West Bend Helps Industrial Park Blossom in Pazardjik 
The transition from a centrally planned and controlled economy has proven to be one of the most challenging obstacles facing many Eastern European cities entering the 21st century. Nowhere has this been more evident than in Pazardjik, Bulgaria, where, in 2000, the city was wracked with an unemployment rate of 24 percent. This not only caused economic distress but also limited the city's ability to provide services to citizens, because tax revenue had become scarce. 
Eager to prompt economic development, Mayor Kolchakov and the Pazardjik City Council decided to act by applying to take part in ICMA's CityLinks Program, sponsored and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented in cooperation with the Foundation for Local Government Reform (FLGR) in Bulgaria. 
ICMA selected West Bend, Wisconsin, to serve as a technical twin to Pazardjik because, in many ways, West Bend's location and assets mirror Pazardjik's. West Bend is situated close to Milwaukee and also possesses a skilled workforce and access to a major highway. This is similar to the resources and highway access available to Pazardjik. 
The Pazardjik-West Bend partners have made significant progress in the area of local business development. When West Bend officials recognized that a new business development plan was necessary to respond to the needs of the business community, the partners surveyed local businesses to better understand their needs. 
Having been down this road before, West Bend was able, based on the input of local companies, to provide a viable business plan for an industrial park in Pazardjik that would meet the needs of existing Pazardjik businesses that required additional land and facilities, while also allowing the city to recruit new businesses and expand its job base. The industrial park was to be established on a 40-acre parcel of undeveloped land wholly owned by the city. 
The West Bend partners recommended to their Pazardjik counterparts that they hire an economic development specialist and consider setting up an office that would specialize in business retention and recruitment. West Bend even offered to formulate the office's responsibilities and provide technical training for the staff, so as to relieve Pazardjik's mayoral office of the demands of an economic development plan, combined with other issues facing the city. 
When West Bend and Pazardjik shifted their focus into marketing the land in the newly developed industrial park, West Bend helped the Pazardjik team identify potential investors and tailor the marketing campaign to their needs. Pazardjik prepared a marketing brochure that detailed the city's vision for the newly constructed lot and distributed 1,000 copies to businesses, banks, and business development organizations that might be interested in developing in the industrial park. 
To date, 98 percent of the land within the park has been sold, with nine businesses planning to invest $5.5 million. In the process, these sales have created more than 400 new jobs. The unemployment rate in Pazardjik has dropped from 24 percent to 12 percent, and revenues from the sale have totaled $234,000 for the municipality, though the new businesses will also result in further economic growth and new tax revenues for the city. 
To sustain and expand the park, Pazardjik's mayor has earmarked $900,000 in loans toward completion of infrastructure services to the park. Pazardjik's new industrial park has produced favorable conditions for the development of the small-and-medium enterprise (SME) sector. Its success will give potential investors confidence in the city's ability to carry out economic development plans and will encourage private investors from neighboring regions to relocate their businesses in the municipality. 
Officials from West Bend and Pazardjik have been so impressed by the initial results of the industrial park project that the partnership has since branched off into other fields of local economic development for both cities, and it has truly evolved into a strong medium for economic advancement, as well as cultural exchange. 
West Bend itself, through the Sister Cities Program, has organized a charity drive to donate equipment to Pazardjik-including 100 computers, books for the schools, clothing, and protective fire equipment-that offers an unintended benefit to the blossoming partnership. 
Recently, the West Bend and Pazardjik partners met to continue discussions regarding the newly formed Economic Development Advisory Council (EDAC) and to outline some additional guidance and encouragement for future EDAC activity. 
Other ongoing economic development activities include discussions on: product importing and exporting; the availability of skilled Bulgarian truck drivers for a West Bend business; business visits by Mayor Kolchakov; an overall economic development action plan for Pazardjik (with the EDAC as one component); tourism; and the possibility of a Bulgarian restaurant in West Bend. 
West Bend has also offered technical training to the two new economic development professionals via interaction with the West Bend Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Corporation, and Moraine Park Technical College. 
"I believe that we have helped create the framework for economic development success that will be sustainable over the long term and, hopefully, survive local political changes," says West Bend City Administrator Dennis Melvin. "This has not been a one-sided partnership, however. The travel to Pazardjik has made us appreciate what we have, putting our daily challenges and available resources in perspective. We have learned to be more creative problem solvers, to perhaps make do with less, and to think outside the box in our approach to issues. Personally, it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life." 
Officials from many tiers of the West Bend local government have been involved in the partnership with Pazardjik. Now in its fifth phase in Bulgaria, the CityLinks Program will continue to support and build the capacity of local governments in Bulgaria in the field of economic development. Many of the participating cities, like Pazardjik, are in need of technical advice and training, which West Bend and other U.S. city partners will furnish over the next two years. 
In Pazardjik, the focus is now on developing a plan to attract and grow high-tech industries in the municipality. West Bend will also provide training to new local economic development specialists from Bulgaria, and it plans to host some of these specialists as interns in West Bend. 
For more information on this partnership project, visit the ICMA Web site at www.icma.org/citylinks to trace the progress made, as well as to observe the other partnerships between American and Bulgarian municipalities that have been established through the CityLinks Program. 
—Michael Buckley
Communications Intern
CityLinks Program
ICMA
Washington, D.C.