Project Details

ICMA is an implementing partner in the Enabling Growth Through Investment and Enterprise (ENGINE) Program in Tanzania, a project designed to increase private-sector investment leading to inclusive, broad-based economic growth in the agricultural regions of Mbeya, Morogoro, and Iringa, as well as in Zanzibar.

ENGINE is a four-year Feed the Future activity funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and awarded through the Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA), with the International Executive Service Corps (IESC) taking the lead.

Components of the Project

The project has three component objectives:

1. Implementing Policies for Growth: Build the capacity of the private sector to work effectively with the government to set the policy agenda and improve the capacity of the public sector to implement policies that promote an environment that enables business. An indicator of success is a 20 percent increase in formally registered businesses in targeted local government authorities (LGAs).
2. Equipping for Growth: Foster the growth and capacity of a sustainable market for business development services in Tanzania, with the result that at least 24 suppliers of these services are sustainable by the end of the project.
3. Financing for Growth: Broaden access to financing for small and medium-sized enterprises, specifically for women and youth entrepreneurs, to facilitate increased investment and growth, with the result that more than $7 million of Development Credit Authority loans are extended to women- and youth-owned businesses.

ICMA’s Role

ICMA’s role is to advance the first objective, implementing policies for growth, by guiding and managing a local governance analyst and fielding local, regional, and international volunteers. ICMA’s specific tasks are to:

• Recruit and Manage Volunteers. ICMA’s approach is to motivate a cadre of executive-level volunteers with specific and relevant experience and skill sets in national and local policy development. The local government advisor and volunteers work with a local consulting firm to ensure sustainability of results.
• Employ Learning-by-Doing Capacity Strengthening. Volunteers in each of the regional capitals support local efforts with mentoring and coaching, training, and direct technical assistance to build local capacity. Some possible outcomes include streamlined business registration and licensing, improved “own-source” revenue from the LGAs, services on quality standards, market access and information, and other business support services.
• Improve Policy Analysis, Design, Advocacy, Adoption, and Monitoring. ICMA is deploying experts in economic governance and ICMA volunteers from the political and administrative leadership of U.S. cities for short- and medium-term assignments to work with the LGAs, the business council working group, and private-sector and civil society organizations to better articulate evidence-based messaging and adopt effective advocacy methods.

For more information, see About Global Programs on our website, or contact global@icma.org.

The Economic Development survey examines the economic development practices in local governments, including economic development funding activities, business retention, business attraction, small business development, accountability, and business incentives.

The Economic Development survey examines the economic development practices in local governments, including economic development funding activities, business retention, business attraction, small business development, accountability, and business incentives.

When a town manager is engaged and monitoring events that can affect her jurisdiction, changes can be managed with little disruption or opposition.

This is evidenced by the successful annexation of about 1,000 acres of land and five miles of road by McCordsville, Indiana, that helped the mostly residential community respond to and prepare for explosive growth.

Because McCordsville borders Indianapolis in Marion County and Fishers in Hamilton County, it was clear that growth issues were headed toward McCordsville and it seemed prudent to take steps before it was too late to control the growth and the location of non-residential expansion, says McCordsville Town Manager, Tonya Galbraith.

“This process is valuable to any small town that anticipates growth and wants to know the best way to manage it,” she adds.  “Two towns in our county also were attempting to annex at the same time we were and they both went to court.  The Indiana Supreme Court ruled against one of the annexations and the other is still in court.  I strongly believe that the thoughtful and thorough process that we went through is the reason we succeeded.”

McCordsville Town Building

Explosive Growth

From 2000 to 2010, McCordsville witnessed an unprecedented 323 percent population increase and residential building permits continue to be on the rise.  The challenge was to balance the tax base while protecting local property values and the quality of life that nearly 7,000 residents enjoy, Galbraith said.  The town’s population was just under 1,200 in 2005.

At its 2012 retreat, the town council began wrestling with how to address the growth challenge.

The State of Indiana had instituted Constitutional Property Tax Caps and it became clear that the tax caps, namely the residential caps, were going to affect the town’s bottom line.  Town leadership recognized that responsible growth was the key to protecting the area’s character and way of life.  So they embarked on a “Growth Opportunity” planning project, exploring possibilities outside the boundaries of McCordsville for logical commercial and industrial expansion.

Galbraith was charged with writing an innovative Request for Proposals (RFP) to develop a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach for identifying growth opportunity areas. The RFP drew upon the council’s vision and proposed a variety of tasks including:

• Site reconnaissance,
• Review of project data,
• Identifying the town’s commitment for resources, services, and utilities,
• Identifying stakeholders who may resist or support incorporation,
• Meeting with the various stakeholder groups (elected officials, business leaders, property owners), and
• Working with the McCordsville Redevelopment Commission.

A team of five firms was chosen to work together on the project.

Armed with this information at its 2013 retreat, town council identified an area south of McCordsville as the most logical for growth and directed the team and staff to study the implications of incorporation.  Information was needed to determine how far south to incorporate, how much the town could afford.

Internally, town staff developed seven fiscal plans, coordinated by Galbraith.  The fiscal plans were based on various iterations of a South District Annexation.  In the end, an area of 1,132 acres and 5.3 road miles was identified for annexation.

In March of 2014 the town council began the annexation process by introducing an ordinance along with publishing a document that describes the process, implications to property owners, and the owners’ rights during the process.  This document was sent to 142 property owners in the annexation area.

A public hearing was held in August of 2014 where only four people spoke against the proposed ordinance. It was adopted in October of 2014 and on Jan. 19, 2015 the annexation became effective.

Galbraith said community partnership, civic engagement, and local government innovation helped the project run smoothly and identified three keys to its success:

• Anticipated aspirations for the future:  Local government leadership identified land use that reflects community desires, like a new town center, future transportation, and development opportunities.
• Cultivated community:  Input from residents and current business owners ensured local sentiment was valued, and outreach to potential developers guaranteed an external perspective on the realities of growth.
• Applied comprehensive approach:  The combination of studying utility availability; tax impact versus revenue; transportation barriers; internal and external stakeholder contributions; and land use issues, created a unique and holistic approach to growth planning.

The town spent about $30,000 on the project and several tracts of farm land, which are zoned for light industrial or commercial use, are up for sale along the busy road called Mt. Comfort.

McCordsville joined with another town also along the same corridor to get grant funding to help articulate the economic benefits to residents of developing the tracts and what type of development would generate the most jobs, or property tax, Galbraith said.  See the impact study here.

To learn more about McCordsville visit: McCordsville Facebook page; Twitter Handle, @McCordsvilleIN; or  website.

Meet the Manager

Tonya Galbraith

Tow Manager

Tonya Galbraith, ICMA-CM, has been McCordsville's Town Manager since January 2005 and spent most of her career in state or local government. She has worked for Indianapolis; Anderson, Indiana; and Houston, Texas. She served in the Indiana State Municipal League, the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns (IACT), for 15 years in the area of legislative relations and for two years as Director of Intergovernmental Relations for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.  She is a Credentialed Manager through the International City-County Management Association (ICMA) and serves on the ICMA Welcome Ambassadors Committee. She is a past president of the Indiana Municipal Management Association (IMMA) and currently serves on the IACT (now called AIM – Accelerate Indiana Municipalities) Executive Board, Legislative Committee and Environment Committee. Galbraith chairs the IMMA Legislative Committee, serves on the Mt. Vernon Education Foundation board, the Hancock Regional Hospital Foundation Board, and the Hancock County Economic Development Council board, as well as various Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) committees.

As the first CAO in Morgantown, KY, Jerrod Barks was facing some serious challenges for the town of 2,500 that lost 60 jobs and was saddled with a large amount of debt when Kentucky Copper went bankrupt. But instead of guessing or acting on anecdotal information, he conducted a survey, researched deeply, and came up with a recovery plan, Morgantown Renaissance, that has been active since early 2016.
In a town where 52 percent of residents live at or below the poverty line and with average household incomes among the lowest in the nation, investing would not come easy. But with just under $50,000, in joint public and private funds, the results have been impressive so far.

Here’s a snapshot:

Sidewalks installed in Morgantown, KY as part of the Renaissance Project.

• Added two blocks of sidewalks with an emphasis of providing safe passage for school children;
• Added eight benches to a 1.5 mile stretch of sidewalk installed on Main Street via a state project. For $1,000, local businesses could sponsor a bench which includes a small plaque in honor of the donation;
• Planted 50 cherry trees, also sponsored by residents for $12 each. The goal is to have more than 200 cherry trees along the city entrances and parks that will complement Yoshinos already living in the downtown area;
• Demolished six dilapidated homes within the city limits to improve aesthetics and reduce police activity.

The project was launched with an initial community survey. More than 300 responses were returned providing “crucial information,” according to Barks.
In compiling the data he discovered trends and topics of concern. Primarily, residents were concerned about downtown development, infrastructure and quality of life issues. The downtown had a greater than 50 percent vacancy rate and the roads, park, and infrastructure were in disrepair.  Additionally, the input identified a lack of “community.”
“In finding our direction, I created 20 goals for the city to accomplish in the first year” Barks said. These 20 goals fit within three focus areas in different capacities, ranging from updating the town’s blight ordinance to creating a free series of movies shown in the park on alternate Saturdays during the summer.
The main goal of the Renaissance Project is to encourage people to live and work in Morgantown.
“I feel the foundation of achieving that is to ensure that properties are maintained. People are attracted to beautiful, safe spaces and I want to facilitate that as much as possible,” Barks said.

Morgantown, KY Logo.

By The Numbers
The Renaissance Project includes a mix of community events, new committees, long-term infrastructure goals and updated ordinances. But nothing has been done without statistics to back it up. Barks collected data from the fire marshals, police departments, the Barren River Area Development District office, the state building code authorities, and the Kentucky League of Cities.
A main citizen survey complaint was that the city hosted too many low-income housing units, which anchored the median income. However, Barks was able to show that removing government housing from the city would actually reduce the overall median income. His research showed that housing authority residents earn on average $2,849 more per year than the rest of the town. This proved that the Housing Authority Units were not the primary culprit of the town’s low income levels as people had originally suspected.
Additionally, when creating the plan, Barks researched police dispatch calls and noted the locations of all the calls. He was able to prove that neighborhoods with blighted and dilapidated homes required the most police support. When elected officials and the community learned about the drain on the department and associated costs, they were more willing to jump on board with the plans, specifically code enforcement reform that resulted in demolition of structures or conveyance to the city for maintenance, Barks said.

Yoshino Cherry Trees in Morgantown, KY.

Future Projects 
Spin offs to the program have been recognized as well, such as the planting of more than 212 blossoming cherry trees, Barks said. “Our goal is to facilitate a possible Cherry Blossom Tree Festival when the trees mature.” Morgantown’s Facebook page and other social media showcase the successes of the program. This encourages citizen participation and confidence in the plan.
“One of our main goals of the Renaissance Project was to prove that the city government was not a reactionary body, but rather was on the offensive with the issues of today,” Barks added. “..proving that we are a proactive government that can and will navigate the challenges of today and will make Morgantown a beautiful and capable city.”
Subsequent surveys and anecdotal stories show that the plan is working. The city is scoring higher in surveys and citizens walk into city hall and “tell us that they cqn see and feel a real difference in the City,” Barks said. “I feel that the public confidence in the city and its officials has drastically improved.”

Meet the Manager

Jerrod Barks

CAO

Jerrod Barks is the city administrative officer for Morgantown, KY. He is a graduate of Western Kentucky University and is an MPA candidate there. Jerrod is the first CAO in Morgantown and has been working for the city for three years.