The future of the Delaware Economic Development Office is in flux as a new administration takes over.
A release from governor-elect John Carney’s office says he will issue his first executive order related to DEDO the day after his inauguration, but it offered no details.
Carney’s spokesperson, Jonathan Starkey, said he could not comment further on the matter.
So far, the governor-elect has not chosen anyone to lead the agency – just one of two cabinet positions left unfilled.
On the campaign trail, Carney vowed to restructure DEDO to help entrepreneurs better navigate through state requirements and regulations.
He also said he wants to create a new marketing campaign to lure businesses to relocate here or expand their existing footprint.
Public-private partnerships are also up for discussion, with DEDO at the table.
“State government alone does not have the resources or expertise to make all of the needed improvements to Delaware’s economy,” Carney said in his economic plan released in October.
Ideally, he says his first priority for such a deal would be to “…maximize new opportunities at the DuPont Experimental Station to help attract and retain significant entrepreneurial talent in energy, agriculture, bioscience and sustainable chemistry in our state.”
Just this month, DuPont pledged $200 million to upgrade the experimental station to add lab space for itself and build on additional room for outside companies.
Currently, the agency does help small businesses with their appropriate paperwork, write and review a business plan and hand out different incentives and tax breaks.
64 percent of those grants and loans disproportionately went to just 10 companies – or five percent of organizations that received them from 2009 to 2015, according to an analysis by the News Journal.
DEDO’s biggest stain under the Markell Administration was the $20 million given to electric car manufacturer Fisker, which eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2013.
It also awarded Bloom Energy $16.5 million in 2012 to create 900 high-paying jobs.
As of last October, just 277 were on the payroll at the company’s Newark facility. Bloom has until October this year to meet its goals before DEDO claws back part or all of the money.
In recent years, lawmakers from both parties have criticized the agency for either handing out “corporate welfare” or for not achieving job growth through its portfolio of incentives.
During a legislative review in 2015, the General Assembly required the agency’s director to create a report every five years that analyzes the number of jobs it has created and retained, among other provisions.
Carney’s inauguration is set for Tuesday morning and will sign his executive order relating to DEDO Wednesday afternoon.
