Ambitious plans await Port

Chief predicts completions, challenges

Lorain Port Authority staff will have their work cut out for them with an ambitious new five-year plan, the agency’s director said.

Port Executive Director Tom Brown spoke Jan. 4 about the strategic plan to at least 35 people gathered for the first meeting of 2019 for the Lorain Growth Corp.-Main Street Lorain downtown business consortium.

The group of merchants and downtown supporters meets the first Friday of the month with guest speakers who focus on events and issues of Broadway, the Black River and Lorain generally.

In November 2018, the Port Authority unveiled the strategic plan developed with the Council of Development Finance Agencies, or CDFA.

The Columbus-based consulting firm met with more than 50 stakeholders about the history and future of the Port.

“I know that 2018 brought its

“I really think 2019, you’re going to see some great completion.”

— Tom Brown, Lorain Port Authority executive director

share of challenges and triumphs,” Brown said. “I look for 2019 to be very exciting this year.”

This year will bring completion of some projects that have been in the works for the last several years, he said.

“I really think 2019, you’re going to see some great completion,” Brown said.

The Port has had a strategic plan since it began, he said.

Brown said the latest plan is 28 pages outlining three visions that he summarized as a three-pronged approach.

The first phase is the Port wants to be recognized as the economic development leader for the city of Lorain.

The city’s Department of Community Development has been rebuilt as the Department of Building, Housing and Planning.

Some of the city’s economic development programming has not been reignited, but the Port is postured to become the economic driver, Brown said.

The Port has done so on an informal basis, following leads on new companies interested in Lorain, he said.

The city is generating interest among business owners, Brown said, and this month, he will speak about the redevelopment of the Broadway Building at a Columbus conference.

“We’re pretty excited about that because now, Lorain is going out,” he said. “We’ve gone to so many conferences and we hear about, here’s what Toledo did, here’s what Cleveland did, here’s what Cincinnati’s done.

“Well, guess who’s on the agenda now? Lorain. So we’re pretty proud of that.”

Right now, Lorain has a financing gap for business because the city’s small business development loan programs are on hold, Brown said.

The Port works with banks and the U.S. Small Business Administration, but also wants to create in-house loan programs to help start-ups and entrepreneurs, he said.

And not just for Broadway, Brown added, because new businesses can come to East 28th Street and Pearl Avenue in South Lorain and the city’s east side.

For phase two of the strategic plan, the Port wants to enhance relationships with institutional lenders.

The Port already has good relations with local lenders.

“But we found that when we talk to the experts, we need to know everybody, we need to know all sorts of different financial institutions,” Brown said.

He described an annual gathering to get to know staff at financial institutions so the Port can be a matchmaker between small businesses and lenders.

The third phase of the strategic plan involves the Port continuing to do everything it’s done while showing good governance and efficiency.

The Port largely has done that since it was created, Brown said.

There are great examples of public-private partnerships and the Port maintaining its facilities, he said.

“As we continue that mission, we have to keep proving to everybody that we’re here, we’re leading and we’re trustworthy,” Brown said.

The Port will have a onemill renewal levy on the May 7 ballot.

Although the plan is ambitious, the Port is not hiring new staff this year, Brown said.

The strategic plan generally had a good response when Council of Development Finance Agencies staff hosted a meeting to outline the document.

Brown credited the city of Lorain administration and Lorain County staff for maintaining good relationships with the Port.

But in the week after the plan was published, Brown said he got some calls that it was OK.

He noted there always are challenges when change and money are involved.

“Not everybody has to believe yet,” Brown said. “We’re going to keep showing progress, we’re going to keep showing completion, and eventually, people will get on board.

“We look forward to that challenge.”