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LOCAL NEWS
LOCAL NEWS Resident recruitment program boosts business relocation efforts in Bartlesville
By and large over the years, Bartlesville has succeeded in luring companies to the city. But getting those employees to buy and build local homes has been challenging. “As Owasso has grown, as Tulsa has grown, people are attracted to shopping and retail, all of the things that the big city has to offer,” said Chris Batchelder, vice president of business development for the Bartlesville Development Authority. “Bartlesville has always battled against that, and as Tulsa has continued to migrate north, it has become more and more difficult … to sell Bartlesville as a great place to live.”
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An economic tool is making that job easier. Instead of providing incentives for an employer to locate in the city, a long-held practice of the municipality, the Resident Recruitment Program channels incentives directly to company employees to purchase or construct residences in Bartlesville.
A total of $10,000 cash is offered for the purchase of a primary residence within the city limits or for new construction of a primary residence outside city limits but within the Bartlesville school district. For new construction within the city limits, the lure is $20,000. A pilot program launched last year for relocating Concho Resources to the city has led to 11 home purchases and two planned new homes. The Bartlesville City Council this month OK’d the incentives for two other companies: ConocoPhillips Permian Asset Acquisition and Phoenix Rising Aviation, an aircraft maintenance firm. Software company HeraSoft was OK’d for the program in September. “We knew we were missing an opportunity to grow our community and our tax base,” Bartlesville Development Authority President David Wood said in a statement. “So we decided to try a new approach, and that’s how the Resident Recruitment Program was born. ... “Generally, the job creation cost is the same as traditionally offered — the difference is merely the beneficiary, the employee rather than or instead of the employer. In many respects, the return on the public investment is higher as the recipient must live in the local taxing jurisdiction. For this reason, targeted employee relocation incentives have proven to be the preferred use of job creation incentives.”
The stimulus money, which requires City Council approval, is for “primary industry” companies adding or relocating at least 10 jobs, Batchelder said. The recruitment program — for which $160,000 has been allocated to date — is funded through a half-cent economic development sales tax that goes before voters every five years, he said. Bartlesville’s economic device is similar to Tulsa Remote, a 3-year-old program that offers people $10,000 to live in the city for one year. It has brought more than 1,200 people to the municipality with more than 90% of them staying after their one-year commitment and many putting down long-term roots. A former fighter pilot with the Air Force, Phoenix Rising CEO Warren Peck oversees a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at Bartlesville Municipal Airport. “Our company has plenty to offer, but I can see why somebody would say, ‘Why would I move from Dallas or Chicago?’” Peck said of the stimulus. “This is tangible. People here are so proud of the city that they are willing to put their money where their mouth is. Quite frankly, to offer someone moving here $10,000 … that’s real incentive.”
Peck, whose company employs 19 people, said he will be able to offer the incentives retroactively to a few recent hires.
“I expect to add seven to eight more mechanics this year, if I can get them,” he said. Anthem Blanchard and his wife, Cynthia, are co-founders of the cybersecurity software company HeraSoft, which is making the renovated former Washington County Courthouse its headquarters. Anthem Blanchard said he and his wife are awed by the pro-commerce approach of city leaders. He said they have“lived in many cities tens of times larger, and in reality tens of times less focus on the success of earlier stage commercial organizations like ours. Small business is the heartbeat of employment in the USA and the Residential Recruitment Program (RRP) literally turns talk into money.” HeraSoft is ultimately trying to recruit 100 employees to Bartlesville, Batchelder said. “I anticipate hundreds to thousands and more new residents will move to the Bartlesville region in the next five years due to the city’s visionary initiative,” Anthem Blanchard wrote in an email.
“All municipalities are marketplaces and all marketplaces must compete for buyers and sellers for their respective market to prosper. The living legacy of Phillips 66 and the myriad of present day mega-successful commerce organizations in our city provided an evident foundation of success to next generation companies like HeraSoft.”