Anthem approves expenditure of $39,500 for market analysis

MARC BUCKHOUT ~ MANAGING EDITOR~ 8/31/2011

After an extensive debate, some teeth grinding and admitted concern by multiple members of the board the Anthem Community Council voted to spend up to $39,500 to have ESI Corporation conduct a market analysis for Anthem.
The council by a 4-1 vote, with Tim Fyke and Bob Copen abstaining, authorized Chief Executive Officer Jenna Kollings to move forward with the plan.
“We see this as a critical part of our process,” Kollings said. “Our staff could put some of this together on our own, but it wouldn’t be nearly as vibrant of a plan. If we go this way we’ll get a tangible document, maps, data tables, charts provided in a format that can be used by realtors and given to potential buyers. They’ll also provide us with an implementation plan, action steps that will be used moving forward. This is not a study that will sit on a shelf. It will be something that gives us a map of where to go. We want to go about establishing a climate to make Anthem attractive, to make businesses want to grow here.”
While board members Copen, Ron Jerich and Ray Norris all intimated that they had trouble justifying the expenditure of funds just two years after $125,000 was spent on the SIMP report  Kollings said they were two distinct projects.
“This is economic development,” she said. “That was master community planning. That one was looking for direction on what amenities residents would like to see added to Anthem. This is how to actively pull businesses to Anthem.”
President Craig Boates said the first thing potential businesses will ask for is information on the community’s demographics.
“Without that information, that we would be provided with, by this analysis, perspective business might just view Anthem as that place up there in the middle of nowhere,” he said.
Norris said his lean was to defer to Kollings expertise, but questioned if it would make sense to wait a year and see if the economy improves.
“I think it’s a lost opportunity if we wait,” she said. “I think by waiting we would miss out on being able to have a leg up and be ready when opportunities arise as the economy comes around.”
Fyke questioned whether ESI Corporation would have a road map for helping Anthem since the community is so unique.
Neal Shearer, Anthem’s Chief Operating Officer, said that in talking to the president of the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce, the city of Peoria and Fountain Hills that he came away confident in what EST Corporation, which has been serving the Valley since 1990, can do for Anthem.
Jerich made a motion to not spend the funds on the market analysis.
“This whole thing, I just don’t understand,” he said. “Most of the information we are looking for I would think we have. We just have to decide we need it and go get it. It seems to me we’re trying to spend money just because we’ve got it. The landscape has changed {economically} but I don’t understand where we are going at this point.”
Jerich’s motion failed by a 5-2 margin with Copen voting with Jerick.
The normally quiet Emily Wrinkle followed by asking her colleagues to stop dragging their feet.
“When we hired Jenna and hired Neal we asked them to explore economic development opportunities,” she said. “We wanted her to lead Anthem and that’s what she’s trying to do. I don’t know what we are waiting for.”
Board member Jeff Pointer followed by making a motion to accept the request for the market analysis, and was joined by Wrinkle, Boates and Norris who voted in favor of the measure. Jerich was the lone no vote.
The next Anthem Community Council meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 28 at the Anthem Community Center.