Editor’s Note: “The Economic Development Side” originally appears in the Pine Bluff Regional Chamber of Commerce’s weekly member e-newsletter. It is written by Rhonda Dishner, the Economic Development Alliance’s executive assistant.
Two members of the Economic Development Alliance staff were able to take advantage of a training opportunity last week.
Rhonda Dishner, Alliance executive assistant for economic development and editor of this weekly column, and Mandy Owens, Alliance event coordinator and editor of the Chamber of Commerce’s weekly e-newsletter, attended the training Sept. 19 at the University of Arkansas at Monticello.
Entergy Arkansas Inc. and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC) hosted the users’ training session on the “new and improved” Next-Generation Arkansas Site Selection Center website that soon will come online. Similar sessions were scheduled around the state for what’s being called “a new standard in site selection websites.”
Attendees from several south Arkansas communities and agencies learned how to maximize the new site to meet their own economic development goals by using the enhanced features of the site, including mobile platforms, ESRI data and mapping tools.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The training was designed for identified property managers and community profile editors. The Arkansas Site Selection Center program requires designation of one point-of-contact person for economic development activities in each community. It also requires a designated property manager to enter and keep updated a comprehensive data template on available sites and buildings; currently entered property data will transition to the new website.
In the past the designated community editor has been responsible for completing and updating a data template about local community assets, but re-entry of all information in a narrative format will be required in the coming weeks.
Training session instructors stressed that property data and community profiles not regularly updated on the new website will be removed from public viewing by the program administrator.
With more than a decade of working with the economic development teams of Entergy and AEDC, Alliance President Lou Ann Nisbett is the program’s designated economic development contact for Jefferson County. Caleb McMahon of the Alliance is the designated property manager, assisted by Mandy Owens; and Rhonda Dishner is community editor.