TEDA plants seed for recovery

The Terrebonne Economic Development Authority has so far “proved our worth” following hurricanes Gustav and Ike with helping businesses in the parish to recover, said director Mike Ferdinand at a TEDA board meeting last week.

Ferdinand said Gustav and Ike were the first hurricanes the three-year-old TEDA has had to confront.

“We were not here for the other storms,” he said. “The parish was unsure about the role we could play. We’ve proved our mettle.”

Specifically, TEDA distributed 27 generators following Gustav and wrote 57 reentry passes for businesses in the parish, said recruitment director Michelle Edwards.

“It was important that gas stations had generators,” Ferdinand said.

TEDA allowed its offices in Houma to be used as a site to obtain licenses for contractors not having parish occupational licenses.

And at the request of Louisiana Economic Development, TEDA distributed e-mail surveys to parish businesses that are members of the Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce and South Central Industrial Association asking them to assess damages to their businesses. The e-mail also asked businesses to evaluate their needs.

But the parish needs to implement a better system to allow business owners back into the parish after hurricane evacuations, Ferdinand said.

“We need to triage these businesses,” he said. “We worked closely with Terrebonne Parish government to bring resources back into the parish, to allow critical contractors – gas stations, grocery stores, oil services – back into the parish.”

TEDA wants to implement a tiered system following hurricane evacuations similar to Terrebonne Parish government’s reentry program. Businesses would sign up for the program. Critical commercial operations would be designated.

TEDA has already produced a reentry badge good for one year.

Board member Shane Thibodeaux said, “We need a point of contact for business.”

Last week, TEDA also voted to allocate $70,000 as seed money to create a micro-loan program for small businesses in the parish affected by Gustav and Ike.

TEDA is hoping the seed money will attract federal Community Development Block Grant funds for the program.

“This is our commitment looking for other public partners,” Ferdinand said.

A loan committee would evaluate potential recipients and determine who would qualify.

Daycare services and failed refrigerators resulting from power outages could be covered by the loan program, board members agreed.

Edwards announced that Houma/Thibodaux placed 16th out of 124 small metro areas in the U.S. for 2008 at job creation and retention. Houma/Thibodaux ranked 33rd last year.

The ranking was conducted by the California business consulting firm Milken Institute, which assesses large and small cities annually.

The survey takes into account the quality of jobs being produced, wage and salary increases and overall economic performance.

Lake Charles ranked 74th and Alexandria placed 78th in the 2008 survey.