'Keep Marin Working,' a Coalition of North Bay Biz Orgs, Issues 10-Point Recovery Plan Framework

North Bay Leadership Council President Cynthia Murray. Courtesy image.

Keep Marin Working (KMW), a collaborative of diverse Marin organizations whose purpose is to coordinate and strengthen the voice of business throughout the county and take positions to create a more business-friendly climate. This group includes the North Bay Leadership Council, Marin Realtors Association, Marin Economic Forum, Marin Builders Association, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Marin, San Rafael Chamber of Commerce, Latino Council and Novato Chamber of Commerce.

The members of KMW urge the Board of Supervisors, City and Town Councils of Marin to take immediate action to spur the economic recovery of the County. The shock from the pandemic and subsequent recession is unlike anything experienced before and demands urgent attention and action to help recover, rebuild and reset the County’s economy for the good of the businesses, nonprofits, workers and local governments who rely on a strong, thriving economic ecosystem. 

In assessing the current economic situation and envisioning what is needed to take us to the next normal for economic vitality and competitiveness, KMW recommends adopting the 10 Point Economic Recovery Plan Framework below. We are committed to further develop this plan to create a public-private partnership that will implement the plan's objectives and actionable efforts, once we receive input and support from the Board and City/Town Councils.

10 Point Economic Recovery Plan Framework

1. CREATION OF A MARIN COUNTY RECOVERY AND LONG-TERM ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY: A Strategic Marin Plan should be created to reflect the new realities of 2020. The strategy will define activities to support existing businesses while planning for the expansion and attraction of new businesses to fill gaps caused by the pandemic. The workforce needs to be aligned and equipped to meet the new demands of businesses affected and created in response to COVID-19. This will require an immediate identification and collection of countywide economic data to begin the process. By identifying workforce, resources, real estate and industries that represent the region, we can determine strategic sectors that will lead to job creation and new investment in the county.” These are more traditional outcomes of strategies.  
2. DIVERSIFY THE ECONOMY: Major sectors that have been a large part of the Marin County economy have been impacted by the pandemic and recession and are predicted to be unable to return to their pre-pandemic levels. Along with the creation of a long term economic development plan, an assessment should be made of those losses and a study done to determine what sectors could be targeted to help diversify the economy and what initiatives can be taken to foster that diversification to bring in new businesses, particularly higher paying job opportunities in technology, “green-tech,” and other sectors, that will provide new revenue to help fill the hole of the sectors that will be declining.
   1. Provide access and available capital to the underserved communities that often are overlooked: Many underserved business owners need financial assistance and business support for their survival. These assistance programs should be provided in Spanish and other languages where needed. 
3. PROVIDE REGULATORY RELIEF: The business community and nonprofit community are hanging by a thread to survive. Every effort should be made to provide regulatory relief in this crisis and to not add any new financial burdens as they struggle. The County, Cities and Towns should hit the pause button on all existing regulatory policies – including consideration and adoption of new policies and nonessential regulatory functions – not urgently needed to protect human health and extend the time to implement rules that have not yet taken effect. This should include:   
   1. No new fees or fee increases 
   2. No new mandates that cost business like paid sick leave, rent relief, etc. 
   3. Minimizing or suspending all county regulations that impede business recovery such as insignificant permitting or zoning requirements, environmental health department code requirements and other regulations that hinder small businesses from being nimble in these uncertain times. 
4. FOCUS ON RETENTION AND EXPANSION OF CURRENT EMPLOYERS: Support the Marin Economic Forum’s existing business retention and expansion efforts initiated through the county-funded “Marin County Business Retention & Expansion Project” (“the Project”) launched in 2019. This may require additional County/City/Town funding for additional staff and resources. MEF has identified challenges and opportunities in the “Phase 1 Report” of the Project which serves as the basis for regulatory and competitiveness needs, issues and policies that would be the driver of this effort. Business retention and expansion efforts will be integrated into the proposed economic strategy (#1 above) but the outreach and communication of the commitment to retention and expansion should start now. MEF would serve as leader in the Cities, Towns and County to help retain and expand the current business base.  
5. INVEST IN INFRASTRUCTURE: Now is the time to make investments in infrastructure that will improve the County’s ability to create well-paying jobs, improve the economic infrastructure, take advantage of low interest rates, and reduce climate change impacts. Transportation improvements are needed and should be implemented. It is important to build a county-wide broadband system, upgrade the network where possible, for remote learning and telework.  
   1. Renewed effort in job creation around construction by ensuring construction jobs remain operational and are safe for workers and offer upskill training.
   2. Non-punitive programs to encourage or incentivize retrofitting of buildings to help decarbonize them and adapt to changing commercial needs as businesses shrink their footprints due to more telework should be developed. 
   3. Shovel ready pavement overlay projects should be prioritized as they are the fastest way to improve our roads and get the dollars back into the economy.
6. MAKE HOUSING A TOP PRIORITY: Based on the enormous housing shortage in Marin, it is essential that the County begin to break down the barriers to create more housing stock at all level of incomes. Currently, many developers do not consider the County based on the high fees, permit requirements and public sentiment. Not only would this create much needed housing, it would also create a new revenue for the County. Zoning changes should be explored for commercial zoning to mixed use or residential where feasible.   
7. GIVE PREFERENCES TO LOCAL VENDORS: The pandemic has shown the importance of having a local supply chain including food and local services. It has also shown that we need redundancy in that supply chain. The County should look at essential products and services and ensure that They are giving preference to local companies. Purchasing should be from local vendors and providing support to those vendors should be considered. There are also opportunities to bring more manufacturing to the County as a part of a regional plan to localize more manufacturing in our state and country.   
   1. Support agriculture: As part of “Go Local” program, there should be incentives to create more local markets for County grown and/or created food products. 
   2. The cannabis sector has great growth potential that has been stymied through a variety of obstacles. Those barriers that the county controls should be removed to help the cannabis sector grow to increase County revenues and create more jobs. 
8. STRENGTHEN WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT IN UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES: Place an emphasis on our county-wide, and regional workforce development organizations, and educational programs, as well as career pathways throughout the county, but especially in underserved areas in Marin such as the Canal Neighborhood, Marin City, Novato and West Marin.  Enhance and financially support information and resource (I&R) systems like 211 so that underserved communities get information in regard to training or services that are available. Creating a communication road map could benefit these communities greatly.  
   1. Improve access to multilingual, multicultural resources for underserved communities of color 
   2. Strengthen infrastructure that increases internet and technology access for all
   3. Increase collaborative business partnerships with higher education that result in paid internship and apprenticeship opportunities
   4. Provide resources to support an aging workforce (e.g. technology skill building)
   5. Create innovative toolkit to encourage telework and workforce reskilling.  There are many reasons organizations opt to offer flexible work arrangements, including: lower operating costs, less employee turnover, higher employee satisfaction and greater hiring flexibility 
   6.  Assess the workers who have been displaced by the economic shock and create training programs to reskill or upskill them so that they can fill the jobs in Marin County
9. CREATE SOLUTIONS TO CHILDCARE SHORTAGE: Workers cannot return to work if there is no one to care for their children. The pandemic has hit the childcare sector very hard and caused a great loss of available childcare slots due to new requirements for social distancing. Subsidies to help childcare providers stay open while not being able to operate a full capacity should be considered.   Support the goals of the Marin Child Care Commission’s 2020-2025 Master Plan, including addressing inadequate licensed supply for infant/toddler age care and school age care, lack of subsidized child care slots for working families with financial need and ensure that licensed and licensed-exempt child care facilities are staffed with a high-quality workforce.  
10. CHANGE LAND USE AND ZONING TO REFLECT NEW REALITY: The pandemic and recession have changed how businesses will operate going forward. There needs to be flexibility in the zoning and land use regulations to allow businesses to pivot to new models of operations or production. Zoning changes should include changing commercial zoning to mixed use or residential where feasible.

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