One quality of life issue that demands attention is education. John Shortall of Universal Construction believes that to draw new businesses with new people, the investment in the county’s schools has to continue. “That’s what drives the population into these new developments,” he added. “I think that’s a major challenge for Jackson County.”

Brien Starner affirmed that the focus on luring large new companies from outside may be misplaced. But he took issue with anyone who thought metro-wide uniformity on incentives was an advantage. “I think it is an inherent benefit to have two states,” he added. “We keep a lot of companies because of that two-state opportunity.”

Metropolitan Community Colleges Chancellor Jackie Snyder reminded her colleagues of one incentive program that’s not used as much as it could be: a new jobs training program that comes through the community colleges. As Snyder explained, it’s a great incentive both for new companies relocating here and for companies expanding the number of jobs here.

“There are so many assets that we do have,” said Clyde McQueen, president of the Full Employment Council. The problem that he sees is that there is no easy reference source for the tax incentives that are available. “At least if you know what you’ve got,” he noted, “you know what you need.”

When the issue was raised as to whether Jackson County has as cohesive an identity as the other counties in the metro, Frantze argued that it does not. “How many of those other counties have had legislative efforts to divide the county in half?” asked Frantze. Matt Levi of Block & Company wondered whether the unification of county government in Wyandotte County has played a role in the county’s recent success. “That has to be a big part of the reason,” said Riffel. “That and Star Bonds, and you’ve got what happened.” 

Life Sciences

One area of real promise for Jackson County is the life sciences. “We’re in a very good spot with the Stowers Institute,” said Katheryn Shields. She observed that Stowers—an ambitious, privately-funded biomedical research organization in Kansas City—may be moving forward with a second location in the metropolitan area and questioned what the county needs to do to take advantage of securing this opportunity.

Mark Dawson of Aquila observed that there is a bill being talked about in the Missouri Economic Development Council, that addresses the question of sales tax on equipment, especially given just how capital intensive life science start-ups can be.

Mark Long of Zimmer Real Estate Services was encouraged to hear that Missouri is moving forward on this. A sales tax emption, he noted, is that the kind of benefit that catches the attention of entrepreneurs. Being in the real estate and development business, Zimmer has tried to figure out how to capitalize on life sciences as well. “That really takes a partnership,” said Long, “and it’s hard to do.” That partnership includes a development community with an entrepreneurial spirit, a university with ambition and a supportive population.

“Of course,” added Katheryn Shields, “to have a great university you need a lot of support from the community and funding from the state.”

“That’s true,” agreed Jackie Snyder. On the community college level, the “hot-bed issue” is having people ready to go into math and science careers by giving them enough background and training so that they can move on. 

One issue that will have an obvious effect on the future of the life sciences is the stem cell initiative going before voters in November. The proposed constitutional amendment would prohibit the state of Missouri or local governments from preventing or discouraging stem cell research allowed under federal law. “There’s an awful lot riding on this,” said Jim Calcara of 360 Architecture.