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Jim Roddey - Introductory Remarks: One of the reasons a lot of people like living in this general area is that when the world comes to an end, they will have 10 more years. It has not always been an area that embraces change, and yet we really are going to have to change perceptions both internally and externally.
I think it starts with a marketing program. Most successful marketing programs start from within. We have to feel good about ourselves, but we do need to change the perception that the rest of the world has about this region. The Pittsburgh Regional Alliance and their program, I am not satisfied that they have the right formula to do that. We need to be smart about our marketing. Marketing isn’t all advertising. It’s taking an inventory of your resources. And matching those resources with the needs of companies that are out there. Perhaps people aren’t going to move here from San Diego or Phoenix or Dallas. But perhaps they will move here from Duluth, Minn., or Buffalo, where coming here would be a significant improvement in quality of life for their employees and a significant improvement in some of the strategic decisions they have to make for their company’s access to the marketplace, in terms of an airport. We do have some marvelous resources. If you look at our financial institutions, our colleges, universities, the health facilities, the cultural organizations, the foundation community -- we probably have better resources in some of those areas than almost any of our peer group of cities. We have got to start understanding that and acquainting companies and individuals around the country with that. That would be my primary job: economic development and being on the road and going after companies. Unlike Cyril, I would see the relationship between the manager and the executive as a classic business relationship of a chief executive officer and a chief operating officer. A chief operating officer will run the day-to-day business of the county. We will have an agreement on important issues that would have to come to the executive. I am not satisfied that turning over county development and regional development responsibilities to the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission is necessarily the right idea. I don’t think they are equipped for that. They have been so oriented to transportation over the years that if they are going to have that economic responsibility, then perhaps we need to look at management and leadership of that organization to make sure we have the right people working on regional development. The airport is key. I believe we should have an airport authority, and the board should be as nonpolitical and as nonpartisan as it can be. If you talk to the airlines, they will tell you that their success around the country in growing their business has been through authorities. We need some competition to US Airways, and I think an airport authority can do that. I don’t think it belongs as a part of the county’s day-to-day operations. The role of the county executive will be to work regionally, to work as a marketer, to work as an ambassador, a salesman. To go out and call on companies and to look at the overall policies of the county.
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