Steinbach city council is moving forward on economic development, something that was a key commitment by most candidates in the election last fall. Meeting in committee Tuesday night, councillors generally agreed that it is time for the city to become more aggressive in promoting Steinbach as place for businesses and industry to set up shop.

Chief Administrative Officer Troy Warkentin noted the city has traditionally focused on creating an environment that is conducive to development but has stopped short of chasing down new opportunities. He added this has been very effective as the city has seen strong growth for many years. But Mayor Earl Funk says city council believes it is time to start doing some chasing.

"We do want to see what we can do. Then if there's a development that we haven't been actively seeking but should be seeking, we do want to go after that. We want to definitely see what we can do to bring more business to our community."

Councillor Susan Penner, a member of the city's Community Development Corporation, proposed a plan that got the thumbs up from her colleagues. It includes creating a business prospectus, developing customer service objectives, having the mayor and councillors available to interact with potential investors, developing a centralized hub to relay information and also having a promotions strategy.

City council has decided to establish an initial budget of $10,000 to get this work off the ground in the coming months. Mayor Earl Funk says that should be sufficient funding.

"I think it will be because so much will be done internally with council. Many of the meetings will be done with myself. Councillor Susan Penner brings to the table such great marketing abilities. And I think, because we have a lot of the stuff already going, we have a website, we have those things, I think that we won't need that much money to get this done.

Further details of the economic development strategy are to be worked out at a meeting of the Community Development Corporation in the coming weeks.