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s® <br />However, with a complete economic development toolbox available that the commissioners have the <br />authority to invest in, Orange County will gain its share of regional investment and business recruitment <br />wins. Orange County also will be able to improve its performance of business generation, retention, <br />growth, and expansion especially with respect to local business start -ups and companies owned or led by <br />Orange County resident executives. Specifically, we recommend that the EDC staff commit itself to <br />reaching to -be- specified target increases for the following benchmarks: <br />• Number of qualified inquiries <br />• Securing business development start -ups generated from local universities <br />• Securing business start -up and expansion from local entrepreneurs <br />Retention and/or expansion of established county -based businesses <br />• Capital investment <br />Private sector job creation, <br />• Commercial tax base, <br />• Increased hit rate (number of wins gained from total number of inquiries) <br />Increased strike rate (value of wins from estimated total value represented by inquiries) <br />Setting targets – and monitoring results —for these and other economic development objectives will be an <br />important pail of our success. However, the EDC recommends that the appropriation of funds to <br />recapitalize the small business loan fund and for business retention and recruitment not be burdened with <br />numerous criteria or with criteria that are narrowly specified. Rather, we suggest that this around of <br />investment be subject to general guidelines that permit the Economic Development Director and County <br />Manager to exercise their professional judgment liberally, understanding that the County Commissioner <br />ultimately will have the opportunity to agree to the terms of the investment once the negotiations are <br />complete subject to Commissioners' approval. <br />Investing_ In Research <br />The EDC strongly believes that by investing in the research component now, the county will soon have <br />the capacity to monitor the return on its increased investments in economic development and monitor how <br />closely the economic development results match the values and aspirations of our citizens. <br />hi addition to using metrics to monitor progress, the EDC has preliminary research that suggests the <br />process of developing clear metrics will improve the clarity of desired goal and objectives. Regularly <br />monitoring results will also permit the commissioners and EDC to adjust the resources invested in the <br />different tools of the too] kit. The EDC advisory board recommends that developing benchmarks, metrics, <br />and the evaluation procedure begin as soon as possible. <br />Furthermore, with new research in -hand next spring, the EDC will be able to issue a follow -on set of <br />recommendations designed to further increase the county's economic development successes. We <br />anticipate next spring's recommendation will focus on matching research results to strategic planning, <br />including studying the efficacy of commissioning a market development and branding campaign in which <br />Orange County's economic development identity is relaunched, enabling the county to better target <br />desired clusters, industries, and businesses <br />3 1 Page <br />