State leader envisions growth on 'front lines'

'Opportunity Returns:' Yorkville business event draws 240

YORKVILLE — The state's top economic-development official Wednesday brought a message of more potential opportunity to a city that has added a number of new businesses and jobs in the past five years.

Jack Lavin, director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, told an audience of the Yorkville Economic Development Corporation that his office is putting more of its focus on the "front lines" to serve growing areas like Yorkville.

About 240 people attended the YEDC's fourth annual meeting Wednesday at the Beecher Community Center.

Lavin outlined a number of initiatives in the state's "Opportunity Returns" program, Gov. Rod Blagojevich's plan to boost jobs and economic growth in the state.

The effort divides the state into 10 regions, Lavin said, because a "one size fits all" approach doesn't work for the entire state.

Instead, representatives in the northeast region, which includes Yorkville, are working closely with local officials like YEDC Executive Director Lynn Dubajic on a variety of partnership and grant programs.

"They want to see things happen and get things done," Lavin said.

Lavin mentioned a number of state programs that were consolidated under the DCOE, including encouraging foreign businesses to open factories in Illinois, tax credits for small businesses, the film industry office and several job training initiatives.

"I think one of the greatest investments we can make is in our workforce," Lavin said.

As an example, Lavin cited the critical skills shortage initiative, which aims to match people to jobs in demand in the state. "We want to train people in the jobs that are available," he said.

Lavin's visit to Yorkville comes just a week after F.E. Wheaton broke ground on a 107,000 square-foot addition to its facility at the Yorkville Business Center. The company, which is a distributor of lumber and building materials for the construction industry, expects to create an additional 40 jobs as a result of the addition.

YEDC Board Chairman Stan Free pointed to charts showing that sales-tax revenue in Yorkville has more than doubled to nearly $1.9 million in the past five years. During that same time frame, the assessed valuation of commercial and industrial properties has increased to $53 million, up from $28 million in 1999.

Referring to a pressing local issue, Lavin encouraged the city to continue to be "the squeaky wheel" in its efforts to get funding for the Route 47 widening project.

Mayor Art Prochaska this week introduced to the City Council a two-page resolution asking the state to consider the immediate funding for construction on the project, which would create four lanes of traffic from north of Countryside Parkway to Route 71.

Among the concerns, Prochaska said traffic backups on the heavily traveled road could become a hindrance to economic development on one of the major north-south state roads in the state.