Chamber's Expertise Helps Guide BRAC Process

By George Berkheimer, STAFF WRITER



The approaching relocation of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) personnel to Fort Meade in adjoining Anne Arundel County is expected to benefit contractors, vendors, retailers and the service industry in Howard County. Employers here also are anticipating an expansion of the workforce pool through an influx of trailing spouses.

From the earliest days of BRAC planning efforts, the Howard County Chamber of Commerce (HCCC) has been engaged in regional collaboration, filling a unique role in preparing local businesses for the impact of BRAC.

The first wave of relocating jobs will start arriving at Fort Meade in late 2009, and BRAC moves are required to be completed by 2011. According to Anne Darr, director of the Chamber's Workforce Initiatives and Business Recognition division, there are already some good indications of the positive effect BRAC will exert on Howard County.

"We've been contacted by contractors moving to the area to talk about their workforce needs," Darr said. "We're introducing companies to HowardJobsOnline, which is going to become a valuable workforce recruitment tool and will also be good for trailing spouses who want to find work."

But the Chamber's involvement isn't limited to headhunting.

"We held the first BRAC conference before any of the other [organizations] did theirs," Darr noted. "It gave everybody an idea of the scope of BRAC. Now we're planning another conference to update the business community on where we are at the moment, because this is starting."

The Chamber's next conference is tentatively scheduled for late March.



Long-Term Involvement

According to Howard County BRAC Officer Kent Menser, the Chamber's familiarity with the business community coupled with its ability to disseminate information to members and hear their replies makes it exceptionally suited to help the county with BRAC preparations.

In essence, he said, workforce development comes down to putting the right person in the right job at the right time. "We are working together with the Chamber to identify all of the components that must be in place to support that concept," he said, to include factors such as transportation, housing and the availability of commercial property.

"From the start, we've been using the expertise and talent they have within their membership ranks and leadership to make sure we're on track," Menser added.

A significant number of the Chamber's board and committee members have been involved on different committees of the county's BRAC Task Force dating all the way back to its establishment by prior County Executive Jim Robey, acknowledged HCCC Executive Committee Chair Mark Cissell.

Among the biggest issues the Task Force and the Chamber are dealing with are affordable housing, concerns about high volumes of traffic on Route 175 and Route 1 and targeting the opportunity that will come from the growth of new government contractors and other businesses in the private sector.

"We certainly want to capture as many [new] businesses as we can in Howard County," Cissell said.



Role Extension

Although it has no prior experience with BRAC moves, the Chamber does have ample experience in providing resources and guidance for the large, prominent companies that have moved to the county in recent years.

Lanham-based Integral Systems, the latest example, announced in June that it is planning to move its headquarters and 250 of its employees to Howard County in February 2009.

"It's not a BRAC-related move, but Integral Systems' [CEO] did tell us they're moving here because of the quality of life and our education system," noted Ron Meliker, vice chair of Special Projects for HCCC. "These are things that aren't going to escape the notice of companies that will be moving to the area because of BRAC."

Meliker has served in several different roles on the Howard County BRAC Task Force since its inception and has seen the Chamber's role evolve over the years.

"We're finally moving from talking and planning to execution and implementation," he observed.

Once BRAC moves have been completed, HCCC's involvement with the process will continue as the follow-on contractor moves and new startups look to the Chamber for guidance and for inroads to getting acquainted with the business community.

"I don't think their role changes," acknowledged Menser. "From my perspective at least, BRAC and Fort Meade growth are just part of the overall regional growth we've all been working toward over the past several years."



Demand-Driven Opportunity

Vyalex Management Solutions, a small avionics engineering and management company headquartered in Columbia, is among the local businesses that stand to benefit from the pending consolidation at Fort Meade.

"From my business standpoint, much of our activity used to be out of state, but the agencies and companies we once found it difficult to do business with are now moving to our backyard," observed the company's President and CEO Al Leandre.

With a field office in Lexington Park, Vyalex already has experienced a previous BRAC process in southern Maryland, "so we have some institutional knowledge of how this will benefit us," he added.

This process presents many similar challenges, but under some different circumstances, he said. "We not only need to build the infrastructure during a trying time, but there is a lot of public awareness that has to happen to let people know what's coming," and the Chamber has been very helpful in the latter respect, he said.

One of the remaining unknowns, Leandre suggested, will be the manner in which the local area will be transformed by large numbers of new people arriving from different parts of the country, particularly in terms of retail capacity.

"For the most part they're highly paid personnel, and they're going to have high expectations," he said. "We have two malls in our immediate region, but that's probably not going to be sufficient in terms of their expectations."

There's also a dearth of ethnic food establishments in the region, compared with the more metropolitan areas from which many of the new personnel will come, he argued.

"I'd like to see the Chamber get involved in collecting some data to try to understand better how BRAC is going to benefit area businesses [in terms of retail opportunities]," Leandre said.

Despite negative forces being exerted by the current economy, Cissell's take, and that of the Chamber, is that the region is up to the challenge of changing up some retail offerings.

"Nothing is ever perfect," said Cissell, "but I think this is still a growing, thriving area. In the short run there might be some complications, but in the long run, BRAC is going to be better for the local economy, the tax base, services and education, and that's what it's all about."