ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE CITY OF DEXTERMarch 2018

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSKim Hill is co-Founder and President of HWA Analytics, a Michigan-based research and consulting firm he helped establish in 2013. The firm’s focus is on providing con-sulting, advising and partnering services to public and private sector organizations in the areas of automotive and advanced transportation, advanced manufacturing and sustainable economic development practices. The firm’s expertise and experience lies in technology trends, labor market analytics, sustainable development strategies, market research, corporate and public sector strategy, and societal sustainability. www.hwa-analytics.com

Luke Bonner is the founder of Bonner Advisory Group located in Ann Arbor, MI. The Bonner Advisory Group has supported over 250 corporate projects in which the companies have committed to nearly 10,000 jobs and over $3 billion in new investment in Michigan communities. The company has authored over 35 tax increment finance and development plans that brought public financing to pri-vate development projects, and dozens of tax abatements and state incentive packages. Bonner Advisory Group specializes in consulting services to support economic development and strategic planning efforts, as well as advisory services on incentives packages and policies.

This strategic planning process would not have been possible without the valuable assistance of the following partners:

Debbie Maranger Menk, Alivia Metts, and James Howard—Emsi http://www.economicmodeling.com/company/

Phil Roos, Stephanie (Stevie) Hanna— Great Lakes Growthworks http://www.glgrowthworks.com/

CONTENTS

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

5 INTRODUCTION

6 ECONOMIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE7 Regional Overview8 Population Trends9 Labor Force11 Dexter Labor Market13 Fastest Growing Occupations16 Commuting Patterns17 Resident Workers20 Industry Cluster Analysis23 Supply Chain Analysis29 Diversity

30 BUSINESS COMMUNITY OUTREACH30 Electronic survey30 Individual interviews30 Consensus Building Session31 Summary of the Sessions and Comments33 Strategy: A Tech and Lifestyle Hub with

Small Town Feel

34 RECOMMENDATIONS

37 APPENDICES38 Appendix A: Benchmark Regions51 Appendix B: Dexter Survey

3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

HWA Analytics and the Bonner Advisory Group have assembled a team to help the city realize its strategic economic development goals. The team has assisted the city in the process of building consensus around a strategic vision and implementation plan to guide future economic development activities.

Throughout this process, we have heard from the busi-ness community and city representatives, compiled economic and demographic data, and held interim meetings to discuss what we were hearing and find-ing. As a result of this process, we have compiled a series of recommendations that are our responses to the feedback from the city, local businesses, and the data. Our team was impressed throughout this engagement with the high quality of life for residents and businesses in the City of Dexter. We didn’t feel that anything was “broken”, and had to be immediately fixed. Rather, we believe there are aspirational goals the city can pursue to add to the already high quality of the city. Some of these recommendations are complex, and may take substantial time and effort to accomplish, but all are aimed at strengthening the functionality and enjoyment of the city.

The City of Dexter appears to attract young families and is home to many highly-educated people with higher than average income levels. This is a result and benefit of Dexter being in close proximity to the city of Ann Arbor—with its emerging tech industry, and the Univer-sity of Michigan. Continuing to attract such residents makes the city an appealing and vibrant place to live, work, and play. It also gives Dexter an opportunity to grow the types of businesses that would benefit from this resident workforce. Many of the city’s residents currently travel from Dexter to work elsewhere in the county and beyond. The city should strive to create and grow employment opportunities for these outgoing commuters. It is apparent that the largest and fastest growing industries and occupations in the area offer

a host of opportunities that the city can build upon. These include industry sectors that employ computer occupations, business operations specialists, operations managers, and manufacturing sales representatives.

We suggest promoting the city as a rural, small town tech hub, with all the advantages of small town life, but with access to the types of businesses and employ-ment that can help the city remain robust and thriving. The city should remain open to the growth of diverse businesses, but should particularly focus on attracting and promoting businesses, such as tech businesses and unique lifestyle and artisan brands, which can enhance while contemporizing Dexter’s unique rural and small-town feel.

In particular, we are recommending the city focus on the following initiatives:

Develop a “Dexter Arts and Entertainment Tech Council”—home to arts, entertainment, and tech

We propose creation of the “Dexter Arts and Entertain-ment Tech Council” which covers the business corridor in Dexter from downtown to Bishop Circle Industrial Park. The purpose is to focus on both business growth and supporting the special place that Dexter has become. We have found through our project research in Dexter that business and quality of place co-exist, but these need additional structure to help Dexter evolve from passively growing to developing around a firm vision of what it wants to become.

4

Education—Strengthen the school/business connection through industry and K-12 collaboration

Our research found a clear interest in connecting the school district with industry for partnerships focused on training, mentoring, internships, and even curricu-lum development. More importantly, there is genuine interest on behalf of the school district to meaningfully engage with industry. A key gap to overcome is finding a liaison between industry and education to formulate and shepherd these programs going forward.

Marketing—Branding and communication

Our process has helped align the perspectives of multi-ple stakeholders. We have clearly agreed that the City of Dexter has many assets to offer to internal and external investors. What appears to be lacking is a unified and consistent marketing message that will develop a brand for the city focused on technology, quality of life, down-town, and the city’s culture.

Business retention and expansion—Dedicated economic development manager

The general rule of thumb for any business is that 85% of a company’s new business comes from its exist-ing customer base. This can also be said of business investments in a local economy. Business retention and expansion is the single biggest factor in a local economic development function. Ideally, the economic development manager would not have a regulatory enforcement role at the city, which conflicts with the support of business investments and growth. The eco-nomic development manager should be in a position to help businesses clear through bureaucratic red tape, conduct highly collaborative meetings, and act as an extra set of hands to the business community in accom-plishing the goals of the strategic plan.

Grow existing businesses—Target destination businesses

There are two destination businesses that should receive immediate assistance—Northern United Brewing Com-

pany and The Encore Theatre. These businesses add character and identity to the city, and as such, should receive extra attention; assistance should be provided without delay. These businesses can be the driver for a new brand identity and are key to making Dexter a destination for visitors.

Infrastructure Perception – Myths versus Reality

Work closely with both business and utility service providers (including City of Dexter Water Authority) to understand both the existing opportunities and short-comings, that may either enhance or suppress business growth.

Enable key city staff to work with businesses in a non-regulatory manner

The main purpose of an economic development man-ager for a local community is to support and enable the expansion and relocation of businesses within the community. Therefore, it is important for a dedicated economic development professional to also be enabled to facilitate regulatory flexibility, to bring in partners to support expansion projects, and to make financial commitments (subject to final approvals) to move a project forward. It is difficult, at best, for this function to be undertaken simultaneously by city staff who are also charged with upholding regulations and moder-ating growth.

5

INTRODUCTION

The City of Dexter, in central Washtenaw County, Michigan, has built a thriving downtown with Main Street businesses mainly catering to the retail and restaurant trades. The city has a business park with approximately 30 businesses operating there. Further, the city has built recreational amenities (park system, bike trails, canoe/kayak access) to take advantage of the Huron River and Dexter-Huron Metropark. The city wants to leverage these assets and develop a vision and strategy that will provide long-term value to current businesses and residents and create well-thought out approaches to economic development efforts.

HWA Analytics and the Bonner Advisory Group have assembled a team to help the city realize its strategic economic development goals. The team has assisted the city in the process of building consensus around a strategic vision and implementation plan to guide future economic development activities. A key outcome of the process is this strategic planning document that can be referred to over the next five to seven years. This doc-ument provides a blueprint for Dexter to connect with, recruit, and retain target businesses and industries that complement the city’s demographics, and quality of life.

Throughout the process of creating community long-term strategies, we have been guided by seeking responses to following broad-based questions, and using the responses to help guide the rest of the stra-tegic process:

• What does the community do well?

• What does the community want to become?

• How can the community get there?

• What are the available tools and assets that will help the community reach its goal?

To put the city in an ideal situation to answer these questions, the team undertook a multi-faceted process. At the beginning, the team initiated an electronic survey of key stakeholders and, later in the process, conducted

a collaborative, all-day consensus-building session.

Prior to the consensus-building session, the team, led by its partner, Economic Modeling Specialists International (Emsi) collected demographic data on economic and business-related metrics, that has helped inform the team and community leaders as to the community’s current economic climate and its prospects for future growth. The findings of the survey and demographic data were shared with the business community stake-holders as part of the consensus building process. At key stages in the process, the HWA team and business community leaders met to discuss findings and gather input on proposed directions. The results of the consen-sus-building process and the results of the survey and benchmark demographic data have been incorporated into a list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) specific to the city.

We are confident this process has led to a well-thought out and developed strategic plan.

The survey, consensus building session, business and demographic analysis, and strategic planning document developed in this project will articulate the community’s strengths, provide data to respond to business inquiries, and put the community in an excellent position to com-pete for future development projects.

6

ECONOMIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE

The City of Dexter has enjoyed strong growth with a relatively younger population residing within its city limits. Strong income levels and fewer people in poverty coupled with higher educational attainment levels position Dexter for strong business and economic growth. The demographics of a region affect the size and composition of the labor force and its overall economy.

$88,000 The average worker in the city’s labor force earns $88,000.

274Businesses within the Dexter zip code experienced a net gain of 274 jobs from 6,016 in 2011 to 6,290 by 2016—an average annual growth rate of 0.9%. Much of the gains were in manufacturing, which added nearly 100 jobs during that time.

Dexter’s population is growing at a faster rate than all of Washtenaw County.

500Dexter residents in the labor force remained unchanged over the past five years, while the number of workers in the zipcode region increased by 500 people—an annual increase of 1.3%.

67.8% The city has an extraordinarily high labor force participation rate—67.8% compared to 63.7% nationwide.

Computer occupations are considered hot jobs (jobs that are abundant, fast-grow-ing, and high paying) in the Dexter zip code area as well as manufacturing sales representatives, business operations specialists, and operations managers.

7

A SNAPSHOT OF THE PROFILE HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:

REGIONAL OVERVIEW

Strong population growth can strengthen the economic base and create a solid job market for residents. Table 1 provides a regional overview and a comparison of the City of Dexter to the area encompassing the 48130 zip code, and for all of Washtenaw County. Throughout this report, zip code level data (or zip code tabulation area-ZCTA) was used when government source data were not available. Furthermore, the City of Dexter is known to the Census as Dexter village and, therefore, that geography level was used.

Average earnings for City of Dexter residents in the labor force stands out when compared to the household income of the zip code region and county. The average worker in the city’s labor force earns $88,000. The vast majority of residents, however, are not earning this income in the city. Approximately 92% of all Dexter city res-idents commute outside the zip code for work with the largest share of residents commuting to Ann Arbor for work, over 32% in 2015. This earning power represents an opportunity for local businesses to capture more of residents’ earnings in Dexter restaurants, retail, recreation, and other establishments.

TABLE 1: Regional Overview, 2016

CITY OF DEXTER DEXTER (ZCTA 48130) WASHTENAW COUNTY

P O P U L AT I O N

Population 4,700 16,600 354,000

Median Age 35.3 39.7 33.4

Number of Households 1,770 5,500 138,100

Median Household Income $70,852 $96,000 $61,000

WO R K F O R C E

Jobs 3,400 6,300 235,000

Average Earnings $88,000 $63,500 $65,000

COL Adjusted Average Earnings $88,900 $64,200 $65,600

E D U CAT I O N A L AT TA I N M E N T

Associate’s Degree or Higher (25+) ~77.5% 62.0% 59.6%

R E G I O N A L OV E RV I E W

GRP n/a $685.3 million $23.2 billion

Exports n/a $1.3 billion $32.5 billion

Imports n/a $1.4 billion $28.4 billion

Sources: Emsi Dataset 2017.3; U.S. Census, 2011-2015 American Community Survey, 5-Year Estimates for Zip Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTA)

8

POPULATION TRENDS

The City of Dexter is home to over 4,700 people and has shown exceptional population growth—growing 21% from 2010 to 2015, which is just over 4% annually. This pace is faster than Washtenaw County population growth over the same period and the state and national average—0.9%, 0.1%, and 0.7%, respectively. The City of Dexter comprises 1.3% of the county’s total population and 1.5% of total jobs.

CITY OF DEXTER

4,700 2015 Total Population

1.3% of County

21%Population Growth (2010–2015)

4.5% County Growth

Sources: U.S. Census, 2011-2015 American Community Survey, 5-Year Estimates

FIGURE 1: Population Trends, 2006-2021

10.0%

9.0%

8.0%

7.0%

6.0%

5.0%

4.0%

3.0%

2.0%

1.0%

0.0%

–1.0%

Year

-ove

r-Yea

r % C

hang

e

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

City of Dexter

2010 2015

Dexter (ZCTA 48130) Washtenaw County

Sources: Emsi Dataset 2017.3; U.S. Census, 2011-2015 American Community Survey, 5-Year Estimates

FIGURE 2: Population Growth by Age Group, City of Dexter (2010-2015)

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

16 to 19

20 to 24

25 to 44

45 to 54

55 to 64

65 to 74

75+

9

LABOR FORCE

1 Labor force and unemployment data are not calculated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics at the City of Dexter or the zip code level, therefore, data were derived from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS).

The labor force is comprised of people age 16 and over in the civilian noninstitutionalized population, includ-ing those classified as unemployed. Understanding labor force composition, particularly in terms of skills availability, provides some indications of an economy’s dynamism. For example, some economists project lower rates of economic growth in coming years driven largely by the slowing growth of the labor force. Nationwide, slowing labor force growth may be due to several factors, including but not limited to the following:

• Demographic shifts – increases or decreases in retir-ees or youth

• Discouraged workers who have dropped out due to lack of job prospects

• People who stay in school longer or return to school

Labor Force Trends

The City of Dexter had roughly 2,200 residents in the labor force in 2015, nearly unchanged from five years prior.1 The Dexter zip code (48130) saw a gain of nearly 500 residents joining the labor force during this same time, an increase of 6.7% (an annual rate of 1.3%). Coun-ty-wide, the labor force grew at a slower pace—barely 1% annually (4.1% from 2011 to 2016).

The recession took its toll on the labor force. In order to better understand the labor force since the recession, we analyze the labor force participation rate. This broader measure is another indicator of labor market supply and demand and is defined as the share of population (age 16+) that is either working or actively seeking work.

Across the country, the labor force participation rate has been steadily declining for the past 15 years. Some econ-omists have attributed this to the recession followed by the unusually slow recovery that caused some workers to become discouraged and permanently drop out of the labor force—particularly the younger working-age

cohorts—coupled with the demographic shift of an aging workforce, resulting in perhaps a structural shift in the nation’s labor force dynamics.

This means that if workers who have dropped out of the labor force participation do not seek employment even if job prospects are strong, then there is no sizable influx of workers into the labor market as a recovery takes hold—which we are now seeing. Consequently, the unemployment rate falls much more quickly. Con-versely, a cyclical change occurs when willing workers, previously discouraged by the weak job market, are drawn back into the labor market by a robust recovery; they boost the labor force participation rate (since they are now actively looking for work) and also impact the unemployment rate—which is not what we have seen.

This trend is occurring nationwide, and it is critical in understanding the current workforce and skills needed for a region to succeed in helping businesses prosper. The figure below illustrates labor force participation trends.

Although the labor force participation rate has declined in the City of Dexter, the city has an extraordinarily high labor force participation rate—67.8% compared to 63.7% nationwide (see Figure 3).

FIGURE 3: Labor Force Participation Rates, 2010-2015

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 5-Year Estimates

City of Dexter

Dexter (Z CTA 48130)

Washtenaw County

Michigan

U.S.

2010 2015

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

1 0

Retirement Trends

One issue facing employers is retirement, which is the loss of employees, as well as the loss of valuable experience and company knowledge. On one hand, the growing number of young adults moving to the City of Dexter has driven the risk of retirements low. However, the people working in Dexter businesses are not neces-sarily those that reside there, as further explained in the commuting trends section later in this report.

Only data at the county-level is available for workforce demographics. Of the largest employing industries in Washtenaw County, 19% of their workforce is age 55 and older and set to retire over the next 10 years (see Table 2). This is rather low compared to other areas.

FIGURE 4: Labor Force Participation Rates by Age Group, City of Dexter (2010-2015)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 5-Year Estimates

16 to 19

20 to 24

25 to 44

45 to 54

55 to 64

65 to 74

75+

2010 2015

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

TABLE 2: Largest Employing Industries and Share of Workers age 55 and over, Washtenaw County (2016)

WASHTENAW COUNTYAGE 55+ (% OF

INDUSTRY)

ALL INDUSTRIES 20.2%

Educational Services 23.1%

Health Care and Social Assistance 21.9%

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services 17.9%

Retail Trade 20.0%

Accommodation and Food Services 9.1%

Manufacturing 23.3%

Source: U.S. Census Quarterly Workforce Indicators; Data not available for Dexter

FIGURE 5: Numeric Change in Age 55 and older Population, by Zip Code around region (2016-2026)

Source: Emsi Dataset 2017.3

1 1

DEXTER LABOR MARKET

Top Growing Industries

Zip code level data was used to analyze the Dexter labor market. Businesses within the Dexter zip code experienced a net gain of 274 jobs from 6,016 in 2011 to 6,290 by 2016—an average annual growth rate of 0.9%. Most of the gains were in manufacturing, which added nearly 100 jobs during that time.

Manufacturing jobs were in bolt, nut, screw, rivet and washer manufacturing along with electrical equipment and component manufacturing. Area restaurants and other food and drinking places along with jobs with software publishers were also contributors to the jobs growth.

TOP GROWING INDUSTRIES

• Machine shops

• Professional and commercial equipment and supplies

• Software publishers

• Forging and stamping

FIGURE 6: Job Trends, 2006-2016 (Dexter ZCTA 48130)

Source: Emsi Dataset 2017.3

7,200

7,000

6,800

6,600

6,400

6,200

6,000

5,800

5,600

5,400

240,000

235,000

230,000

225,000

220,000

215,000

210,000

205,000

200,000

195,000

Dex

ter

Was

hten

aw C

ount

y

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Washtenaw County Dexter

1 2

FIGURE 7: Jobs by Location Around Greater Region, 2016

Source: Emsi Dataset 2017.3

TABLE 3: Largest Industries, Dexter ZCTA 48130 (2011-2016)

INDUSTRY 2011 2016

CHANGE IN JOBS

(2011-2016) % CHANGE2016 EARNINGS

PER WORKER

Software Publishers 699 746 47 7% $103,873

Machine Shops; Turned Product; and Screw, Nut, and Bolt Manufacturing 365 466 101 28% $78,271

Education and Hospitals (Local Government) 511 451 (60) (12%) $68,209

Restaurants and Other Eating Places 261 295 34 13% $18,885

Services to Buildings and Dwellings 253 242 (11) (4%) $33,430

Source: Emsi Dataset 2017.3

1 3

FASTEST GROWING OCCUPATIONS

Industry data is often referred to for a sense of regional economic trends, but in order to better understand the quality of the jobs in a region, some knowledge of occu-pations is needed. This is because the earning levels and

education requirements of workers bear more of a rela-tionship to their occupation than to the industry in which they work. For example, the manufacturing industry, while employing many assemblers and machine opera-tors – also employs people in management occupations and in professional occupations such as engineering. All of these occupations have different pay scales and require varying levels of education and training.

Food and retail workers nearly always make up the larg-est number of occupations in an area. It is no different in Dexter (zip code) where they comprise nearly 6% of all jobs. Software developers are the third largest occu-pation, numerically, followed by customer service and sales representatives (manufacturing) and office clerks.

Occupations that appear to be highest on the regional pay scale and which also employ a sizeable number of workers are software developers, manufacturing sales representatives, general and operations managers,

FASTEST GROWING OCCUPATIONS

• Metal and Plastics workers

• Computer occupations

• Food and Beverage workers

• Material Moving occupations

• Engineers

TABLE 4: Top Occupations, Dexter ZCTA 48130 (2016)

SOC DESCRIPTION 2016 JOBSANNUAL

OPENINGS

MEDIAN HOURLY

EARNINGS

35-3021 Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food 203 39 $9.28

41-2031 Retail Salespersons 163 29 $11.23

15-1132 Software Developers, Applications 147 13 $43.48

43-4051 Customer Service Representatives 141 21 $17.76

43-9061 Office Clerks, General 141 17 $16.55

41-4012 Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products 138 15 $30.31

41-2011 Cashiers 126 28 $10.09

37-3011 Landscaping and Grounds keeping Workers 124 18 $10.48

41-4011 Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products 122 14 $33.25

15-1133 Software Developers, Systems Software 116 10 $45.72

51-4041 Machinists 114 16 $20.44

51-2092 Team Assemblers 106 15 $14.69

11-1021 General and Operations Managers 100 9 $51.99

17-2112 Industrial Engineers 92 9 $39.76

25-2021 Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education 90 7 $27.84

Source: Emsi Dataset 2017.3

1 4

industrial engineers, and elementary school teachers (Table 4). Only four of the top 15 occupations have a median wage under $15 per hour.

The fastest growing occupations differ from “hot jobs”— (see Table 5) which are those that are most abundant in the area, fastest-growing, and highest paying. Emsi projects job growth and industry growth for up to 10 years for industries and occupations using regression models and past trends.

Metal and plastic workers are the fastest growing occu-pation but do not hit the mark on highest paying with a

median wage of $16.50 per hour. Computer occupations are considered hot jobs in the Dexter zip code area as well as manufacturing sales representatives, business operations specialists, and operations managers.

Printing, metal workers, manufacturing sales representa-tives, scientists and technicians in both life science and physical science, computer occupations, and engineers are all heavily concentrated in Dexter. This metric of regional specialization is measured by looking at the share of an area’s employment compared to its share of employment at the national level, or location quo-tient (LQ).

Metal Workers and Plastic Workers

Computer Occupations

Food and Beverage Serving Workers

Material Moving Workers

Engineers

Retail Sales Workers

Business Operations Specialists

Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing

Operations Specialties Managers

Construction Trades Workers

Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians

Assemblers and Fabricators

Other Producation Occupations

Vehicle and Mobile Equipment Mechanics, Repairers

Top Executives

Other Management Occupations

Motor Vehicle Operators

Life Scientists

Other Office and Administrative Support Workers

Physical Scientists

Cooks and Food Preparation Workers

Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers

Advertising, Mktg, Promotions, Public Relations, Sales Mgrs

Other Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations

Supervisors of Sales Workers

FIGURE 8: Fastest Growing Occupation Groups, Dexter ZCTA 48130 (2011-2016)

Source: Emsi Dataset 2017.3

2011 2016

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

1 5

TABLE 5: Hot Jobs*, Dexter ZCTA 48130 (2016-2021)

DESCRIPTION 2016 20212016–2021

CHANGE2016–2021 % CHANGE

MEDIAN HOURLY

EARNINGSANNUAL

OPENINGS

Computer Occupations 461 511 50 11% $38.87 40

Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing 260 280 20 8% $31.72 31

Business Operations Specialists 219 237 18 8% $29.76 24

Operations Specialties Managers 128 133 5 4% $55.66 11

Top Executives 114 119 5 4% $51.48 10

Engineers 156 161 5 3% $40.35 11

Health Technologists and Technicians 59 64 5 8% $23.88 5

Motor Vehicle Operators 91 96 5 5% $15.11 11

Advertising, Mktg, Promotions, Public Relations, Sales Mgrs 48 52 4 8% $56.54 5

Secretaries and Administrative Assistants 55 59 4 7% $18.53 7

Financial Specialists 68 71 3 4% $29.94 7

Sales Representatives, Services 56 59 3 5% $25.36 7

Other Healthcare Support Occupations 40 43 3 8% $16.67 5

Mathematical Science Occupations 10 12 2 20% $42.01 ---

Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers 20 22 2 10% $26.76 2

Life Scientists 42 44 2 5% $25.29 4

Vehicle and Mobile Equipment Mechanics, Repairers 61 63 2 3% $23.71 6

Media and Communication Workers 26 28 2 8% $20.69 3

Construction Trades Workers 228 230 2 1% $19.43 24

Supervisors of Sales Workers 61 63 2 3% $19.01 7

Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers 40 42 2 5% $17.79 6

Lawyers, Judges, and Related Workers 13 14 1 8% $52.88 ---

Physical Scientists 29 30 1 3% $32.77 3

Supervisors of Production Workers 45 46 1 2% $28.31 4

Drafters, Engineering Technicians, and Mapping Technicians 26 27 1 4% $24.28 2

* Hot jobs are most abundant, fastest-growing, and highest-paying. Source: Emsi Dataset 2017.3

1 6

COMMUTING PATTERNS

Commuting patterns show how far workers must travel from their places of residence to their places of work. City-level data is available for commuting patterns. This data shows employers or local officials whether there is an adequate supply of workers or jobs within a given area. According to the Census’ LEHD on the Map pro-gram, only 8% of residents live and work in the City of Dexter. Approximately 92% of all Dexter city residents commute outside the zip code for work with the largest share of residents commuting to Ann Arbor for work,

over 32% in 2015. Of those who commute into the City of Dexter for work, 8% live in Ann Arbor and the remainder is split between residents from Saline, Chelsea, Livonia, Jackson, and Whitmore Lake—largely for manufacturing jobs. The data below illustrate the commuting patterns for the City of Dexter.

The large portion of residents commuting to Ann Arbor are working for University of Michigan, the hospital, or in the software industry. These earnings are spent and circulated locally in and around the city.

돌멾둝멾듨멾듹멾떐멾뗁멾뙻멾뛠돊멾둛멾듦멾듶멾떐멾똋멾뙚멾뛊돱멾됽멾듥멾때멾떅멾뗪멾똮멾뚴TABLE 7: Top Industries City of Dexter Residents are Commuting Outside the Area for, 2015

COUNT SHARE

Educational Services 245 20.4%

Health Care and Social Assistance 181 15.0%

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services 167 13.9%

Manufacturing 153 12.7%

Wholesale Trade 63 5.2%

Source: U.S. Census LEHD on the Map, 2015, all jobs

TABLE 6: Distance and Direction, where City of Dexter Residents work

INFLOW/OUTFLOWJob counts by distance/direction in 2015 All wokers

HOW FAR RESIDENTS DRIVE TO WORK

COUNT SHARE

Total All Jobs 7,174 100.0%

Less than 10 miles 2,832 39.5%

10 to 24 miles 2,198 30.6%

25 to 50 miles 1,702 23.7%

Greater than 50 miles 442 6.2%

Source: U.S. Census LEHD on the Map, 2015, all jobs

NW NE

W

SW SE

N

S

E돛멾됮멾듏멾때멾땯멾뗟멾똮멾뚓200600

1,000

Less than 10 miles

10 to 24 miles

25 to 50 miles

1 7

RESIDENT WORKERS

Resident worker analysis examines where workers live in comparison to where they work. Net commuters are the minimum number of workers who commute in or out of the region to satisfy the regional numbers of jobs held. A positive number (shown in GREEN in the figure below) describes commuters entering a region, while a negative number (shown in RED) describes commuters leaving a region.

Net commuter data (see Table 8) allows economic devel-opment professionals to understand which occupations and skills are leaving the area or vice versa. The top 25 jobs in the Dexter zip code are losing over 530 residents to businesses outside the area. This is a large untapped segment of the labor pool that could work in the Dexter zip code.

The top occupations leaving the area for work elsewhere are registered nurses, office clerks and secretaries, health technologists, and nursing and home health aides.

Note that Emsi jobs and commuting data do not match the Census on the Map data. Emsi uses zip code-level data while the Census uses drive-time radii. Emsi also uses place of residence data derived from the Census LODES data, specifically from Origin and Destination data, Regional Area Characteristics, and Workforce Area Characteristics data which Emsi applies to the occupa-tion jobs figures for context. This data is referred to here as “Resident Workers.”

FIGURE 9: Where City of Dexter Residents Work, 2015

Source: U.S. Census LEHD on the Map, 2015, all jobs

DEXTER ZCTA 48130

JOBS RESIDENT WORKERS NET COMMUTERS

6,300 8,600 -2,300

Source: Emsi Dataset 2017.3

1 8

TABLE 8: Available Workforce, Dexter ZCTA 48130 (2016)

DESCRIPTION JOBSRESIDENT WORKERS

NET COMMUTERS

MEDIAN HOURLY EARNINGS

Health Diagnosing and Treating Practitioners 56 373 (317) $42.17

Other Office and Administrative Support Workers 161 351 (190) $16.55

Secretaries and Administrative Assistants 55 210 (155) $18.53

Health Technologists and Technicians 59 211 (152) $23.88

Nursing, Psychiatric, and Home Health Aides 16 151 (135) $11.38

Information and Record Clerks 221 331 (110) $16.12

Business Operations Specialists 219 307 (88) $29.76

Engineers 156 233 (77) $40.35

Retail Sales Workers 307 379 (72) $10.59

Financial Clerks 75 146 (71) $18.77

Operations Specialties Managers 128 118 10 $55.66

Supervisors of Production Workers 45 35 10 $28.31

Personal Appearance Workers 63 50 13 $9.83

Military occupations 38 25 13 $19.05

Printing Workers 68 29 39 $15.97

Grounds Maintenance Workers 139 95 44 $10.95

Teachers 187 142 45 $27.78

Computer Occupations 461 387 74 $38.87

Sales Reps, Wholesale and Manufacturing 260 136 124 $31.72

Metal Workers and Plastic Workers 385 173 212 $16.54

6,290 8,574 (2,285)

Source: Emsi Dataset 2017.3

FIGURE 10: Where Jobs are and Where Residents Work, Dexter ZCTA 48130 (2016)

Source: Emsi Dataset 2017.3

1 9

56+41+26+24+26+18+26+32+84+38+32+35+34+40+29+29+49+42+57+60+56+47+75+74+100Sales Reps, Wholesale and Manufacturing

Teachers

Cooks and Food Preparations Workers

Financial Clerks

Other Installation, Maintenance, Repair Occs

Nursing, Psychiatric, and Home Health Aides

Motor Vehicle Operators

Assemblers and Fabricators

Metal Workers and Plastic Workers

Material Moving Workers

Other Management Occupations

Material Recording, Scheduling, Distributing

Building Cleaning and Pest Control Workers

Other Personal Care and Service Workers

Secretaries and Administrative Assistants

Health Technologists and Technicians

Construction Trades Workers

Engineers

Business Operations Specialists

Information and Record Clerks

Other Office and Administrative Support Workers

Health Diagnosing and Treating Practitioners

Food and Beverage Serving Workers

Retail Sales Workers

Computer Occupations

Source: Emsi Dataset 2017.3

42+25+11+8+10+2+10+13+65+18+13+16+14+18+6+6+25+17+24+24+17+6+35+33+5813+5+0+0+0+0+0+0+23+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+8

0+0+5+8+7+15+7+5+0+1+7+4+7+5+17+16+0+8+10+12+21+34+6+8+0

2016 Net Commuters 2016 Jobs 2016 Resident Workers

0–200–400 200 400 600 800 1,000

2 0

INDUSTRY CLUSTER ANALYSIS

This section of the report provides descriptions and analyses for industry clusters that drive the Dexter econ-omy. From this analysis, we can determine the busi-nesses and industry sectors that offer the most potential for growth in Dexter.

The Region

The larger area of zip code 48130 is the region used for this industry cluster analysis. This zip code area and Washtenaw County comprise the area from which businesses located in Dexter source local goods and services, and from which Dexter companies can rea-sonably expect to draw their workforce. For this reason, the analyses that follow will highlight opportunities within the zip code (which is slightly larger than the City of Dexter), using the greater county region to further understand economic development potential. As can be seen in Table 9, the Dexter economy is about 3% of the county’s economy, but some sectors, such as information services, are strong contributors to both the Dexter and county economies. The industry clusters generating the largest market value of all final goods and services produced in Dexter are highlighted in Figure 11.

Industry Clusters

Industry clusters are a geographic concentration of industries that share common markets, suppliers, tech-nologies, and workforce needs. Businesses within a cluster benefit from their proximity to shared resources including a skilled workforce, specialized suppliers, infra-structure, and a localized base of sophisticated knowl-edge about their industry. Each cluster has a high level of economic integration and interdependency. Industry cluster analysis highlights the strengths and weaknesses of different industries within a region and shows where focus needs to be placed to encourage growth.

When analyzing industry clusters, one measure of clus-ter viability is its ‘location quotient’ (or LQ). The LQ for a particular industry measures its share of an area’s employment compared to its share of employment at the national level. For example, an LQ of 2.0 indicates that an industry accounts for twice the share of employ-ment in the area than it does nationally, and a LQ of 0.5 indicates that an industry’s share of employment is only half the national average. This comparison reveals the industry’s relative concentration in the region. Industries

TABLE 9: Gross Regional Product Overview for Economic Region, Dexter ZCTA 48130 (2016)

2016 GRP IN MILLIONS $

MAJOR INDUSTRY GROUPDEXTER, ZIP

CODE 48130WASHTENAW

COUNTY

Information $161.2 $1,072.1

Manufacturing $126.6 $1,952.0

Wholesale Trade $84.3 $1,039.6

Government $60.6 $7,074.3

Retail Trade $34.5 $953.3

Construction $32.4 $464.9

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services $31.0 $2,357.1

Health Care and Social Assistance $11.0 $1,770.3

Accommodation and Food Services $10.0 $466.2

Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate $12.4 $1,925.5

All Other Industries $39.6 $2,237.2

Total Dexter GRP $603.6 $21,312.4

2 1

TABLE 10: Major Industry Clusters, Dexter ZCTA 48130 (2016)

DETAILED NAICS CODE INDUSTRY

2016 LOCATION QUOTIENT 2016 JOBS

Cluster Totals Manufacturing 204.5 790

332721 Precision Turned Product Manufacturing 25.9 41

332722 Bolt, Nut, Screw, Rivet, and Washer Manufacturing 248.4 391

332119 Metal Crown, Closure, and Other Metal Stamping (except Automotive) 40.4 84

332710 Machine Shops 3.0 33

332911 Industrial Valve Manufacturing 22.9 23

332991 Ball and Roller Bearing Manufacturing 18.8 20

326191 Plastics Plumbing Fixture Manufacturing 322.8 182

326199 All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing 1.3 15

Cluster Totals Business Services 159.4 400

541511 Custom Computer Programming Services 1.2 43

541611 Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Ser-vices 2.2 62

541614 Process, Physical Distribution, and Logistics Consulting Services 4.6 24

541219 Other Accounting Services 0.8 12

561720 Janitorial Services 1.2 61

323111 Commercial Printing (except Screen and Books) 2.4 33

323117 Books Printing 217.3 167

Cluster Totals Distribution and Electronic Commerce 45.9 1,092

423490 Other Professional Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers 83.3 95

424990 Other Miscellaneous Nondurable Goods Merchant Wholesalers 23.5 84

425120 Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers 4.8 167

511210 Software Publishers 52.9 746

Cluster Totals Real Estate, Construction, and Development 2.2 386

236115 New Single-Family Housing Construction (except For-Sale Builders) 1.0 19

236118 Residential Remodelers 3.4 78

236220 Commercial and Institutional Building Construction 1.9 51

237110 Water and Sewer Line and Related Structures Construction 2.6 19

238210 Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors 1.0 39

238220 Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors 1.1 48

238350 Finish Carpentry Contractors 1.5 15

238910 Site Preparation Contractors 2.6 50

238990 All Other Specialty Trade Contractors 1.3 26

531210 Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers 0.6 10

237130 Power and Communication Line and Related Structures Construction 4.1 30

2 2

with a high relative concentration – or high LQ – are said to be specialized in a region.

More than 40% of the Dexter economy is represented by four industry clusters: manufacturing, business services, distribution and electronic commerce, and real estate and construction. Table 10 shows the specific industry sector that is included in each cluster.

In Dexter, two manufacturing sectors, Bolt, Nut, Screw Manufacturing and Plastic Plumbing Fixtures have very high concentrations – 248 LQ and 323 LQ. This means that these two sectors are 248 times more concentrated and 323 times more concentrated in Dexter than would be expected in another economy of similar size.

The above four clusters are dominated by for-profit entities. In addition to these clusters, there are another six clusters that are prevalent in the Dexter economy. These clusters, however, are comprised primarily of either low-paying jobs or not-for-profit/public entities. For economic development and strategic planning purposes, the government sector, community organi-zations, education, and healthcare establishments are not considered here as targets for development. They are listed here to provide a fuller characterization of the local economy.

Therefore, for the analysis that follows, we consider the following four clusters:

• Manufacturing

• Business Services

• Distribution and Electronic Commerce

• Real Estate, Construction, and Development

Each cluster represents opportunities for diversifica-tion for Dexter’s economy as well as opportunities for regional businesses to diversify their market base. Figure 11 summarizes projected employment growth for each

Important growth industries

TABLE 11: Minor Industry Clusters, Dexter ZCTA 48130 (2016)

INDUSTRY2016 LOCATION

QUOTIENT 2016 JOBS

Retail and Personal Services 3.6 724

Hospitality Establishments 5.6 654

Education and Knowledge Creation 2.2 555

Government Services 0.9 423

Health Services 3.2 163

Community and Civic Organizations 2.6 113

FIGURE 11: Industry Cluster Performance, Dexter ZCTA 48130 (2016-2021)

–15% –10% –5% 0% 5% 10% 15%–50.0

0.0

50.0

100.0

150.0

200.0

250.0

Manufacturing

Distribution and Electronic Commerce

Business Services

Real Estate, Construction, and

Development

Projected Job Growth (%)

Loca

tion

Quo

tient

Important industries that may require attention

Emerging

2 3

cluster and its corresponding location quotient. The average growth for these clusters over the next five years is projected to be 3.5%, while general economic growth for the city is projected to be 2%. These clusters comprise more than 60% of the Dexter economy (as measured by GRP). The jobs in these clusters pay, on average, a third more than other jobs in the city.

The data show that the business services cluster may require some attention as projected employment is expected to fall over the next five years. The real estate, construction, and development cluster is still emerging with much potential for growth. Manufacturing and distribution and commerce remain important clusters in the area.

SUPPLY CHAIN ANALYSIS

Supply chain analysis is a process by which the inputs and outputs of an area’s industry clusters are evaluated – which goods and services are being bought and sold, in what quantities, and where they are being bought from or sold to. The analysis can help identify the different types of businesses that comprise an industry clus-ter and, most importantly for economic development, can identify segments of the supply chain that may be absent from the region. These supply chain gaps, as they are known, can represent opportunities for new develop-ment that can strengthen existing industry clusters and may support other non-related industries in the region.

Table 13, on the next page, shows in-region sales and exported (out-of-region) sales for each industry cluster. This is useful for understanding how much revenue a cluster is bringing into the region through its sales of

goods and services outside of the region. Industries that predominantly export their products bring new money into the economy, which in turn drives other regional businesses. Distribution and electronic commerce enter-prises, for example, sell 84% of their products outside of Dexter, bringing an estimated $330 million in sales into the region.

Purchases of services and manufactured goods, respec-tively, made by Dexter businesses are shown in Table 14 below. This information helps quantify the supply chain needs of businesses within the city. By comparing the proportion of supply chain needs met by companies within the region to the proportion met by importing goods and services from outside the region we can identify potential opportunities for new development. In reviewing the data, certain industry clusters may be

TABLE 12: Industry Clusters Performance Trends, Dexter ZCTA 48130 (2016-2021)

CLUSTER NAME

2016 LOCATION QUOTIENT 2016 JOBS 2021 JOBS

PROJECTED GROWTH IN

JOBS

AVG. EARNINGS

PER JOB TOTAL SALES GRP

Manufacturing 204.5 790 797 0.9% $76,000 $273,010,612 $85,441,762

Business Services 159.4 400 362 (9.5%) $105,910 $60,696,386 $29,618,514

Distribution and Electronic Commerce 45.9 1,092 1,205 10.4% $98,700 $393,338,850 $225,659,502

Real Estate, Construction, and Development 2.2 386 395 2.5% $56,200 $65,091,077 $29,722,505

Total for Clusters 103.6 2,668 2,761 3.5% $86,915 $792,136,925 $370,442,283

Total for Dexter 44.3 6,290 6,423 2.1% 63,544 $1,518,079,618 $603,644,510

Clusters as % of Dexter 42.4% 43.0% 136.8% 52.2% 61.4%

2 4

TABLE 13: In-region sales and exported sales for each industry cluster

NAICS SALES OF

TOTAL SALES BY DEXTER COMPANIES

IN THIS INDUSTRYIN-REGION

SALES% SALES ARE

IN-REGIONEXPORTED

SALES

% SALES THAT ARE

EXPORTED

2362 Nonresidential Building Construction $12,317,589 $1,621,653 13.2% $10,695,936 86.8%

2371 Utility System Construction $10,388,475 $3,265,360 31.4% $7,123,115 68.6%

2382 Building Equipment Contractors $16,616,065 $1,561,222 9.4% $15,054,843 90.6%

2389 Other Specialty Trade Contractors $11,061,288 $4,216,643 38.1% $6,844,646 61.9%

3111 Animal Food Manufacturing $6,970,235 $57,519 0.8% $6,912,716 99.2%

3211 Sawmills and Wood Preservation $690,713 $138,701 20.1% $552,012 79.9%

3219 Other Wood Product Manufacturing $2,077,764 $281,986 13.6% $1,795,777 86.4%

3221 Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard Mills $53,174 $6,715 12.6% $46,459 87.4%

3222 Converted Paper Product Manufactur-ing $1,552,530 $20,543 1.3% $1,531,987 98.7%

3231 Printing and Related Support Activities $31,339,355 $93,218 0.3% $31,246,137 99.7%

3241 Petroleum and Coal Products Manu-facturing $1,021,338 $17,254 1.7% $1,004,084 98.3%

3251 Basic Chemical Manufacturing $301,300 $9,420 3.1% $291,880 96.9%

3259 Other Chemical Product and Prepara-tion Manufacturing $7,097,158 $183,008 2.6% $6,914,150 97.4%

3261 Plastics Product Manufacturing $82,421,730 $266,209 0.3% $82,155,521 99.7%

3273 Cement and Concrete Product Manu-facturing $1,324,643 $38,982 2.9% $1,285,660 97.1%

3311 Iron and Steel Mills and Ferroalloy Manufacturing $171,745 $8,084 4.7% $163,661 95.3%

3315 Foundries $124,216 $7,454 6.0% $116,762 94.0%

3321 Forging and Stamping $18,951,952 $345,888 1.8% $18,606,064 98.2%

3323 Architectural and Structural Metals Manufacturing $100,481 $14,688 14.6% $85,793 85.4%

3325 Hardware Manufacturing $5,325,352 $1,058,487 19.9% $4,266,865 80.1%

3326 Spring and Wire Product Manufacturing $1,114,641 $25,224 2.3% $1,089,417 97.7%

3327 Machine Shops; Turned Product; and Screw, Nut, and Bolt Manufacturing $161,379,726 $2,324,337 1.4% $159,055,388 98.6%

3328 Coating, Engraving, Heat Treating, and Allied Activities $1,978,991 $15,764 0.8% $1,963,227 99.2%

3329 Other Fabricated Metal Product Manu-facturing $17,381,292 $1,223,958 7.0% $16,157,333 93.0%

3331 Agriculture, Construction, and Mining Machinery Manufacturing $4,782,006 $201,327 4.2% $4,580,680 95.8%

3332 Industrial Machinery Manufacturing $1,589,841 $11,733 0.7% $1,578,108 99.3%

3335 Metalworking Machinery Manufacturing $12,098 $1,914 15.8% $10,184 84.2%

3346 Manufacturing and Reproducing Mag-netic and Optical Media $18,084 $5,631 31.1% $12,453 68.9%

4233 Lumber and Other Construction Materi-als Merchant Wholesalers $480,717 $132,504 27.6% $348,213 72.4%

4234Professional and Commercial Equip-ment and Supplies Merchant Whole-salers

$47,927,440 $488,551 1.0% $47,438,889 99.0%

4238 Machinery, Equipment, and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers $4,241,322 $693,127 16.3% $3,548,195 83.7%

2 5

NAICS SALES OF

TOTAL SALES BY DEXTER COMPANIES

IN THIS INDUSTRYIN-REGION

SALES% SALES ARE

IN-REGIONEXPORTED

SALES

% SALES THAT ARE

EXPORTED

4241 Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers $621,654 $158,878 25.6% $462,776 74.4%

4249 Miscellaneous Nondurable Goods Mer-chant Wholesalers $15,665,436 $1,103,193 7.0% $14,562,242 93.0%

4251 Wholesale Electronic Markets and Agents and Brokers $62,083,355 $8,575,331 13.8% $53,508,024 86.2%

4821 Rail Transportation $921,942 $115,129 12.5% $806,813 87.5%

4841 General Freight Trucking $1,850,754 $746,783 40.4% $1,103,971 59.6%

5111 Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Direc-tory Publishers $1,592,349 $899,122 56.5% $693,227 43.5%

5112 Software Publishers $280,693,134 $53,030,533 18.9% $227,662,601 81.1%

5182 Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services $5,635,568 $221,850 3.9% $5,413,718 96.1%

5191 Other Information Services $8,140,142 $389,669 4.8% $7,750,473 95.2%

5231 Securities and Commodity Contracts Intermediation and Brokerage $891,923 $185,519 20.8% $706,404 79.2%

5241 Insurance Carriers $947,385 $206,428 21.8% $740,957 78.2%

5312 Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers $6,566,237 $597,617 9.1% $5,968,620 90.9%

5313 Activities Related to Real Estate $4,317,343 $803,228 18.6% $3,514,115 81.4%

5411 Legal Services $713,798 $74,029 10.4% $639,769 89.6%

5412 Accounting, Tax Preparation, Bookkeep-ing, and Payroll Services $1,690,970 $102,425 6.1% $1,588,545 93.9%

5413 Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services $4,122,618 $700,018 17.0% $3,422,599 83.0%

5414 Specialized Design Services $1,913,159 $376,589 19.7% $1,536,570 80.3%

5415 Computer Systems Design and Related Services $6,714,582 $1,023,745 15.2% $5,690,837 84.8%

5416 Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services $18,236,050 $665,658 3.7% $17,570,392 96.3%

5417 Scientific Research and Development Services $28,713,889 $1,511,216 5.3% $27,202,673 94.7%

5419 Other Professional, Scientific, and Tech-nical Services $3,858,444 $1,390,087 36.0% $2,468,356 64.0%

5511 Management of Companies and Enter-prises $2,236,260 $974,142 43.6% $1,262,118 56.4%

5614 Business Support Services $2,144,448 $193,323 9.0% $1,951,126 91.0%

5617 Services to Buildings and Dwellings $20,576,435 $725,718 3.5% $19,850,718 96.5%

5619 Other Support Services $1,239,574 $350,446 28.3% $889,128 71.7%

8113 Commercial and Industrial Machinery and Equipment Repair and Maintenance $143,672 $27,499 19.1% $116,173 80.9%

8134 Civic and Social Organizations $2,331,018 $630,490 27.0% $1,700,528 73.0%

8139 Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations $241,104 $137,368 57.0% $103,736 43.0%

9999 Purchases of All Other Goods and Services $582,463,114 $90,786,638 15.6% $491,676,481 84.4%

TOTAL ALL SALES $1,518,079,618 $185,039,775 12.2% $1,333,039,846 87.8%

2 6

better targets for economic development efforts than others. Certain clusters, such as machine shops and nut and bolt manufacturing, are strong in the region but primarily export their products. At the same time, other companies are heavily importing about 60% of total needs from these same industry clusters.

Table 14 shows more detailed industry sectors that have potential to sell more of their goods and services within

the region. Construction products and services are heav-ily imported by Dexter businesses, yet these sectors are also well-represented within the city. Many of the indus-try sectors shown in Table 14 are sectors that commonly sell to other businesses – such as management services, transportation, wholesale services, and manufacturing that supports other manufacturing businesses.

TABLE 14: Purchases of Services by Dexter Businesses from Other Local Businesses or from Businesses Located Outside of the Zip Code (2016)

NAICS DEMAND FORIN-REGION

PURCHASES% IN-REGION PURCHASES

IMPORTED PURCHASES

% IMPORTED PURCHASES

TOTAL PUR-CHASES

TOTAL SALES BY DEXTER COM-

PANIES IN THIS INDUSTRY

5112 Software Publishers $47,206,973 94.2% $2,932,270 5.8% $50,139,243 $280,693,134

5511 Management of Companies and Enterprises $633,156 3.2% $19,322,526 96.8% $19,955,682 $2,236,260

3311 Iron and Steel Mills and Ferroalloy Manufacturing $6,742 0.1% $8,889,948 99.9% $8,896,690 $171,745

3261 Plastics Product Manufac-turing $141,315 1.8% $7,513,675 98.2% $7,654,990 $82,421,730

4251 Wholesale Electronic Mar-kets and Agents and Brokers $2,298,293 36.0% $4,082,933 64.0% $6,381,226 $62,083,355

3327Machine Shops; Turned Product; and Screw, Nut, and Bolt Manufacturing

$1,977,713 31.4% $4,311,482 68.6% $6,289,195 $161,379,726

5111 Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers $32,535 0.7% $4,761,848 99.3% $4,794,382 $1,592,349

5416Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services

$315,859 6.7% $4,390,137 93.3% $4,705,996 $18,236,050

5415 Computer Systems Design and Related Services $129,867 2.9% $4,409,617 97.1% $4,539,485 $6,714,582

3335 Metalworking Machinery Manufacturing $1,666 0.0% $4,415,340 100.0% $4,417,007 $12,098

3222 Converted Paper Product Manufacturing $13,375 0.3% $4,350,874 99.7% $4,364,249 $1,552,530

3323 Architectural and Structural Metals Manufacturing $10,144 0.2% $4,297,341 99.8% $4,307,485 $100,481

4234Professional and Commer-cial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers

$148,492 3.5% $4,094,223 96.5% $4,242,715 $47,927,440

5191 Other Information Services $160,317 4.0% $3,830,642 96.0% $3,990,959 $8,140,142

5411 Legal Services $13,314 0.4% $3,743,227 99.6% $3,756,540 $713,798

3321 Forging and Stamping $153,421 4.2% $3,478,414 95.8% $3,631,835 $18,951,952

3315 Foundries $6,803 0.2% $3,622,730 99.8% $3,629,533 $124,216

2 7

NAICS DEMAND FORIN-REGION

PURCHASES% IN-REGION PURCHASES

IMPORTED PURCHASES

% IMPORTED PURCHASES

TOTAL PUR-CHASES

TOTAL SALES BY DEXTER COM-

PANIES IN THIS INDUSTRY

4841 General Freight Trucking $144,591 4.2% $3,265,561 95.8% $3,410,152 $1,850,754

3251 Basic Chemical Manufac-turing $3,302 0.1% $3,368,524 99.9% $3,371,825 $301,300

5617 Services to Buildings and Dwellings $256,261 7.8% $3,038,700 92.2% $3,294,961 $20,576,435

5413 Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services $188,112 5.9% $2,998,390 94.1% $3,186,501 $4,122,618

4238Machinery, Equipment, and Supplies Merchant Whole-salers

$179,827 5.7% $2,995,377 94.3% $3,175,205 $4,241,322

5313 Activities Related to Real Estate $192,687 6.2% $2,922,649 93.8% $3,115,336 $4,317,343

3241 Petroleum and Coal Prod-ucts Manufacturing $5,411 0.2% $3,048,298 99.8% $3,053,708 $1,021,338

5419 Other Professional, Scien-tific, and Technical Services $46,537 1.7% $2,626,507 98.3% $2,673,044 $3,858,444

5619 Other Support Services $261,146 10.0% $2,357,162 90.0% $2,618,308 $1,239,574

5412Accounting, Tax Preparation, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services

$42,352 1.6% $2,564,093 98.4% $2,606,445 $1,690,970

3231 Printing and Related Sup-port Activities $46,439 1.8% $2,540,433 98.2% $2,586,872 $31,339,355

5241 Insurance Carriers $10,205 0.4% $2,485,766 99.6% $2,495,971 $947,385

3273 Cement and Concrete Prod-uct Manufacturing $23,999 1.0% $2,343,884 99.0% $2,367,883 $1,324,643

5182 Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services $85,360 3.7% $2,200,027 96.3% $2,285,388 $5,635,568

5614 Business Support Services $92,454 4.2% $2,119,997 95.8% $2,212,451 $2,144,448

5312 Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers $161,584 7.6% $1,960,275 92.4% $2,121,859 $6,566,237

3329 Other Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing $771,966 42.9% $1,026,087 57.1% $1,798,053 $17,381,292

3221 Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard Mills $1,935 0.1% $1,782,040 99.9% $1,783,975 $53,174

3259 Other Chemical Product and Preparation Manufacturing $68,361 4.5% $1,456,234 95.5% $1,524,595 $7,097,158

4249Miscellaneous Nondurable Goods Merchant Whole-salers

$323,169 22.3% $1,128,928 77.7% $1,452,097 $15,665,436

3328Coating, Engraving, Heat Treating, and Allied Activ-ities

$11,245 0.8% $1,433,649 99.2% $1,444,894 $1,978,991

3219 Other Wood Product Manu-facturing $66,826 5.7% $1,108,485 94.3% $1,175,311 $2,077,764

3325 Hardware Manufacturing $821,285 69.9% $353,193 30.1% $1,174,479 $5,325,352

4821 Rail Transportation $34,451 3.0% $1,109,796 97.0% $1,144,246 $921,942

2 8

NAICS DEMAND FORIN-REGION

PURCHASES% IN-REGION PURCHASES

IMPORTED PURCHASES

% IMPORTED PURCHASES

TOTAL PUR-CHASES

TOTAL SALES BY DEXTER COM-

PANIES IN THIS INDUSTRY

5231Securities and Commodity Contracts Intermediation and Brokerage

$19,655 1.8% $1,050,728 98.2% $1,070,384 $891,923

4233Lumber and Other Con-struction Materials Merchant Wholesalers

$33,451 3.6% $901,805 96.4% $935,256 $480,717

5414 Specialized Design Services $181,972 19.8% $738,752 80.2% $920,724 $1,913,159

3326 Spring and Wire Product Manufacturing $19,703 2.3% $829,007 97.7% $848,710 $1,114,641

8113Commercial and Industrial Machinery and Equipment Repair and Maintenance

$14,489 2.3% $610,379 97.7% $624,868 $143,672

3332 Industrial Machinery Manu-facturing $4,024 0.7% $568,004 99.3% $572,028 $1,589,841

4241 Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers $39,694 7.1% $516,945 92.9% $556,639 $621,654

8139Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations

$15,668 3.2% $478,688 96.8% $494,356 $241,104

3211 Sawmills and Wood Pres-ervation $58,749 15.4% $322,700 84.6% $381,449 $690,713

2382 Building Equipment Con-tractors $23,828 7.0% $315,598 93.0% $339,427 $16,616,065

3331Agriculture, Construction, and Mining Machinery Man-ufacturing

$15,642 7.9% $182,333 92.1% $197,975 $4,782,006

2362 Nonresidential Building Construction $24,923 16.3% $127,878 83.7% $152,801 $12,317,589

8134 Civic and Social Organiza-tions $140,451 99.2% $1,165 0.8% $141,617 $2,331,018

3346Manufacturing and Repro-ducing Magnetic and Optical Media

$3,425 2.6% $129,429 97.4% $132,855 $18,084

2389 Other Specialty Trade Con-tractors $87,154 71.2% $35,181 28.8% $122,335 $11,061,288

2371 Utility System Construction $62,150 78.2% $17,299 21.8% $79,449 $10,388,475

3111 Animal Food Manufacturing $3,099 7.7% $36,994 92.3% $40,093 $6,970,235

5417 Scientific Research and Development Services $4,277 12.3% $30,588 87.7% $34,866 $28,713,889

9999 Purchases of All Other Goods and Services $618,887 0.5% $120,670,343 99.5% $121,289,230

TOTAL ALL PURCHASES $58,460,733 17.7% $272,245,097 82.3% $330,705,830

2 9

DIVERSITY

Diversity in the workforce can be a driving factor in help-ing businesses appeal to larger markets and customer preferences. The variety of backgrounds and experi-ences that can be found in diverse employee groups often brings more creativity into the workplace. Many local economies have economic development efforts that seek to attract a diverse population base in efforts to increase local entrepreneurship and grow local creative endeavors, such as in the arts.

The indicators below are for the entire Dexter zip code area. However, these provide a good representation of the City of Dexter as well. There were 683 millennials (ages 20-34) living within the city limits in 2015, nearly 15% of the total population. There is a high proportion of young families that live within the Dexter city limits. However, diversity is low in the City of Dexter. As shown in Table 15, only about 4% of Dexter city residents iden-tify themselves as ethnic or racial minorities.

Organizations and communities stand to gain several benefits from having a diverse workforce. Many firms

experience growth in market share and are able to pene-trate new markets or experience greater innovation with increasing diversity. Likewise, many communities have achieved greater success in attracting creative, skilled talent as their communities grow more diverse.

TABLE 15: Population by Race, City of Dexter (2015)

CITY OF DEXTER

NUMBER % OF TOTAL

Total 3,249 100%

White 3,124 96%

Black 0 0%

American Indian and Alaskan Native 0 0%

Asian 60 2%

Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 0 0%

Two or More Races, Non-Hispanic 65 2%

Hispanic, of any race 193 6%

Source: U.S. Census, 2011-2015 American Community Survey, 5-Year Estimates

2,098Millennials

HI

USA

2,411Retiring Soon

HI 1,013Racial Diversity

HI

USA

Dexter has 2,100 millennials (ages 20–34). The national

average for an area this size is 3,400.

Retirement risk is about average in Dexter. The national average for an area this size is 2,500 people 65 or

older while there are 2,400 here.

Racial diversity is low. The national average for an area this size is 6,300

people, while there are approxi-mately 1,000 in Dexter.

USA

LOLO LO

3 0

BUSINESS COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Along with collecting demographic and economic data—which paints a picture of the Dexter economy—the team planned a multi-pronged business community outreach effort consisting of interviews, survey and a consensus building session. A description and takeaways of this business community outreach process are detailed below.

ELECTRONIC SURVEYAn electronic survey was sent to approximately 160 Dexter businesses asking for their views on a variety of topics. The goal of the survey was to establish a list of topics that were important to the business community and to discuss these topics during the group consensus building session later in the process. The survey con-sisted of five open-ended questions asking the respon-dents to answer what comes to mind when they think of the City of Dexter. These five questions asked about quality of life, business growth, talent, downtown, and schools. Seven additional questions asked respondents to identify the city’s strengths and weaknesses—as they pertain to their businesses, what additional services the respondents would like to have provided by the city, and a few others. Of the 160 invitations sent to participate in the study, 52 responses were received for a response rate of 32.5%. It should be noted that 17 responses were completely blank, indicating the survey had a high drop-out rate. The actual full response rate was approximately 21%. All questions and responses can be found in the appendices of this report.

INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEWSFive individual, confidential one-on-one interviews were conducted in the early stages of the strategic planning process. The confidentiality ensured these business owners spoke openly to the team during the one-hour interviews. This is another technique to find out the issues, and expectations in a region. The owners repre-sented businesses in retail, tech, and agri-business sec-tors. These interviews helped supplement the responses the team received from the electronic survey. Overall, these interviews tended to focus on the relationship between the city’s staff, Council, and the business com-munity. Each of the interviewees had their own particular issues they wanted to discuss. The interviewees were quite forthcoming in describing particular situations and the resulting interactions with city staff.

CONSENSUS BUILDING SESSIONThe HWA/Bonner AG team convened a consensus

3 1

building session as part of the business community outreach portion of the strategic plan development. The consensus session attendees were briefed on the outcomes of the electronic survey and takeaways from individual interviews. Also presented were the results

of the demographic and economic profiles developed by Emsi for the strategic planning project. The group discussed the key takeaways from the research and interviews, and participants provided additional feed-back, along with additional issues.

SUMMARY OF THE SESSION AND COMMENTS

As a result of the research conducted for the community profile and the business community outreach phase of the overall strategic plan development process, we have compiled several findings that have helped guide the recommendations the team will present to the city. Feedback from participants in the three phases of the business community outreach indicate there are some important assets that the city can leverage. Businesses told us:

• The City of Dexter is in an excellent location in prox-imity to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan

· This provides access to the U-M’s health care network

• Dexter has access to major highways to facilitate commuters and trade

• Housing opportunities have supported strong pop-ulation growth in recent years

· However, there are also concerns about the limits of housing stock—especially affordable housing

• The city has a desirable small-town feel, with high quality-of-life, including easy access to nature and recreational opportunities

• Generally, the schools are very good

A few issues and concerns have also been identified through the business community outreach process. Respondents spoke about infrastructure and a discon-nect between the city and business. More specifically these issues include:

• There is a perception that infrastructure at times fails to meet current demands, which places a question

mark on whether future growth could be hindered.

• A lack of young people moving into, or staying in the community, could be an issue for long-term business growth

• Some concerns have been conveyed about the city’s inability to meet demands and requirements of start-ups and new tech businesses, because of limited space, internet, and lack of “user-friendliness” of the city government towards business

This last point, citing concerns regarding city-business working relations, came up frequently during interviews and discussions. A substantial number of comments were made regarding the transition the city is making as technology permeates most businesses. Some of these were best summed up by this comment, “There are growing pains with the integration of old and new. We have a small town feel with high tech internet needs.” Businesses view this transition as not happening effec-tively. Many expressed the view that there should be closer interaction between the business community and city staff. For instance, one respondent said, “…we’re driving with the parking brake on.” Others said there were, “lots of opportunities for positive change.”, “50 years ago we were a farming area.”, and, “…with respect to business there are some significant gaps.” A major emphasis should be made to improve relations between city government and the business community. Both sectors working toward the same goals can be more effective than each group operating at cross purposes.

There are several key external dynamics that have the potential to impact the city’s growth and economic development efforts—both positively and negatively. Being close to Ann Arbor has been a major blessing,

3 2

because university towns are somewhat recession proof. Additionally, the presence of the university and its health system has provided the county with a dynamic health care system and a major employer.

Participants discussed their perceptions of the diversi-fication of Michigan’s business portfolio, and observed that the region has moved towards a service economy featuring lifestyle businesses and craft industries. For example, farm-to-table and regional and local trends are changing the landscape for agri-business and craft industries. Further, technology is creating new industries, changing the manufacturing base, and offering a host of opportunities.

Participants in the business community outreach activ-ities cited the development of neighboring towns and townships as an issue, with the Jackson Road corri-dor in Scio Township offering both retail and housing opportunities. There was also some concern that cur-rent residents of the city are actively seeking to restrict

agri-business. Traditional agri-business such as dairy and hog farms may be what these residents hope to ban, but this subsequently has restricted craft busi-nesses that focus on brewing beer, distilling alcohol and wineries, along with making it very difficult to establish businesses hoping to capitalize on farm-to-table, such as Cornman Farms.

People also cited a few other pressures on the city, such as online retail, which can be detrimental to a small retail downtown. And population shifts are affecting Michigan as it faces negative in-migration and a subsequent aging and stagnating population. Millennials, who may be a solution to a decreasing and aging population, have different priorities in choosing a city. Aligning Dexter’s offerings to the needs and desires of young people will be key to transitioning to a destination of choice.

The following table is a representation of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that the team compiled during the strategic planning process

STRENGTHS• Proximity to Ann Arbor & highways• Affordability advantage and low startup cost• Growing resident prosperity• Quality of life, including civic pride, a welcoming small

town feel with historical character & strong community involvement and communication.

• Diversity of services• Good schools & educated community

WEAKNESSES• Perception of infrastructure issues• Lack of restaurants & retail • Business startups are held back by overall lack of space,

expensive staffing and overly rigid regulations• Missing young adult cohort• Schools don’t sufficiently develop in-demand skills

OPPORTUNITIES• Grow or support existing business base & establish

indoor space for vendors• Industry diversification• Expand the downtown space & better connect it to

the east side• Be a gateway between population centers and recre-

ational activities and natural assets• Improve storytelling of historic town• Better connect schools to businesses

THREATS• Competition over affordability and commutability to

Ann Arbor• Growing traffic congestion as more people move in• Losing the feel and character of the city• Population is aging and there is a lack of young people

3 3

STRATEGY: A TECH AND LIFESTYLE HUB WITH SMALL TOWN FEEL

Through the process of research, business sector out-reach, meetings with city staff and elected officials, we have crafted a strategy that reflects many of the com-ments, ideas and aspirations of the participants, while focusing on changing dynamics and of the workforce, business and demographics of the population at large.

We propose the city begin a campaign to market itself as a “tech and lifestyle hub with small town feel”. The city can do this while retaining and building on the current quality of life, values, and central character of Dexter. The values of the marketing campaign can appeal to the changing workforce; many high tech workers, as well as others, may not want to travel every day, preferring instead to tele-commute. This in turn can attract more tech businesses, and encourage existing businesses to grow in ways that are attractive to a younger work-force. The city should remain generally open to diverse businesses but particularly focus on attracting and pro-moting tech businesses and unique lifestyle or artisan brands, which enhance while contemporizing Dexter’s unique rural and small-town feel.

To bring about this vision, there are factors to address in the process. These include:

• Address infrastructure issues — perception or reality?• Address traffic and parking issues

· Leverage new tech solutions to manage traffic flow

· Address bike and foot traffic needs for better access to downtown

• Address regulatory barriers--this may require increased flexibility as the city targets particular business sectors

• Explore incentives to attract target businesses · Look at leases and work with real estate profes-

sionals to promote targeted businesses · Research which incentives could attract desirable

businesses• Benchmarking other communities to comprehen-

sively identify requirements for success, and best practices · Commission a market research study to compile

case studies of similar communities · Small cities near major university city

• Develop a marketing and branding plan · Create a Dexter brand and story that people can

relate to · Employ spokesperson personalities that exem-

plify the vision · Integrate this vision into the expanded down-

town plan

Longer-term initiatives include

• Expand affordable housing · Develop rental as well as single family housing

options · Explore options for accessory spaces or tiny

homes on existing single family lots• Build capability to adapt over time

· Diverse businesses will have diverse needs so the city should be user-friendly and nimble enough to respond through a dynamic, flexible process

• Foster school-business connection · Develop culinary programs or “farm to school/

institution” programs · Serve fresh food in schools, possibly with a his-

toric tie-in through Gordon Hall · Build up the role of natural assets

3 4

RECOMMENDATIONS

Throughout this process, we have heard from the business community and city representatives, compiled economic and demographic data, and held interim meetings to discuss what we were hearing and finding. As a result of this process, we have compiled a series of recommendations that are our responses to the feedback from the city, local businesses, and the data. Our team was impressed throughout this engagement with the high quality of life for residents and businesses in the City of Dexter. We didn’t feel that anything was “broken”, and had to be immediately fixed. Rather, we believe there are aspirational goals the city can pursue to add to the already high quality of the city. Some of these recommendations are complex, and may take substantial time and effort to accomplish, but all are aimed at strengthening the functionality and enjoyment of the city.

Develop a “Dexter Arts and Entertainment Tech Council”—home to arts, entertainment and tech

We propose this geographic area to cover the busi-ness corridor in Dexter from downtown to Bishop Circle Industrial Park. The purpose is to focus on both business growth and supporting the special place that is Dexter, and agglomerating them around the most visible areas. We have found through our project research in Dexter that business and quality of place co-exist, but these need additional structure to help Dexter evolve from passively growing to developing around a firm vision of what it wants to become.

Education – Strengthen school/business connection through industry and K-12 collaboration

Our research demonstrated a clear interest in connect-ing the school district with industry for partnerships on training, mentoring, internships, and even curriculum development. More importantly, there is genuine interest on behalf of the school district to meaningfully engage with industry. A key gap to this ultimately is finding a liaison between industry and education to formulate and shepherd these programs going forward.

• Develop “Farm to School” and “Farm to Institution” programs

• Promote fresh food in schools—preferably locally grown/supplied

• Gordon Hall – grow food for schools (historical tie-in)

• Offer internships in the agribusiness and food man-ufacturing industries

• Expand the culinary arts programming in school system

• Provide co-share office spaces for Career Tech Ed and Industry

• Create a Manufacturing Day style event for exposure to career pathways

Benchmark other communities

We recommend Dexter benchmark other communi-ties that are similarly situated as Dexter is—near a city that is home to a major university. We have suggested four communities that fit this description—Louisville, Colorado (University of Colorado, Boulder), Middleton, Wisconsin (University of Wisconsin, Madison), Fountain

3 5

Hills, Arizona (Arizona State University), Polk City, Iowa (Iowa State University). We have provided economic and demographic data on these communities, and compared each to Dexter in the Appendix. We suggest looking closely at these communities to better understand the dynamic between them and their much larger neighbor, with the goal being to adapt some of their initiatives and best practices to the Dexter city region.

Marketing – branding and communication

Our process has helped align the perspectives of mul-tiple stakeholders. There is clear agreement that the City of Dexter has many assets to offer to internal and external investors. What appears to be lacking is a uni-fied and consistent marketing message that will develop a brand for the city focused on technology, quality of life, downtown, and the city’s culture. A clear priority in this marketing initiative are destination businesses. Any marketing effort should focus on the Dexter Cider Mill, Northern United Brewing Company, The Encore Theatre, Downtown Dexter as a whole, and any other unique businesses such as Jenny’s Farmstand. These entities provide a unique opportunity to attract visitors all year long. Sometimes people have a hard time dif-ferentiating between a city or township of the same name. We do think that for a full marketing initiative on destination businesses, Dexter should include Cornman Farms, Jenny’s, and other regional businesses. A com-plete marketing of all regional assets will only help the city. Additionally, marketing the recreational amenities as destination opportunities also have merit and should include the Border-to-Border trail, and Mill Creek Park.

Business retention and expansion – Dedicated economic development manager

The general rule of thumb for any business is that 85% of a company’s new business comes from its exist-ing customer base. This can also be said of business investments in a local economy. Business retention and expansion is the single biggest factor in a local eco-nomic development function. The sole purpose, often

times, of an economic development manager for a local community is to support and enable the expansion and relocation of businesses within the community.

Grow existing businesses – Target destination businesses

There are two destination businesses that should receive immediate assistance—Northern United Brewing Com-pany and The Encore Theatre. These businesses add character and identity to the city, and as such, should receive extra attention; assistance should be provided without delay. These businesses can be the driver for a new brand identity and are key to making Dexter a destination for visitors.

• New Encore Theatre

· Assist Encore in finding a no cost site option as a non-profit

· Connect Encore with local property owners in downtown that might be a development partner

· Seek MEDC RRC program dollars to off-set cost for Encore

· USDA Loan Program

· Bring together Encore and NUBCO in an arts and performance centric real estate development in downtown Dexter.

The park system in Dexter provides a unique opportu-nity to draw people into downtown for a short leisurely respite before hitting the trails again, or perhaps an even longer stay to enjoy local businesses. The City informed our team that nearly 300,000 people use the park sys-tem. We recommend the City consider deploying the following pilot program.

· Recruit local restaurants to provide food trucks or food carts in close proximity to the nearest trail access point to downtown. Clear directions to the food trucks need to be provided in order for pedestrians, runners, joggers, and bikers to take

3 6

a break from the trail for a quick refreshment. This type of pilot project can allow the city and businesses to determine if a more concentrated and consistent effort could be put into place to actively recruit people off the trail system and into Dexter’s downtown.

·

Infrastructure Perception – Myths versus Reality

Throughout the strategic planning process, our team heard of business challenges with infrastructure in all phases of our research. This includes the survey, indi-vidual interviews, and the consensus building session. Our findings suggest that there is an overall gap in communications between business, government, and utilities in regards to existing infrastructure, and needed improvements. This gap in communications has led to both misperceptions of what infrastructure is available, but also what improvements need to be made.

Making direct recommendations for infrastructure improvements is difficult without more extensive and technical investigation by our team.

Work closely with both business and utility service providers (including City of Dexter Water Authority) to understand both the existing opportunities and short-comings, that may either enhance or suppress business growth.

• We suggest the City of Dexter develop a detailed survey instrument for distribution to all businesses. Results of the survey should be shared with busi-nesses and utility providers in an open forum, such as a “lunch-and-learn” style format. In preparation for this event, businesses should come ready to dis-cuss their problems and utility providers should be prepared to explain current service levels and future plans for expansion and improvement. The City of Dexter is a perfect mediator for this event to create a plan of action for the future.

• Investigate installation of high-speed fiber connect-ing downtown with Industrial park

· Connectivity will allow for more “pop up” co-shar-ing work spaces and aid existing businesses by improving their internet accessibility and speed of connection

• Address regulatory barriers that have been deemed “not business friendly”

· For artisan businesses, especially food, there will be a specific set of regulatory (and maybe infrastructure) barriers to address (water/sewer waste treatment and landscaping needs). This may require some new flexibility in planning.

• Assist Northern United Brewing in solving water issues

· This may involve upgrading the water treatment infrastructure

· Pursue USDA loan for water treatment if nec-essary

· NUBCO is a magnet business and could be part of the Dexter Brand marketing strategy

· NUBCO could add more opportunities to down-town

Parking and Traffic – Technology and Planning

Investigate traffic technology that helps with traf¬fic congestion and flow and that doesn’t create the need for bigger roads. Offer a collaboration session amongst downtown businesses to poll ideas on how to improve customer parking for visitors into downtown.

• Investigate traffic technology that helps with traffic congestion and flow and that doesn’t create the need for bigger roads.

• On several instances our team heard directly from businesses, that they are their own worst enemy. Oftentimes, business owners and their employees park in front of their own business and are taking prime parking spaces away from potential shop-pers. Communication and proper planning is one way to solve these issues. Out-of-town visitors to

3 7

downtown Dexter critically important to support local business growth. Therefore, the goal should be to create a parking situation that affords plenty of spaces, allowing easy access to the local businesses. Technology development is beginning to enable solutions to parking and traffic. The city should research if these technologies can help Dexter.

· Smart parking applications. This technology requires occupancy sensors that communicate with a central system, where data would be ana-lyzed in real time and then sent to a navigation device, which then indicates the number of avail-able spaces and the best route to get there.

· Smart traffic applications. Collect, store and ana-lyze data in real time from road sensors, traffic lights, GPS on vehicles, Wi-Fi networks and CCTV to better understand traffic flows in the city. By combining this data with road closures and main-tenance schedules, the city staff can design traffic models and get real-time insights about traffic performance, conditions and incidents to help optimize traffic flow.

• Intentional and safe connections for pedestrians and bikers into downtown.

Explore incentives to attract target busines

Work with existing property owners in downtown to emphasize the city’s interest in attracting more lifestyle companies

· Explore incentives and favorable regulations to attract target businesses

· Work with real estate professionals to promote target businesses

· Research what incentives can attract target busi-nesses

· Help businesses secure incentives, grants, etc.

Enable key city staff to work with businesses in a non-regulatory manner

The main purpose of an economic development man-ager for a local community is to support and enable the expansion and relocation of businesses within the community. Therefore, it is important for a dedicated economic development professional to be enabled to facilitate regulatory flexibility, to bring in partners to support expansion projects, and to make financial commitments (subject to final approvals) to move a project ahead. It is difficult, at best, for this function to be undertaken simultaneously by city staff who are also charged with upholding regulations and moderating growth.

3 8

APPENDIX A: BENCHMARK REGIONS

Dexter, Michigan is located 10 miles northwest of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. To find appropriate peer regions for Dexter, a wide range of methodologies and parameters used. Parameters include: proximity to a university of similar size and prestige to that of the University of Michigan, similar economic and demographic characteristics to those of Dexter, and a community emphasis on small business and local economic development. Per the requirements, the following four regions were found:

• Louisville, Colorado

• Middleton, Wisconsin

• Fountain Hills, Arizona

• Polk City, Iowa

Each of these regions have been benchmarked against Dexter to approximate similarities which will bring out Dexter’s unique characteristics. By benchmarking Dexter to these other regions, a more in-depth mapping for future goals and developments can be achieved.

TABLE 1.1: Peer Region Overview

REGIONAL OVERVIEWLOUISVILLE, CO (IN

BOULDER COUNTY)MIDDELTON, WI (IN

DANE COUNTY)

FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ (IN MARICOPA

COUNTY)POLK CITY, IA (IN

POLK COUNTY)

DEXTER, MI (IN WASHTENAW

COUNTY)

Population (2016) 37,584 26,409 25,327 5,722 16,557

Population (2017) 37,931 26,783 25,761 5,783 16,613

Population Change % 0.92% 1.42% 1.71% 1.07% 0.34%

Total Industry Jobs (2016) 21,260 24,780 6,632 1,278 6,957

Total Industry Jobs (2017) 21,366 24,830 6,673 1,280 6,952

Total Industry Jobs Change % 0.50% 0.20% 0.62% 0.16% (0.07%)

Current Average Earnings $78,424 $68,606 $52,131 $58,968 $66,984

COL Index 113.1 106.8 114.4 101.7 98.6

COL Adjusted Current Average Earnings $69,401 $64,118 $45,729 $57,812 $67,660

GRP $2,741,750,561.54 $2,555,850,238.26 $579,733,712.42 $138,560,814.12 $773,665,609.80

Exports $4,338,445,689.02 $4,594,113,582.22 $1,024,537,289.16 $360,868,783.02 $1,521,785,334.82

Imports $3,602,255,849.28 $3,447,695,837.97 $1,799,051,551.18 $519,919,055.94 $1,491,908,562.94

Source: Emsi Developer, 2017.4 Dataset

APPENDICES

3 9

LOUISVILLE, COLORADO

2 All peer region data, including that for Dexter, uses zip code level data, which may include more area and population than the city proper

Located nine miles southeast of the University of Col-orado in Boulder, Louisville is the largest of the Dexter peer regions. In 2016, Louisville had a population of 37,584 people, well over double the population of Dex-ter (16,557).2 Louisville is growing faster than Boulder. From 2016 to 2017 Louisville experienced a popula-tion increase of .92% compared to Dexter’s growth of .34%. Despite Louisville’s current advantages in size and growth trends, it does suffer from a much higher cost of living. By using the Cost of Living Index (COLI), it is possible to asses exactly how much more expensive it is to live in Louisville versus Dexter. Louisville’s COLI is 113.1, a full 13.1 points higher than the national average. Dexter has a COLI of 98.6, 1.4 points below the national average. Dexter is the only peer region to have a cheaper cost of living than the national average. To get a more in-depth picture for the COLI and what it means for a community the average earnings have been compared both without and with the COLI applied. Average earn-ings in Louisville are $78,424 a year and in Dexter they are $66,984 a year. This is a difference of almost $12,000. However, this is before the COLI is considered. After the COLI has been considered, average earnings in Louisville decrease to $69,401 a year and in Dexter the average wage goes up to $67,660. When adjusting for the cost of living, the $12,000 wage gap is narrowed to just over$1,500. The low cost of living in Dexter is an asset that can be employed to retain and attract talent.

In 2016, the average wage in the United States was $62,100. In Dexter, all but one of the fastest growing industries pays well above the national average. How-ever, in Louisville, only two of the fastest growing indus-tries pay a wage that is significantly different than the national average. Professional and Commercial Equip-ment and Supply Merchant Wholesalers, the highest paying industry in figure 2.1, pays employees an average wage of almost $180,000 a year and has grown 98% in the last 5 years.

POPULATION TRENDS

JOB TRENDS

Dexter

Dexter

Louisville

Louisville

45

35

40

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Thou

sand

sTh

ousa

nds

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

4 0

The Louisville workforce is over three times the size of Dexter. The Louisville workforce grew .5% whereas the Dexter workforce expe-rienced a -.07% decline in jobs. As with the industry analysis, the work-force wages in Louisville are quite a bit higher in Louisville until adjusted for the cost of living. Once the COLI has been applied, the wages are almost even. The median hourly wage adjusted for COLI is $19.67 in Louisville and $19.03 in Dexter.

The workforce in Louisville is aug-mented by a steady inflow of com-muters. In 2017, Louisville had a positive net commuting number of 1,570. Dexter, on the other hand, had a negative net commuting num-ber of 1,400 residents commuting to areas immediately surrounding Dexter. The negative commuter number is validation of the high level of talent living in Dexter who go elsewhere for work.

TABLE 2.1: Industry Characteristics

INDUSTRY OVERVIEWLOUISVILLE, CO

(IN BOULDER COUNTY)DEXTER, MI

(IN WASHTENAW COUNTY)

Jobs (2017) 21,366 6,952

Job Change % 0.50% (0.07%)

Jobs (2016) 21,260 6,957

Earnings (2017) $78,424 $66,984

Wages, Salaries, & Proprietor Earnings (2017) $67,093 $54,736

COL Adjusted Earnings $69,401 $67,660

COL Adjusted Wages, Salaries, & Proprietor Earnings $59,374 $55,288

GRP $2,523,348,579 $693,770,405

Demand met in-region $925,181,302 $224,172,294

% Demand met in-region 20.43% 13.06%

Demand met by imports $3,602,255,849 $1,491,908,563

% Demand met by imports 79.57% 86.94%

Source: Emsi Developer, 2017.4 Dataset

FIGURE 2.1: Fastest Growing Industries in Louisville and Dexter. Earnings vs % Job Change

Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers

180K

150K

120K

90K

60K

30K

0

Computer Systems Design and Related Services

Software Publishers

Other Chemical Product and Preparation Manufacturing

Machine Shops; Turned Product; and Screw, Nut, and Bolt Manufacturing

Building Equipment Contractors

Forging and Stamping

Restaurants and Other Eating Places

Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Hospitals

Waste Treatment and Disposal

Earn

ings

% Change

0% 100% 200% 300% 400% 500%

Dexter Louisville

4 1

TABLE 2.2: Workforce Characteristics

INDUSTRY OVERVIEWLOUISVILLE, CO

(IN BOULDER COUNTY)DEXTER, MI

(IN WASHTENAW COUNTY)

Jobs (2017) 21,366 6,952

Job Change % 0.50% (0.07%)

Jobs (2016) 21,260 6,957

Average Hourly Earnings $29.19 $24.59

Median Hourly Earnings $22.23 $18.84

Pct. 10 Hourly Earnings $10.15 $9.43

Pct. 25 Hourly Earnings $13.95 $12.28

Pct. 75 Hourly Earnings $36.60 $30.71

Pct. 90 Hourly Earnings $57.75 $46.40

COL Adjusted Average Hourly Earnings $25.83 $24.84

COL Adjusted Median Hourly Earnings $19.67 $19.03

Annual Openings 2,374 792

Source: Emsi Developer, 2017.4 Dataset

TABLE 2.3: Commuting Patterns, 30 Minute Radius.

ZIP REGION2017 RESIDENT

WORKERS 2016 JOBS 2017 JOBS2017 NET

COMMMUTERS

80027 Louisville, CO (in Boulder county) 19,796 21,260 21,366 1,570

48130 Dexter, MI (in Washtenaw county) 8,352 6,957 6,952 (1,400)

Source: Emsi Developer, 2017.4 Dataset

FIGURE 2.2: Commuting patterns within a 30 Minute Radius of Louisville, Colorado

Source: Emsi Developer, 2017.4 Dataset

4 2

MIDDLETON, WISCONSIN

Located four miles west of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Middleton is the second largest peer region in terms of population. As of 2016, Madison had 26,409 people, 24,000 jobs, and a GRP that was almost the equivalent of Louisville’s. The export market in Middle-ton is exceptionally strong. In 2016, Middleton exported $3 billion more in goods and services than Dexter. Despite the size and strength of Middleton industries, the average wage is only$2,000/year more than in Dex-ter. When adjusted the for cost of living, Middleton’s average earnings drop to $64,118 a year, over $3,000 less than the COLI average earnings in Dexter ($67,660). It should be noted, that even after the COLI has been applied, Middleton’s COLI adjusted earnings are still well above the national average earnings of $62,100 a year.

In Middleton, Support Activity for Air Transportation grew over 1,000% in the last five years. Unfortunately, this is an industry that pays less than $30,000 a year, well below the national average of $62,100 a year. The two highest paying industries, Software Publishers ($128,539) and Management Companies and Enterprises ($123,704), grew by 66% and 93% the last two years.

As with the industry earnings, the wages seen in table 3.2 undergo a transition when the Cost of Living is applied. The largest difference between the regions would be the number of jobs and turnover rate. The annual openings in Middleton is more than four times the amount in Dexter.

One of the keys to Middleton’s industry success is the large number of in-commuters flooding into the region each day for work. In 2017, Middleton had a positive net commuter count of 9,747 workers. This has enabled Middleton to keep up in terms of production with larger regions and push industry and business development throughout the region.

POPULATION TRENDS

JOB TRENDS

Dexter

Dexter

Middleton

Middleton

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Thou

sand

sTh

ousa

nds

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

4 3

TABLE 3.1: Industry Characteristics

INDUSTRY OVERVIEWMIDDELTON, WI

(IN DANE COUNTY)DEXTER, MI

(IN WASHTENAW COUNTY)

Jobs (2017) 24,830 6,952

Job Change % 0.20% (0.07%)

Jobs (2016) 24,780 6,957

Earnings (2017) $68,606 $66,984

Wages, Salaries, & Proprietor Earnings (2017) $56,130 $54,736

COL Adjusted Earnings $64,118 $67,660

COL Adjusted Wages, Salaries, & Proprietor Earnings $52,458 $55,288

GRP $2,415,700,143 $693,770,405

Demand met in-region $1,042,865,171 $224,172,294

% Demand met in-region 23.22% 13.06%

Demand met by imports $3,447,695,838 $1,491,908,563

% Demand met by imports 76.78% 86.94%

Source: Emsi Developer, 2017.4 Dataset

FIGURE 3.1: Fastest Growing Industries in Middleton and Dexter. Earnings vs % Job Change

Software PublishersManagement of Companies and Enterprises

150K

120K

90K

60K

30K

0

Software Publishers

Other Chemical Product and Preparation Manufacturing

Machine Shops; Turned Product; and Screw, Nut, and Bolt Manufacturing

Forging and Stamping

Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses

Restaurants and Other Eating Places

Support Activities for Air Transportation

Waste Treatment and DisposalEa

rnin

gs

% Change

0% 100% 200% 300% 400% 500%

Dexter Middleton

4 4

TABLE 3.2: Workforce Characteristics

WORKFORCE OVERVIEWMIDDELTON, WI

(IN DANE COUNTY)DEXTER, MI

(IN WASHTENAW COUNTY)

Jobs (2017) 24,830 6,952

Job Change % 0.20% (0.07%)

Jobs (2016) 24,780 6,957

Average Hourly Earnings $24.90 $24.59

Median Hourly Earnings $20.31 $18.84

Pct. 10 Hourly Earnings $9.88 $9.43

Pct. 25 Hourly Earnings $13.55 $12.28

Pct. 75 Hourly Earnings $31.24 $30.71

Pct. 90 Hourly Earnings $44.72 $46.40

COL Adjusted Average Hourly Earnings $23.27 $24.84

COL Adjusted Median Hourly Earnings $18.98 $19.03

Annual Openings 2,745 792

Source: Emsi Developer, 2017.4 Dataset

TABLE 3.3: Commuting Patterns, 30 Minute Radius.

ZIP REGION2017 RESIDENT

WORKERS 2016 JOBS 2017 JOBS2017 NET

COMMMUTERS

53562 Middleton, WI (in Dane county) 15,083 24,780 24,830 9,747

48130 Dexter, MI (in Washtenaw county) 8,352 6,957 6,952 (1,400)

Source: Emsi Developer, 2017.4 Dataset

FIGURE 3.2: Commuting patterns within a 30 Minute Radius of Middleton, Wisconsin

Source: Emsi Developer, 2017.4 Dataset

4 5

FOUNTAIN HILLS, ARIZONA

Located 22 miles northeast of Arizona State University in Scottsdale, Fountain Hills has a population of 25,327 people. This is the third largest of all the peer regions and is roughly 9,000 more people than the population of Dexter (16,557). Despite a larger population base, the Fountain Hills job market (6,673) is smaller than the job market in Dexter (6,952). In addition to a smaller job mar-ket, the Fountain Hills average earnings are $52,131 a year. This is more than $14,000 below the average earnings in Dexter, which are $66,984 a year. This is before cost of living has been considered. The COLI in Fountain Hills is 114.1, the highest of all the peer regions. When taking into consideration the COLI for Fountain Hills, the average wage drops to $45,729, well over $20,000 dollars less than the average earnings adjusted for cost of living in Dexter, which was $67,660 in 2016.

Of Fountain Hills’ fastest growing industries, only two pay yearly earnings above the national average of $62,100. Agencies, Brokerages, and Other Insurance Related Activities is not only the highest paying of the Fountain Hill industries in figure 4.1 but is also the fastest growing of the Fountain Hills industries. Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services, while not growing as quickly as Agencies, Brokerages, and Other Insurance Related activities, is a high-tech industry with the poten-tial to continue its rate of growth into the next five years.

The workforce in Fountain Hills experienced .62% growth from 2016 to 2017. Hourly earnings throughout the work-force are considerably lower than the hourly wages in Dexter, and once the COLI is applied the difference becomes more significant. When adjusted for cost of living, the median hourly wage in Fountain Hills drops from $15.31 an hour to $13.43 an hour while in Dexter, median hourly earnings increase from $18.84 an hour to 19.03 an hour.

POPULATION TRENDS

JOB TRENDS

Dexter

Dexter

Fountain Hills

Fountain Hills

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

8

6

4

2

0

Thou

sand

sTh

ousa

nds

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

4 6

Commuting patterns in Fountain Hills are one of the reasons for its low job count and high cost of living. In 2017, Fountain Hills had a nega-tive net commuter number of 2,979 workers a day, more than double the amount of Dexter out-commuters. This is an example of having a large number of talented workers without the quality jobs to keep them in the region. Commuters leaving the area means a loss of jobs, spending, and benefits providing by the businesses that might otherwise be located in town. As with Dexter, Fountain Hills can use this as a marketing tool to attract potential business to the region.

TABLE 4.1: Industry Characteristics

INDUSTRY OVERVIEWFOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ

(IN MARICOPA COUNTY)DEXTER, MI

(IN WASHTENAW COUNTY)

Jobs (2017) 6,673 6,952

Job Change % 0.62% (0.07%)

Jobs (2016) 6,632 6,957

Earnings (2017) $52,131 $66,984

Wages, Salaries, & Proprietor Earnings (2017) $43,452 $54,736

COL Adjusted Earnings $45,729 $67,660

COL Adjusted Wages, Salaries, & Proprietor Earnings $38,115 $55,288

GRP $476,918,156 $693,770,405

Demand met in-region $130,820,411 $224,172,294

% Demand met in-region 6.78% 13.06%

Demand met by imports $1,799,051,551 $1,491,908,563

% Demand met by imports 93.22% 86.94%

Source: Emsi Developer, 2017.4 Dataset

FIGURE 4.1: Fastest Growing Industries in Fountain Hills and Dexter. Earnings vs % Job Change

100K

80K

60K

40K

20K

0

Software Publishers

Other Chemical Product and Preparation Manufacturing

Machine Shops; Turned Product; and Screw, Nut, and Bolt Manufacturing

Forging and Stamping

Agencies, Brokerages, and Other Inurance Related Activities

Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services

Grocery Stores

Individual and Family Services

Waste Treatment and Disposal

Earn

ings

% Change

0% 100% 200% 300% 400% 500%

Dexter Fountain Hills

4 7

TABLE 4.2: Workforce Characteristics

WORKFORCE OVERVIEWFOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ

(IN MARICOPA COUNTY)DEXTER, MI

(IN WASHTENAW COUNTY)

Jobs (2017) 6,673 6,952

Job Change % 0.62% (0.07%)

Jobs (2016) 6,632 6,957

Average Hourly Earnings $20.38 $24.59

Median Hourly Earnings $15.31 $18.84

Pct. 10 Hourly Earnings $9.02 $9.43

Pct. 25 Hourly Earnings $10.72 $12.28

Pct. 75 Hourly Earnings $23.90 $30.71

Pct. 90 Hourly Earnings $37.11 $46.40

COL Adjusted Average Hourly Earnings $17.88 $24.84

COL Adjusted Median Hourly Earnings $13.43 $19.03

Annual Openings 817 792

Source: Emsi Developer, 2017.4 Dataset

TABLE 4.3: Commuting Patterns, 30 Minute Radius.

ZIP REGION2017 RESIDENT

WORKERS 2016 JOBS 2017 JOBS2017 NET

COMMMUTERS

85268 Fountain Hills, AZ (in Maricopa county) 9,507 6,488 6,528 (2,979)

48130 Dexter, MI (in Washtenaw county) 8,352 6,957 6,952 (1,400)

Source: Emsi Developer, 2017.4 Dataset

FIGURE 4.2: Commuting patterns within a 30 Minute Radius of Fountain Hills, Arizona

Source: Emsi Developer, 2017.4 Dataset

4 8

POLK CITY, IOWA

Located 20 miles south of Iowa State University, Polk City is the smallest of all four peer regions. With a pop-ulation of 5,722 people in 2016, Polk City has almost 11,000 less people than Dexter (16,557). From 2016 to 2017, Polk City increased its population by 1.07%. This is the second most growth of any of the peer regions. Out of all the peer regions, Polk City has the second lowest cost of living (only Dexter is lower). With a COLI of 101.7, the average earnings in Polk City change from $58,968 to $57,812 when applying the COLI. Even before the COLI has been considered, the average earnings in Polk City are almost $3,000 less than the national average ($62,100), and roughly $8,000 less than Dexter ($66,984).

Of the fastest growing industries in Polk City, only two pay an average wage above the national average of $62,100. Other General Purpose Machinery Manufac-turing grew by over 50% in the last five years and pays an average wage of $87,000 a year. This manufacturing industry is very promising for Polk City. Manufacturing businesses have large supply chains and ripple effects in downstream job creation.

The Polk City workforce grew by .16% from 2016 to 2017. In the last year, Polk City had 149 openings, the least of any peer region and 643 fewer openings than Dexter last year.

Polk City has a negative net commuter number of 1,644 commuters a day, 244 more than Dexter. The negative net commuter number in Polk City is also larger than the number of jobs located in the city. Highly talented workers leaving the area does more harm than just miss-ing out on potential spending and job creation, the region misses out on the community development that employers can bring to an area.

POPULATION TRENDS

JOB TRENDS

Dexter

Dexter

Polk City

Polk City

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

8

6

4

2

0

Thou

sand

sTh

ousa

nds

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

4 9

TABLE 5.1: Industry Characteristics

INDUSTRY OVERVIEWPOLK CITY, IA

(IN POLK COUNTY)DEXTER, MI

(IN WASHTENAW COUNTY)

Jobs (2017) 1,280 6,952

Job Change % 0.16% (0.07%)

Jobs (2016) 1,278 6,957

Earnings (2017) $58,968 $66,984

Wages, Salaries, & Proprietor Earnings (2017) $46,739 $54,736

COL Adjusted Earnings $57,812 $67,660

COL Adjusted Wages, Salaries, & Proprietor Earnings $45,822 $55,288

GRP $105,119,367 $693,770,405

Demand met in-region $53,256,282 $224,172,294

% Demand met in-region 9.29% 13.06%

Demand met by imports $519,919,056 $1,491,908,563

% Demand met by imports 90.71% 86.94%

Source: Emsi Developer, 2017.4 Dataset

FIGURE 5.1: Fastest Growing Industries in Polk City and Dexter. Earnings vs % Job Change

100K

80K

60K

40K

20K

0

Software Publishers

Other Chemical Product and Preparation Manufacturing

Machine Shops; Turned Product; and Screw, Nut, and Bolt ManufacturingBuilding Equipment Contractors

Other General Purpose Machinery Manufacturing

Forging and Stamping

Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors

Gasoline Stations

Child Day Care Services

Waste Treatment and Disposal

Earn

ings

% Change

0% 100% 200% 300% 400% 500%

Dexter Polk City

5 0

TABLE 5.2: Workforce Characteristics

WORKFORCE OVERVIEWPOLK CITY, IA

(IN POLK COUNTY)DEXTER, MI

(IN WASHTENAW COUNTY)

Jobs (2017) 1,280 6,952

Job Change % 0.16% (0.07%)

Jobs (2016) 1,278 6,957

Average Hourly Earnings $22.64 $24.59

Median Hourly Earnings $18.04 $18.84

Pct. 10 Hourly Earnings $9.21 $9.43

Pct. 25 Hourly Earnings $12.55 $12.28

Pct. 75 Hourly Earnings $27.61 $30.71

Pct. 90 Hourly Earnings $39.16 $46.40

COL Adjusted Average Hourly Earnings $22.20 $24.84

COL Adjusted Median Hourly Earnings $17.69 $19.03

Annual Openings 149 792

Source: Emsi Developer, 2017.4 Dataset

TABLE 5.3: Commuting Patterns, 30 Minute Radius.

ZIP REGION2017 RESIDENT

WORKERS 2016 JOBS 2017 JOBS2017 NET

COMMMUTERS

50226 Polk City, IA (in Polk county) 2,924 1,278 1,280 (1,644)

48130 Dexter, MI (in Washtenaw county) 8,352 6,957 6,952 (1,400)

Source: Emsi Developer, 2017.4 Dataset

FIGURE 5.2: Commuting patterns within a 30 Minute Radius of Polk City, Iowa

Source: Emsi Developer, 2017.4 Dataset

5 1

APPENDIX B: DEXTER SURVEY

160 invitations were sent. 52 responses were received for a response rate of 32.5%. It should be noted that 17 responses were completely blank (which do not include project team checks), indicating the survey had a high dropout rate. The actual response rate was about 21%.

Cover letter

Dear Stakeholder,

The City of Dexter is undertaking a strategic visioning and planning process. The city is looking to build con-sensus around future economic development activities and create a published document that can be referred to over the next three to five years to assist in guiding the organization. We are commissioning HWA Analytics, LLC (HWA) to assist us with this visioning and planning process. As part of that process, HWA is conducting a targeted survey to help identify initial thoughts from community leaders as to what the city is doing well, and what could be improved, in terms of economic development activities. The insights obtained from this survey will help guide the discussion at a consensus building session, to be held later in the strategic planning process.

We are asking for your assistance in starting that discussion by taking a few minutes to fill out this survey.

In the following section, we list the question that was asked, then there is a compilation of the responses to each question.

1) Please tell us in a few words what first comes to mind when considering the City of Dexter in the following Areas:

Quality of Life?: • Access to biking and outdoors activities is a plus• Beautiful venues and love the city country look but

traffic can be a problem• Clean• Downtown is welcoming • Great destination• Great downtown and parks• Great small town feel and atmosphere. Traffic is

becoming more of a problem.• High quality, small town community• I enjoy doing business in Dexter. The people are

friendly and pleasant to work with. I also consider it

to be safe. We can walk anytime anywhere without concern.

• On the whole great. Concerned about Mayor/City council being developer focused and not resident focused

• Property taxes force me to live elsewhere; traffic and parking are issues

• Safety, Parking, Ability to walk to businesses• Small town close to bigger city amenities• Small town feel• Still a true community that looks out for it’s own.• The walking path and the ability to walk down town• Up and coming!• Vibrant but quiet. We love the proximity to all of the

amenities we need, but that they are not located within the city limits

• Wonderful park, terrible traffic

5 2

Business Growth? • We appreciate the city management. We need cap-

ital to improve and eventually expand but not nec-essarily from the city.

• A little over the top regarding landscaptin• Business growth comes with growth of the pop-

ulation and town, increasing housing with proper planning is good for the city and local buisness

• Business growth is good, however there are not many incentives for expansion. Dexter does promote that it wants to grow more business and provides some good seminars and workshops

• Business has been growing rapidly the last 7 years• Dexter needs more restaurants, especially for busi-

ness lunch• Lake of parking; more support/marketing in Dexter

and surrounding areas• Lots of room to expand• My business is located here, satisfied• Nice Downtown; heavy traffic• Parking issues• Plenty of opportunities for our business with the

attraction of people to our area• Seems great so far• Slow but picking up• Stifled by lack of parking• Struggle with traffic, lack of hotel, not on a bus route

Talent? • Access to talent is good with close proximity to the

University• All of our employees come from out of town. No

residents have applied. There is no technical way to prepare for work at our company except to have basic math skills and most importantly a good work ethic and social maturity.

• Close to AA• Fantastic region for finding talent• Great• Great access to local and Ann Arbor• Great access to talent• Hard to find people in the trades skilled area• Lack of bus route• Need to have better access and ability to find tech-

nical people• No problem attracting talent

• Schools are very good. My 3 kids attend. Need to stop hiring Dexter grads, as schools suffer from nar-row perspective and cliques.

• Skilled talent is laking• Talent for manufacturing is average. We typically

find that we have to find employees from Ypsilanti, Jackson, and Saline.

• Workforce skill sets are lacking

Downtown?• Downtown activity is fantastic• Downtown does not need more residents• Downtown is beautiful and needs to more sustan-

able retail.• Downtown is great but it needs an Art Center• Downtown should be even more pedestrian friendly

(such as making central street adjacent to monument park pedestrian only) and have increased number of restaurants and/or lunch options

• Good core• Great• Great access• High quality for its size• I love the downtown for its coffee, bakery, ice cream,

and a few restaurants. Dexter needs a really good deli/sandwich shop like the one in Chelsea. If Zing-erman’s expanded here it would be excellent

• Investment in data transmission will pay off in many ways.

• Inviting, walkable with exception of park to A&W• Less service providers, more sellers of merchandise• Love downtown! • Quaint - very welcoming• Quaint, safe, proud to show others• We are satisfied with the mix of businesses down-

town• Would be nice to have more residential choices

along the river

Schools? (examples – the schools are great, my kids go here, schools need a more tech focused Career Tech Ed program): • Close to many great schools• Completely happy with schools• Difficult to answer since my children do not attend

the schools in Dexter.

5 3

• Don’t have kids in the school but love working with them

• Great• Great schools.• I hear from people they are good, lacking in skiiled

trades exposure.education• My kids just started at Dexter schools they are great• Schools are good but lack resources for broad offer-

ings• Schools could not be better• Son graduated from DHS. Sorry we did not do IB.

That is the wave of the future!• Tech Ed not needed• Technical emphasis (engineering, manufacturing)

would be great• The one lane railroad bridge limits Dexter’s growth

and in a few years will make traffic a true turn-off.• Very well-maintained, good variety of restaurants

available• We do not need more technical training. We need

mature employees who have the discipline to put aside personal desires to work together with a team

on long term goals; people that are emotionally mature, responsible, and base their actions on prin-ciple and not driven by their feelings and insecurities. We will provide the technical training.

2) Rate each of the following factors in terms of how important it is to growing and sustaining a business.

3) Rate how each of these factors are readily accessible to you and your business.

The following table gives the average score for how important respondents rated the factor in the blue col-umn, while the tan column represents the score given by how accessible that factor is to the respondent. The green column shows the differential between the two scores. If the differential is zero, the factor is accessible relative to its importance. In other words, that factor is being supplied at the level that is demanded. A high negative score for the differential (green column) means that respondents feel the factor is being undersupplied, such as “flow of traffic”.

FACTORS IMPORTANT ACCESS DIFFERENCEFlow of traffic 6 3.6 –2.4Available parking 6 4.1 –1.9Tech infrastructure i.e., broadband, fiber, wireless connectivity 6.3 4.5 –1.8Ease of doing business with the County government—such as permits and plan review times 5.6 4.4 –1.2Quality infrastructure that supports your business needs 5.7 4.6 –1.1City financial incentive packages 4.3 3.4 –0.9Population that supports employment growth 5.3 4.4 –0.9Workforce training availability 4.4 3.9 –0.5Highway access—distance to the freeway and interchanges 5.6 5.1 –0.5Accessible community/City Services/Customer Service 5.1 4.6 –0.5Engagements with universities and community colleges 5 4.5 –0.5Variety of housing options 4.5 4 –0.5Incubators and other business start-up programs 4 3.5 –0.5Empty buildings ready for development and/or occupancy 4.1 3.7 –0.4Support services such as marketing, legal, accounting 4.1 3.9 –0.2Community bank or other local financial institutions 5.2 5.1 –0.1Downtown Dexter and its collection of businesses 5.1 5 –0.1K–12 educational system 5.7 5.7 0Safe community 6.4 6.5 0.1Access to leaders in business, government, and academia 4.7 4.8 0.1Quality of roads 5.3 5.4 0.1Housing opportunities within the downtown district 3.6 3.8 0.2Clean community 6 6.3 0.3Companies like mine located closely for opportunity and collaboration 3.6 4 0.4Recreational opportunities 5 5.5 0.5Availability of vacant land 3.9 4.4 0.5Public or non-profit economic development groups 4

5 4

In the following questions, you will use your own words to tell us what you think are the City’s strength’s, its weak-nesses, what’s missing, and what are the most helpful factors related to the Growth Factors we outlined above.

4) What are the city’s strengths in supporting your business (or business in general)?

• Clean, safe, good internet speed, close to Hwy 94, 23, M14

• Growing educated community that likes to do busi-ness with Dexter business

• Historical character and way of life attract business who want to be part of that culture.

• I find the people in the city administration are helpful and good to work with. I appreciate their concern for our problems and objectives.

• Proximity to highways. Proximity to UM. • They’ve done a great job with park and attracting

people to the area. City services are prompt - recent example being leaf pick up.

5) What are the city’s weaknesses in supporting your business (or business in general)?

• Bishop Circle has only one exit and it’s getting con-gested. Be great to have a south exit away from schools.

• City leadership over reach and personal agenda focus.

• Data services Electrical services (dirty power, lots of outages. this is a MAJOR problem)

• Lack of clear set guidelines for planning and zoning commission. This allows debate of opinions but does not put forth a united idea of what the city wants to look like.

• Parking and traffic congestion. Traffic is especially poor during morning work and school commutes and afternoon/evening commutes.

• Skilled workforce and some infrastructure short-comings.

• The city is not up to date in technology and ease of doing business. The mindset is to stifle the small

business owner and listen to the big corporations with all the money. Quite a few people in the City Government are way too powerful and elitist. This also includes people who skirt around proper pro-cedures and isn’t honest. People like the Mayor are honest and working hard without his own specific agenda.

6) What are the benefits of the University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan, and Washtenaw County Community College being located within close proximity to the City of Dexter?

• Access to resources, talent, training• Access to talent• Contact movement and activity in the county of

business, academia, residents, etc.• Draws people to the area and increases the average

level of education in the area. • Excellent resource and powerful employers.• Great source of talent and innovation• Overflow from these areas make Dexter a great rental

market (landlord perspective), they are large sta-ble employers which helps stabilize the area during recessionary periods, they create wealth and a posi-tive economic outlook which helps in terms of local spending.

• We draw on the colleges for part time technical employees.

7) What opportunities should the City of Dexter pursue to support growth of the city?

• Develop surrounding area with housing. Asphalt many of the dirt roads around the area. Develop downtown as a pedestrian area with increased num-ber of businesses. increase parking. Flow of traffic is a big issue. many people who drive through Dexter on a daily commute deliberately stay away at other times due to their hatred of traffic issues.

• Get out of the way so that small business can thrive as an example of what character, sense of place, and community can do for an area. Focus on supporting business groups, chambers, etc.

5 5

• I believe the success of the city to draw people to our area can be seen by our current parking and traffic issues. I don’t believe i have the background to advise on opportunities to support growth but I can say they need to somehow address traffic and parking.

• PARKING!!!!!!!• Promote high speed internet, and it’s other great

advantage mentioned above.• Strengthen infrastructure (data, electric). Attract more

diverse restaurant and entertainment choices. Meet-ings over all 3 meals are important to businesses, and they provide exposure and spending in the city. We usually go to Chelsea or Ann Arbor for these meet-ings, because Dexter has very limited business-ap-propriate options.

• Technology and infrastructure.

8) What services or activities available from government or non profits are most helpful to supporting your business (or business in general)?

• Ease of permits and development planning• Effort to keep store fronts occupied with quality

merchants in all areas of the City. Continue to focus on improving traffic flow. Protect the character by sensibly governing residential development.

• Government should focus on ensuring Dexter con-tinues to grow in a properly planned way. Including adequate housing development and different types of housing development. Also ensuring the schools, library and parks are funded to the highest standard. This makes the Dexter a popular place to move to and ensures growth of business.

• MNJT and STTF.• Recruiting services are very helpful. Dexter has a lot

to offer, and it would be helpful if someone could support our recruiting through tours, welcome wagon, etc.

• The city offices, Fire department and Utilities are great to work with.

• Trash pick up, yard debris pick up are nice. Other than that I can’t think of any services that the city provides me that are essential to my business.

9) What services or activities are missing that the city should provide to help your business (or business in general)?

• I believe it’s up to the individual business owner to make their business successful. I also think its local governments job to minimize their interference with that success. To date, I believe the city has accom-plished this.

• It’s a challenge finding talent. And that won’t be going away any time soon. How can we connect High Schools students with local business to create a program that starts at the Jr. Level of high school where those students are given summer jobs that can lead to careers at the company after graduation?

• Local bus routes. Traffic congestion assessment • None• Parking

10) What areas do you think the business community can collaborate on to the benefit of growing the community and companies in the city.

• Businesses can work together to approach data and electrical service providers to improve these services.

• Buy local. Businesses should collaborate for group purchasing power of products and services that are commonly sourced across many companies.

• Education and work experience opportunities• Find a Unique way to connect High School talent

and the local businesses. I would consider offering College Tuition grants in exchange for a commit-ment to work at our company after graduation for a short time.

• Promoting the city and celebrating the community

5 6