BEEVILLE, Texas — As the City of Beeville creates its future Strategic Plan, an Economic Development Plan has also been created to focus on making Bee County a business-friendly community.
That is why it has hired an Economic Development Coordinator to help it improve customer service and economic resilience.
The city of Beeville has hired Larry Calhoun as its new economic development manager to help grow business and expand revenue-generating opportunities.
“The population here has not seen a lot of growth in the last couple of years. We hope to change that. The unemployment is relatively low,
but we do have a skilled workforce in the ranks of the unemployed that is attractive to those companies that are seeking skilled employees for their workforce,” said Bee Area Partnership Executive Director Larry Calhoun.
The newly formed Bee Area Partnership (BAP) for economic development has one goal, that is to change the landscape of Bee County .
“When you do that, you bring in higher paying jobs where people have discretionary income. It helps everyone who can then buy homes, buy new automobiles, and spend on retail,” said Calhoun.
Calhoun, who has a commercial real estate and development background, said the most important aspect of economic development is business retention.
“We are going to try and get companies from 50 to 150 people, not that we won’t pursue companies that are larger.
It is just that I'd rather have 10 companies with a 100 people than one company with a 1,000 because I know how devastating it is if you lose that one company,” said Calhoun.
Calhoun said that changes are coming; it may not happen next week, it may not happen next month, but positive changes will happen for Bee County.
