City/HCDA to partner on small business development
Local businessman Brad Duffy (second from left) speaks at a meeting about the Humboldt downtown in April 2017. Now, two years later, the city is taking action to provide a resource person to help local small business in the community. Humboldt Independent file photo.
By KENT THOMPSON
The city of Humboldt will be getting a small business development specialist. It’s still a little unclear who that person will be and whether the position will be full-time or part-time.
The matter was discussed at Monday night’s Humboldt City Council meeting. Following discussion of the matter, the Humboldt City Council members in attendance gave their consent.
“When the Downtown Resource Center was here in 2017 and came back with a report, it showed that no one in the community actually works with small businesses,” Humboldt City Administrator Travis Goedken reported.
“What we heard several times during our downtown revitalization discussions was, ‘what good does it do to spruce up the downtown if we have empty storefronts and no one helping existing small businesses,’” Goedken said.
He said that help could be assisting a local business with online marketing, to providing information and assistance on expansion, providing rental information, resources about small business government programs, business financing, company organizational issues, how to manage relationships, and how to interact and collaborate with other small businesses and organizations in the economic development region.
The position would be under the auspices of the Humboldt County Development Association (HCDA).
The Humboldt City Council earmarked $25,000 toward the start-up and will work with a HCDA task force to fashion the position and details of the job.
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