The purpose of the Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce is to support existing businesses while looking for ways to boost industry and enhance quality of life in Marshalltown. Results of its 2024 Business Retention & Expansion Survey show a sustained need for more housing, additional quality of life amenities and the right workers for the right positions.

Chamber President/CEO John Hall said nine Marshalltown-based businesses responded to the survey — of the 16 entities on its target list to participate. About 30 questions were asked, some open-ended while others were structured to provide specific data-driven responses. The State of Iowa also suggested some of the questions.

Hall

“The Business Retention and Expansion Survey is something that we try to conduct on an annual basis. This is Economic Development 101 type work. It is an opportunity for self-reflection for us, while also then giving us insight into issues we may need to work to address, with the businesses, with the city, state, whomever we need to mix into those conversations to address challenges and needs and also start working on what expansion and growth is going to look like,” he said.

Hall noted that 5,041 employees total work for these entities.

“Having over 5,000 employees represented in those businesses means that we’re hitting the bulk of the largest employers,” he said.

Answers are kept confidential, so Hall was unable to provide the names of the nine participating businesses.

“We are focused on businesses that are engaged in interstate commerce, so folks like the hospital and clinic, Iowa Veterans Home and school district are not captured in this data, because this is really for businesses that could operate in any other community — effectively the same way — where they are bringing in some kind of outside resource, turning it into something new and then selling it largely outside of our community,” he explained.

Findings show:

• 89 percent of business respondents indicate stable or growing sales through 2024

• 78 percent have a primary product in a growth cycle

• 78 percent will be providing new products in the next two years

• 89 percent are using new technology solutions to improve business

Five companies have plans to expand in the next three years.

“We’ve got some great expansion opportunities on the horizon for us,” he said. “With it being a three-year window, different businesses are in different spots within their planning process. Of the five that expressed the expansion, three are to the point where they have cost estimates. That’s how we arrive at the $21.5 million in potential investment.”

Two have identified job creation estimates around 45 new positions.

Five businesses have identified that Marshalltown might not be considered for future growth or expansion. Three entities noted there is no room at the current site or availability of buildings, while the other two cited workforce issues. It was noted in the results that one business faces “major infrastructure issues impacting their ability to expand (storm sewer).”

The survey explored the long-term viability of doing business in Marshalltown. Participants were asked to identify up to three top choices of focus.

• 41.2 percent desired an increase in housing opportunities

• 25.3 percent said talent attraction initiatives were important, such as filling positions by people possessing the proper degrees/certifications and skill sets

• 17.6 percent said downtown revitalization was important

• 17.6 percent said workforce upskilling was a priority

“Workforce upskilling is taking folks that have the acumen and demeanor to advance in their careers, but require some more training like certificates, degrees, etc.,” he said. “The biggest challenge that they are having related to how to do the workforce upskilling is maintaining current workforce levels while also investing in those upskilling initiatives for individuals — not so much availability of programs.”

Of those surveyed, 78 percent of employers are actively engaged with Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) and Iowa Valley Community College (IVCC) to address workforce skills gaps.

Barriers to growth included not just housing, workforce availability and real estate options, but also a lack of childcare resources.

Job candidates have told these companies they’d consider a career in Marshalltown if housing options improved, more restaurants opened and there was additional shopping/retail.

He said the Chamber added the workforce development position, held by Kate Bowermaster, to work on the jobs issue. It also was part of the process of the recent sale of the Marshalltown Mall.

A total of 89 percent of employers have succession plans in place. This means there is a clear idea of who would take over in the event of leadership changes, death of the CEO, etc.

“So the more employers that have succession plans in place, the more confidence we can have that if something happens to the top level executives, that there is stability within that company in the immediate aftermath,” he added.

When asked to identify strengths for Marshalltown as a place to do business, the city’s central location/access to other metro areas came in at number one, followed by access to workforce, location community support, business climate, local/regional amenities and then proximity to customers.

“Workforce is the number one issue, but it’s also our number one strength,” he said.

While the findings may seem contradictory, he says the breakdown shows local businesses are able to attract workforce, but they’re not sustaining them long-term.

Survey results will be sent to the State of Iowa and published in the next edition of the Chamber Digest.

“We will be interested to see how our data feeds into and matches against the state data, which we expect to come out later this year,” Hall said.