Economic Manager Is All Business

As economic development manager for the city, Gary Wartik must balance many needs.

On one hand, the 53-year-old Wartik tries to attract, or keep, large businesses in Thousand Oaks. On the other hand, Wartik works with the city’s small businesses, each of which has unique needs.

Meanwhile, he must balance the overall needs--economic and otherwise--of the community, all the while hoping to stay in sync with a predominately smooth, but sometimes bumpy, regional economy.

Wartik reports to City Manager MaryJane Lazz and focuses on four areas: business development, business retention, special projects for the city and business outreach.

Wartik, a private business consultant in Thousand Oaks for more than a decade, has touched on each in the slightly less than a year since the City Council established the position and approximately three months since Wartik officially accepted it. He previously worked as a part-time consultant for the city.

In the area of business development, the city is now looking at how to fill the remaining 300 acres of available industrial property. Wartik said his goal is to attract companies that would best enhance the economic vitality of the community, provide high-paying jobs and sales tax revenue and yet be in tune with the city’s environmental concerns.

He works with Ventura County’s Economic Development Collaborative to attract several types of industries, such as biotechnology, biomedicine, telecommunications and light industry.

“We are trying to develop a [Highway] 101 high-tech corridor,” he said.

Wartik said the quality of life in Thousand Oaks, with its good schools, low crime rate and open spaces, is a strong selling point.

“Usually the decision to locate a business is made by senior management based on where they want to live and work force availability,” he said.

The latter issue is proving to be difficult, given the region’s low unemployment rate and escalating housing costs. To meet the need for skilled workers, Wartik said, his office is working with the Economic Development Collaborative to connect area community colleges with local businesses.

Wartik’s business retention efforts have focused in large part on providing support for locally owned small businesses, particularly the retail sector, which make up much of the city’s economic base. Wartik said new retail stores in Thousand Oaks generally follow the national trends of success and failure. Typically, 75% fail in the first two years and 50% over the next two years.

To counter that trend, in the next six months the city will host a series of group work sessions to help small-business owners, focusing on areas such as inventory control, marketing and personnel matters.