The city of Parsons and Labette County are working toward an economic development partnership.
City of Parsons Economic Development Director Jim Zaleski met with Labette County commissioners Friday to discuss countywide economic development.
Zaleski told commissioners he could work on marketing buildings in the county as well as those in the city of Parsons when he speaks with site selectors and those inquiring about expansion opportunities. If Parsons has a building and other areas of the county have available buildings that could fit the need, he would share information on all locations with the industry or manufacturer. If there were no buildings in the county, Zaleski would share the contact with other economic development directors who may have a building available that would meet the needs of the prospect. The point is to bring jobs to Southeast Kansas and some of those jobs could be filled by Labette County residents. Parsons has a website that discusses the community and the opportunities available, growparsons.com. This site could be expanded in the future to include all of Labette County manufacturing sites.
“I just think this is an opportunity for us to continue to work together and grow what we’re doing. We don’t need to duplicate efforts. The redundancy is costly,” Zaleski said.
Bourbon County recently hired a part-time economic development director for $35,000. Zaleski said he would not use any money provided by the county to pay his salary. Rather, the county’s contribution would go toward resources such as brochures and other material or perhaps paying a consultant.
(Read more: Parsons Sun)