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TO: Mayor Richard C. Irvin and Members of the City Council
FROM: David Dibo, Director Economic Development
DATE: April 24, 2022
SUBJECT:
A resolution authorizing the execution of an agreement between the City of Aurora and the Seize the Future Economic Development Foundation, Inc. (aka Invest Aurora) for the provision of economic development activities and services.
PURPOSE:
To define a new era in the City's relationship with Invest Aurora that builds on previous successes and further defines Invest Aurora's roles, responsibilities, and measurements for success. The agreement defines the term of the agreement, funding commitment of the City and outlines in detail the economic development activities that Invest Aurora will perform on the City's behalf.
BACKGROUND:
In 2013, the City modified the services of Invest Aurora to include certain functions previously performed by the Aurora Economic Development Commission (AEDC). In 2016 the City renewed and modified that agreement. Since that latest agreement in June of 2021, there have been a series of short-term extensions to that agreement as the City and Invest Aurora worked on a new agreement, the subject of the resolution currently under consideration.
DISCUSSION:
CONTEXT
The magnitude and velocity of economic development (ED) has increased throughout the City in recent years. Over the last two years alone the City had over $1Billion in construction including about 2300 new residential units completed or under construction and about 4.5 million square feet of new or improved other projects including commercial, industrial and office. This has increased workloads and called for increased efficiencies, definition, and collaboration.
ED is "a process of creating and utilizing physical, human, financial and social assets to generate improved and broadly shared economic wellbeing... (MIT professor Karl Seidman). At best it brings together resources from within and outside the community to promote economic g...
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