William Franke, an international businessman (and namesake of the NAU Business College), spoke last month at the Alliance Bank Economic Outlook Conference.
He said some countries have so many layers of bureaucracy and so many overlapping and conflicting regulations that it is not worth it to invest in doing business there. He mentioned some countries by name as examples of places to stay away from.
That got me thinking. Is there a speaker at a seminar somewhere that is saying that about Flagstaff? Is someone somewhere saying it is not worth it to try and do business in Flagstaff? Reputation is critical. What is ours?
I continue to emphasize to our departments that we can uphold our standards and still be fair and cordial to developers. We have to have a reputation for fairness and no unnecessary red tape.
There is a lot of construction going on in Flagstaff and a lot more in the review process. When a company spends millions of dollars on a project in Flagstaff, it tells me they like what they see here and they think we have a good future – economically and otherwise. However, we can never lose sight of the importance of our reputation.
Next to this column is a list of what is on the drawing board. FBN
Jerry Nabours is Mayor of Flagstaff
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