It is one of the least understood government functions.

Economic development is a key function of local and state government. The attraction and retention of business and industry in an area is crucial to a city’s, county’s, or state’s economic well-being by providing jobs for residents and a tax base for capital improvements or programs.

But unlike other government functions, the success or failure of economic development is not readily seen by taxpayers.

Unlike roads, parks and buildings, where progress occurs in public, recruiting business and industry takes time and is done away from the public view as officials and corporate representatives negotiate over tax breaks and site location and development. And it may take months or years before those talks bear fruit.

And economic development requires a plan, a strategy where everybody is working together in the same direction toward economic growth. Something that apparently is lacking in this area.

The lack of direction and cohesion in economic development was one of the main deficiencies pointed out by civic and business leaders during an October 2014 planning forum.

According to the forum results, the majority of the participants rated the practice of the Warren County Port Commission, Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Foundation, which is a shell of the economic development tool it once was, working independently on economic development issues either fair or poor. They supported consolidating the three organizations under one director.

Mayor George Flaggs Jr., agrees.

“In my opinion, economic development is stagnant in this community and we need to come together as a board of mayor and aldermen, and the supervisors and the port commission and set a pathway to the future, so it can be on one path and one vision on economic development,” he said.

According to state law, the Warren County Port Commission is the lead agency for economic development for the county, and its main focus is on industry, but the county’s economic development process seems more dependent on the State of Mississippi and other entities than the efforts of the commission members or director Wayne Mansfield.

Mansfield, who doubles as economic development director, said 97 percent of the business leads the county receives come from the Mississippi Development Authority, the state’s economic development arm, or through partnerships with Entergy and the Greater Jackson Alliance.

“Another small percentage is generated by us,” he said.

The days when an economic development director went to meet a company’s chief executive officer to talk about bringing an industry to an area are past, he said.

“What happens is a company hires site selectors and the site selectors contact the state economic development agencies, and then from the state level they send out requests for information (to the local governments),” Mansfield said.

Locally, he said, the port commission completes the requests with information about workforce development, training, infrastructure, tax structures and incentives, logistics and site preparation and send it back to MDA.

“We hope to stay on the list and be the last man standing,” he said.

Mansfield said the port commission has very little involvement with recruiting retail business.

“When you look in terms of retailing, we don’t actively recruit retail,” Mansfield said. “We get involved with that if possible by providing data and information or making contacts.”

That would mean, in most cases, the city would be responsible for recruiting retail business to come to the area, but there’s one problem. The city’s charter has no provision allowing anyone to do economic development for the city, and City Attorney Nancy Thomas said a 1998 state Attorney General’s opinion said the city doesn’t have the authority to do economic development activity.

Economic development, according to the opinion, is a function of the county, although the city could enter into an interlocal agreement with the county to form a partnership.

Flaggs, however, has found ways to work around the problem.

“In lieu of that (recruiting) I’ve tried to lead the board on economic development projects,” he said. He cited the connector road between Wisconsin Avenue and North Frontage Road, which he said will open new areas to development; getting $4 million in state funds to expand South Frontage Road east to the Outlets at Vicksburg; and the hiring of Retail Coach, a Tupelo-based consulting firm, to help draw retail business to Vicksburg.

Flaggs’ strategy to boost economic development in Vicksburg involves a combination of increasing retail trade with a business-friendly atmosphere and tourism centered on the Vicksburg National Military Park. Part the tourism program includes $500,000 for the proposed Catfish Row Museum at Washington and Jackson streets, and $3 million for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Jesse Brent Lower Mississippi River Museum and Interpretive Center.

“I really believe we need to open up the charter to represent a position for an economic development director going forward in the future,” Flaggs said. “I think the timing and the competitiveness of (other) municipalities now lends itself to that.”

And the port commission?

As far as an economic development strategy, Mansfield said, the port commission is working on a plan, adding the commission is trying to update a previous economic development plan to bring it current with changes in the economic development process. He said work on the plan is expected to begin in June when the commission plans its fiscal 2017 budget.

The economic development arena, Mansfield said, has changed dramatically, citing the economy and the increased competition nationwide for jobs. He said the commission’s plan will have to address several challenges, the biggest being space to put industries that decide to come here.

“In Vicksburg, our competitive advantage is the Mississippi River,” he said. “(But) We have nowhere to put anyone at the port. Ceres (industrial park in Flowers) has limitations because of the fact it has no rail access.”

The commission, he said, has to look at ways to find the extra land to expand the port, and look at the cost of adding the land and rail service, “Because when you look up and down the river, there are no large tracts of land available to develop along the Mississippi.”

The same is true with attracting retail to the area, he said.

“You look at those big box (major) retailers. The main thing they want is interstate visibility, and if you look from the (Mississippi) river bridge past clay Street, there’s nowhere to put it,” he said.

“There’s a lack of services; a lack of sanitary sewer service. I’ve always thought it would benefit us to have a regional utility system.”

Despite the space problems, Mansfield said, the commission was able to bring lubricants manufacturer CAM2 and leather tanning company TanTec Leather to the city.

Port commission president Margaret Gilmer said the commission would be looking at a five-year plan for the county.

She said the commission will have a working meeting on economic development June 6 that will involve only the commissioners.

“We are also looking at other communities to see what they are doing and what they have done to be successful,” she said.

She also would like to see a consolidated economic development board similar to the Warren County Economic Development Foundation, which at one time handled the city and county’s economic development efforts.

“I think we need something like that, where we can bring all the ideas together,” she said.