Mar. 30—JAMESTOWN — Primary-sector businesses are important for a healthy community and create many secondary jobs, which creates wealth within the state and the community, according to Corry Shevlin, CEO of the Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp.

Shevlin said the state definition to get certified as a primary-sector employer by the North Dakota Department of Commerce is bringing in 75% of its revenue from outside of the state. He said bringing in that much revenue from outside the state builds wealth for the state and the community.

"As those companies ... thrive and bring in money, it's only better for the community and better for the state, and value creation is what we are after," he said.

A primary-sector business is an individual, corporation or limited liability company, partnership or association that is certified by the state Department of Commerce's Division of Economic Development and Finance which through the employment of knowledge or labor adds value to a product, process, or service which results in the creation of new wealth, according to the commerce department's website.

Value is added, for example, when a farmer can sell a bushel of corn but if it can be refined into a few different products, Shevlin said.

"That's when you start to see a significant difference in your community's makeup and how those jobs pay and the opportunities that those companies are able to provide for the citizens," he said. "When you are moving through that process of further refining or value adding to any product, there are additional opportunities that come up throughout that process additionally."

A majority of the larger manufacturing companies in the area are primary-sector certified, he said. Getting certified as a primary-sector employer unlocks additional incentives such as getting funds from PACE, the New Jobs Training Fund, Automation Tax Credit, Seed Capital Investment Tax Credit, Sales Tax Exemption on Computer and Telecommunications Equipment or the research expense credit, the commerce department's website says.

"Those programs are important for the healthiness of the community," Shevlin said.

He said primary-sector companies that add value and jobs are the exact type of employer that JSDC wants to see come to the community.

"They relocate, start here, they are the kind of companies that we want to see thrive," he said. "Obviously we want to see all our companies thrive but the primary-sector job growth and the value add is invaluable for a community."

By adding value to products, businesses are able to offer higher-paying jobs and it creates more jobs in the secondary sector which in turn creates more in the tertiary sector. Shevlin said employees are needed for the primary-sector businesses, which also need suppliers that employ other individuals.

"You bring in families for those jobs. You need jobs for spouses, schools for kids to go to and all things that are associated with that," Shevlin said. "Part of a healthy community is having those types of jobs."

Wages for primary-sector employees can range anywhere from the lower to higher ends of the pay scale depending on the position, he said. But the benefit is the opportunities in the secondary and tertiary markets where more indirect or induced jobs are created even though they might not pay as high as a primary-sector employee.

"There is a whole list of additional indirect jobs that come that aren't direct employees of whatever specific company that is," Shevlin said.

He said all businesses are important in the community and all employees in the area need places to shop.

Shevlin said the JSDC primarily targets primary-sector job development but it also provides funding to retail and commercial companies.

"We understand that to have a community, you need all of the things," he said. "You can't just have one or the other."

The JSDC also invested in land in the Jamestown area to create business parks where the infrastructure is developed. The developed land is made available to companies that are either looking to relocate or expand their operations.

"We've had a lot of success with the land development model and I think it's an appropriate thing that works for our community," he said.

He said the JSDC looks to recoup the funds that were invested for acquiring and developing the land so it is cost effective for businesses looking to move into the business parks.

"We want the companies that are in Jamestown and Stutsman County to be as healthy as possible," Shevlin said. "For us there is value in paying additional taxes, providing employment opportunities for the constituents here, those kind of added benefits we see as what our return is."

The Spiritwood Energy Park Association's industrial park near Spiritwood has been targeted for manufacturers of value-added agricultural products, Shevlin said. With development of business parks, the JSDC staff has to identify what is unique that can be offered to companies to locate there.

"You have to make it advantageous," he said. There's a reason that they want to be here whether that's a cost savings or you provide for the Spiritwood Energy Park, it's a specific utility that isn't available in other places. So identifying what your unique advantages are and then kind of capitalizing on those advantages and then obviously doing that in a cost-effective way is important also."

For example, the SEPA industrial park having rail for trains and being close to Interstate 94 is advantageous to companies that locate there, Shevlin said. He said waste steam that is produced from Great River Energy's Spiritwood Station can be used by other industrial uses that locate there. Midwest AgEnergy's Dakota Spirit biorefinery utilizes the steam from Spiritwood Station for ethanol production, he noted. Green Bison Soy Processing, which is being constructed in the SEPA industrial park, plans to utilize the steam as well.

"There's not too many places that couple those things together that have unit train service and access to steam heat everywhere," he said.