our own processes, which we already know have failed for 25 years to document in any coherent fashion and adding this function does not fix that.”

Out of the blue Milan asked Bertaut, “If I remember, weren’t you the liaison on EDAC for 2 years?” Bertaut answered, “Why, yes, I was. In that function I brought forward to the town the nutrient credits and helped push those through; and that offset residents water bills by almost $1 million in the course of several years.”

Milan, who it appears is running against Bertaut for Mayor in the Nov. 5, 2024 town elections, retorted “And that was the only thing?” Bertaut said that was the major thing that “comes immediately to mind.”