State asks how it can help local businesses

By PAMELA JANSSON

[email protected]

Ironwood — A business roundtable at Gogebic Community College on Aug. 16 centered around a single question posed by the state official leading it:

“How can the state help local business and industry?”

Jonathan Smith, senior chief deputy director of the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, asked the question as a means of explaining his presence.

“We cannot do our job at the state level without looking at local communities,” he said of his department, also known by its acronym of LEO.

He also positioned his question in relation to the state’s fiscal year 2025 budget, which includes new funds toward the same objective noted in his question.

“We have first-time workforce dollars,” said Smith.

After presenting a slideshow in relation to the new budget, Smith then requested input from his audience.

Funding, housing and training — along with a need for regional economic development — were among major concerns of the nearly two dozen persons in attendance.

“I feel like we have the mechanisms on the ground,” said Deb Brunell of U.P. Michigan Works! in Houghton. “We have the people on the ground, but it just doesn’t always add up to the resources.”

Several others agreed, such as Gina Thorsen, CEO of Jacquart Fabric Products in Ironwood.

“If we’re looking for job creation, a lot of that is in the private sector,” said Thorsen, who added that companies of small to medium size — in particular — could use support to help them grow.

“For a lot of companies, $50,000 or $100,000 would have a massive impact,” said Thorsen. “There’s just not a place to go to for that sort of support.”

Moreover, she said, mandates that cost money — such as one now to reduce carbon emissions — means it can’t be allotted elsewhere.

“That’s money I can’t spend on advertising,” said Thorsen.

Jerry Wuorenmaa, executive director of the Western Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Region in Hancock, also questioned $50 million in state funding that appeared to be on the verge of helping to kick off the Copperwood Project now pending in Wakefield and Ironwood townships.

Although those funds ultimately did not get included in the 2025 budget, Smith said there is hope for related authorization still to come in the way of a “supplemental appropriations bill” after the Nov. 5 election.

Ironwood city manager Paul Anderson also pointed out that, even when state funding is issued — as with $20 million for the revitalization of Copper Peak in Ironwood Township — there is still sometimes a need for further state support when it becomes clear that project costs still are not met.

Thomas Bergman, Ironwood’s community development director, said he believes he speaks for many other folks in targeting housing as “one of our biggest concerns.”

He added, “We have an aging housing stock ... at all housing levels.”

Bergman also pointed out that Gogebic and Ontonagon counties do not have a regional economic development organization.

He added that WUPPDR does “a ton” in relation to regional support, and added that other organizations also help.

Bergman also praised InvestUP, which he said “also has done a really great job with the whole U.P.”

But he added that such an effort could use a supplemental arm in the western U.P., where he said that, in terms of formal organization, “we just don’t have a unified voice on economic development.”

“That is something we would be really interested in talking about in the future,” said Smith. “We’d be happy to have that conversation.”

He said that LEO’s Rural Prosperity office, which also has a local branch, could be a source of support.

“There are some unique challenges in a rural community,” said Glen Ackerman-Behr, a GCC business instructor.

He referred specifically to the effort in creating a talent pool.

“We’re struggling to find people for the training programs, and employers are struggling to hire,” said Ackerman-Behr.

Meanwhile, he said that the education models who are tasked with addressing the issue are “overburdened and under-resourced.”

“There’s not a silver bullet solution here,” said Smith, who added that it’s a statewide issue and that his office is trying to partner with labor regarding solutions.

Smith also addressed widespread frustration regarding the difficulty in creating a new business in Michigan.

Complaints in this region have included long waits for state inspections, high costs for licensing, and too much hassle in general.

“Sometimes coordination within state government can be challenging,” said Smith, explaining that different departments operate independently, thus slowing down overall processing.

But he is optimistic that progress in efficiency can be accomplished.

Thorsen said that, by contrast, Wisconsin is notable for having “fewer barriers” in setting up new enterprise.

She said she’s not sure whether Wisconsin is a model, as such, but emphasized that it does address these issues “significantly faster.”

Bergman also noted that Wisconsin health departments operate at a county level, whereas the western U.P. has a regional health office. Thus, he said Wisconsin’s model makes inspections easier in general.

Smith said more than once that a given problem had no single solution. “It’s going to be four or five or six different things we’ll have to do,” he said.

Moreover, he said that some approaches will be long-term efforts, thereby implying that short-term solutions are not always possible.

He said that the 2025 year budget’s investments in economic development should shore up a number of initiatives, but he also added, “We need to be more efficient with the funds we have, or we need to make the case with voters that we need more money for economic development.”

“I’d like to thank you for taking the time to listen to the people who are getting the job done,” said Brunell.

At the start of the forum, Smith also introduced Charly Loper, who greeted the group, as a brand new employee in the Bessemer Office of Rural Prosperity.

Also among the people in attendance were local officials from the fields of building trades and construction, health care, theater and from chambers of commerce in Gogebic and Iron counties.

The roundtable took place in room B-21 of the Jacob Solin Center for Business Education within GCC’s Ironwood campus.