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Weekly Update

03/07/08

NOW THAT THATS OVER WITH...anyone who has ever done a conference knows it's a lot of work. Last week, therefore, was heavily focused on the "What-have-you-done-for-me" lately World Famous, Highly Acclaimed and now Much Discussed Economic Development Conference. To make up for such a diversion, this week PCDA staff went back at it with our three construction projects, a call trip, meetings and significant conversations with several existing companies and one brand new one and a meeting with a potential housing builder. PCDA currently has 11 open projects with a potential job count of just under 600 new jobs.

MORE FROM THE CONFERENCE...at the end of last week's WHYDFML, WF, HA, and now MD Ponca City economic development conference, a town hall was held to solicit opinions from attendees about the Ponca City economy as well as suggestions on how to continue to grow said economy. Among the opinions were: recruiting workforce, attracting back former Ponca Citians particularly those starting families, adding housing, adding retail, adding more hiking and bike trails, more educational opportunities, a more regional approach and more. Opinions were also shared about Ponca City assets, attributes, challenges, opportunities, etc. The comments will be discussed at the PCDA board retreat on March 21st.

COME GET BOARD WITH PCDA NEXT THURSDAY...I said "board" not that other word. Really, what could be more exciting than a monthly board meeting of the PCDA trustees? It gets even better when they are considering expenses for things such as the Continental Technology agreement. Want to hear about the U.S. 177 Sensor Corridor project? Well then you just have to attend. Trustees will also hear the regular updates on projects, consider bills, minutes and other evocative administrative matters and get the usual closed door briefings on negotiations with other companies. It all starts at 7:30 a.m. at the Chamber.

EMOTIONAL IQ IN THE WORKPLACE...there is a lot of talk these days about the need for better soft skills in the workplace. Not so fast, Kemosabe. We're not talking about those people who don't know how to even show up for work on time. We're talking about the people that hire them and should have known they were not going to show up on time. More to the point, we're also talking about potential ways to help them show up on time so that you, as an employer, don't have to shoot the wounded and face the high costs of turnover, not to mention the pain of trying to find the right person...again. Oklahoma State in OKC will host a (small) fee-based Institute to help employers through this jungle. On March 25th, the topic will be "Emotional Intelligence," and the focus will be managing emotions in the workforce, (don't tell us you don't know what we're talking about). On April 22nd, the focus will be on "Behavioral Based Interviewing: Improve the Way You Hire and Decrease Turnover." Both will be at OSU in Oklahoma City. For more info, call 405.945.3373 or lilajc@osuokc.edu.

UPCOMING...

 Thur. Mar. 13th: PCDA Trustees Monthly Meeting; 7:30 a.m., Chamber of Commerce

 Sun-Wed. Mar. 16-19: CFO Rising Trade Show, Orlando

Ponca City Development Authority. 102 S. Fifth Street, Ste. 3, Ponca City, OK 74601

580.765.7070/580.765.0969-fax, email dmyers@goponca.com, www.goponca.com