Whitewater’s new economic director provided CDA with list of goals
By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Nearly five years have passed since Whitewater’s sole full-service grocer closed up shop.
The absence of a business within the category dominated a recent discussion with the city’s newly hired economic development director.
Cathy Anderson, who began her duties in Whitewater in mid-June, came to the city after serving a similar position in Granite Falls, Minnesota.
As she dives into her new role, Anderson said she is striving to get a handle on what issues are important in Whitewater — a concept she emphasized June 25 when she had her first meeting with the board of directors overseeing the Whitewater Community Development Authority.
Anderson provided the CDA board with a list of two-dozen short- and long-term goals. The disparate list included business retention and expansion efforts, exploring COVID-19 relief programs and the potential creation of an artist-in-residency program.
But there was one item on the list — bringing on board a grocery merchant — that generated robust discussion when Anderson and the CDA board hashed over the list. Anderson, for her part, said she was keenly aware the absence of such a merchant has been a frequent topic of conversation.
CDA board member Al Stanek said he believes it would be prudent to create a flyer with pertinent details about the city and the virtues of bringing a grocer to the city.
“Here’s Whitewater, here’s what’s unique about us,” Stanek said of his thinking behind such a document. “Would you consider opening a grocery operation in this city?”
Anderson said she believed such a document would be well suited for site selectors who go around the country scouting out locations for different retailers.
“We have Whitewater, they are open for business, they have a need,” Anderson said of the philosophy behind the message that could be conveyed on the document. “There’s some data we will need before I put that out, but I will put that out.”
One other prospect on the table is a potential refresh of a market study that could dive into the city’s demographics, traffic counts and other pertinent data. A previous study was undertaken, but has been deemed by several CDA board members to have flaws.
In her first few weeks on the job, Anderson said she has been meeting with a range of city stakeholders, including municipal staffers, administrators within the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and representatives within the technology park and innovation center.
The outreach, Anderson said, has been “very, very eye-opening, very beneficial.”
As the summer progresses, Anderson said she is making efforts to meet with local business owners — an overture the CDA board heartily endorsed as a part of a business retention effort.
Council member James Allen, who serves on the CDA board, said regular interaction with local businesses can help fill in any of the inevitable communication gaps that can exist between municipal government and the local business community.
Allen said the outreach effort with local businesses could potentially prevent merchants from pulling up the stakes and relocating to another community.
“Sometimes they just need something simple,” Allen said.
