NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT Jason Melhoff, the director of Invest Medicine Hat, is pictured at city hall in Medicine Hat on March 5, 2020.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Medicine Hat’s new economic development program will debut this spring with new structure, new goals and a new public face.
Jason Melhoff, a local businessman who twice led the Medicine Hat Chamber of Commerce, was announced last week as the managing director of Invest Medicine Hat.
He began the job on Monday and is spending this week in meetings with staff, strategizing economic attraction efforts advertised as “Invest 2.0” going forward.
“There’s been a lot of build-up and a lot of involvement from council, administration and stakeholders and a lot of what they’re looking for in the evolution,” said Melhoff during an interview on Wednesday. “My job is to facilitate that evolution. We want to be as focused as we can.”
Melhoff said the final look of the program is still being developed, but will include a heavy focus on helping existing businesses expand.
Work on that avenue began last fall with a major survey of employers in the city, and a working group is now finalizing recommendations on actions the city can take.
An advisory group is being developed, and business lobby groups are also being asked for input.
“We’re looking at how we can best serve the community, our existing businesses,” said Melhoff. “Retention is going to be a big piece of it; how can we plug in and grow what we have already?
“We’ll identify what the opportunities are and decide on what we’re best suited for in the future.”
In more day-to-day operations, the office now includes the land and business support office, with also a focus on council priority of encouraging private land developers to take on in-fill construction projects.
“I’m involved because I’m really happy with what council has laid out as strategic plan,” said Melhoff.
“We’ll have a team that’s focused on achieving those objectives and implement it.”
More specific projects will be announced as they develop, said Melhoff, adding that an overview would be part of a sort of public launch early this spring.
Last summer, council approved a plan to bring the contracted-out program inside city hall when the previous contract expired.
It now falls directly under the responsibility of chief administrative officer Bob Nicolay.
That corresponded with a reorganization of the city’s land and business support office into the effort that top administrators will create a more seamless process with the planning department and also utility officials.
One advertised position is described as a “business concierge” who would guide potential investors through city processes.
Four years ago, the city split ways with the Economic Development Alliance of Southeast Alberta, and moved to a contracted service with local firm Rameco. That turned into Invest Medicine Hat, a brand of the city, but positioned as a private-sector approach to economic development efforts.
Invest scored major commitments from Aurora Cannabis and Folium Biosciences, which agreed to build facilities here after negotiations with city staff on utility contracts and development costs.
The city’s business support office began working last fall on a workforce development strategy as part of a larger business review.
