State development office takes over regional auto partnership's role
From the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 10/21/2007
By Christopher Boyce
At its final gathering early last month, the St. Louis Regional Automotive Partnership invited experts on economic development in the auto industry to discuss the importance of local groups in wooing new automotive jobs.
The meeting could have been seen as preaching to the choir. In fact, it appears to have been one final validation of the regional auto partnership's past efforts.
The partnership officially went out of business after that meeting, passing its role to a newly formed unit of the Missouri Department of Economic Development.
The partnership was formed in 2005 to help bolster investment in local auto manufacturing plants operated by the Detroit Three %u2014 Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. Its members included the cities of St. Charles, Wentzville, Fenton and Hazelwood as well as St. Louis County, the state of Missouri and the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association.
However, much has changed since then, including the closing of Ford's assembly plant in Hazelwood in March 2006. Saving the Ford plant %u2014 and its 1,400-plus jobs %u2014 had been one of the group's primary goals.
Then, in September 2006, the group's director, Patrick McKeehan, left to head Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois, based in Edwardsville.
The auto partnership never officially chose a new director, and the group used its last dollars to hold a summit of regional
economic development officials, led by its acting chair, Denny Coleman, the president and chief executive of the St. Louis County Economic Council.
At its final meeting, the auto partnership's remaining members said the group would look for new funding. But Coleman later confirmed that members of the group instead will work with the Missouri Department of Economic Development.
The move had been under consideration for the last year, said Greg Steinhoff, the department's director.
A proposal developed slowly after the Department of Economic Development in September 2006 announced its intention to form specialized councils to concentrate on attracting business in eight industries, including automotive manufacturing. The move to include community leaders in the state's groups was a foregone conclusion.
"As we were putting that together, we were speaking to a number of the folks in the partnership and they were going through some transition," Steinhoff said.
Many of the auto partnership's efforts meshed with the state's approach to economic development, he said, and it made sense for the state to incorporate the local communities' efforts in its programs.
Coleman said the relationships reached through the partnership will continue, though they'll be part of a different structure.
"Clearly the auto industry maintains a significant role in the viability of our economy," Coleman said. "The opportunity for the future lies in the expansion into the global market, and going after a share of that market for St. Louis is very important."
The new structure won't make much difference for automakers, said Patrick Lindsay, senior manager of state relations for Chrysler LLC, which operates two plants in the metro area. Lindsay said he was unaware that the partnership had dissolved, but added that what matters most is that representatives of essential state, county and city departments are involved in the new effort.
"There are things we need at every level, be it obtaining permits or environmental issues that need to be addressed," Lindsay said. "There's a part that each unit of government plays. It's always good when there is an effort to coordinate, but it doesn't matter to me if the state coordinates or if it's some other local partnership."
Fenton's mayor, Dennis Hancock, isn't sad to see the partnership dissolve. Hancock thinks that local leaders do the best job of keeping track of what's happening at local facilities. However, he also sees that the state has financial resources vital to economic development. He thought the partnership among local governments was overkill.
Fenton's economic development staff "can pick up on what's happening (at the local Chrysler plant), and it's our responsibility to take it to the state and say, 'There's an issue we have to deal with,'" Hancock said. "I think that's our role in this, and I don't need another bureaucracy doing that for me."
As the partnership's former director, McKeehan said he was sorry to hear the group would dissolve, but said the new direction fulfills part of the group's original goal.
"The auto companies deal with a lot of legislative issues," McKeehan said. "So, the important thing we tried to develop was a connection between the statewide officials (and) those auto companies."
cboyce@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8345
Impact of the autoindustry in St. Louis:
- 14,000 area jobs directly tied to auto manufacturing
- $12 billion economic impact in Missouri
- Average annual wage for autoworkers: $54,000 (average annual wage in Missouri: $36,000)
- $425 million: Chrysler's annual payroll in Missouri
- $209 million: General Motors' payroll in Missouri
- 7.5 jobs, direct and indirect, created for every automotive assembly job
- 5.7 jobs created for every automotive supplier jobSources: General Motors, Chrysler, Center for Automotive Research, St. Louis County Economic CouncilMissouri's four auto assembly plants
- Chrysler North assembly plant in Fenton: Employs 1,775 people to assemble the Dodge Ram pickup.
- Chrysler South assembly plant in Fenton: Employs 2,847 to assemble the Dodge Grand Caravan and the Chrysler Town & Country minivans.
- Ford Motor Co. plant near Kansas City: Employs almost 4,700 to ?assemble the Ford Escape, Mazda Tribute and Mercury Mariner sport utility vehicles, and the Ford F-150 pickup. (Ford in 2006 closed its plant in Hazel?wood, where it had built SUVs.)
- General Motors Corp. plant in Wentzville: Employs 2,400 to ?assemble the GMC Savana and Chevrolet Express full-size vans.Sources: The companies
