Mid-Missouri business groups consider regional partnership

The Columbia Chamber of Commerce is leading an initiative to form a regional partnership that includes 18 business organizations in 12 counties.

The idea is that banding together can help the region attract and retain major industries, expand roadways and other infrastructure and reinforce its waning political influence in the state capitol.

Bob Gerding, who just finished his one-year term as the chamber president, will continue to be the city’s point man on the project, which began last year with overtures to the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce.

“When we approached them, they said they were just about to approach us,” said Marty Siddall, the new president of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce.

The Columbia and Jefferson City organizations then sponsored the Mid-Missouri Economic Summit on June 29 at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Jefferson City.

Patrick McKeehan, director of the Leadership Council of Southeastern Illinois, told participants that regional partnerships can build economies of scale, leverage resources and institutions, help match labor supplies with demand and provide for more efficient delivery of services such as electricity.

The concept is called “the power of the collective,” he said.

“I applaud the effort you are thinking about here,” McKeehan said. “I hope it will be a model for the state. This to me is a no-brainer; you have the capacity to be the next fast-growing region.”

William Elder, director of the University of Missouri Extension Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis, gave a presentation on the changing demographics in the 12-county region in order to give local government and civic leaders a clearer picture of their potential alliance.

According to U.S. Census figures released at the end of June, the population in the 12-county area grew from 22,733 to 455,561, or by 5.3 percent, compared with the state’s 4.4 percent population growth during the same period.

While some counties are growing much faster, such as Boone (up 10,594 to 146,048, 7.8 percent) and Callaway (up 2,306 to 43,072, 5.7 percent), other counties are losing population, including Audrain and Howard.

Columbia’s estimated population in 2006 was 94,428, up nearly 11 percent since 2000, and Jefferson City’s was 39,328, down 2 percent in the six-year period.

There are some common demographic shifts, such as a labor force that is growing more slowly and becoming more dependent on international migration. There’s a significant increase in the Hispanic population, with lower levels of educational attainment among non-native English speakers, and in the senior-citizen population, the long-term impact of the baby boom.

The enrollment of Hispanics in Missouri’s school system increased from 12,633 in 1999 to 25,166 in 2005, a 99 percent jump, while total enrollment stayed the same.