City Manager Robb Corbett has said attracting business to an industrial park in which the city has invested $1.5 million is one of the top goals for the new economic development director.

Consultant Steve Chrisman, 44, of Seal Rock, Ore., who Corbett hired this week, will take on that task. And he said it will take more than waiting for businesses to come knocking.

If you build it, they wont necessarily come, he said. You have to market it.

Chrisman will start work Sept. 5 for a $72,000 fee under Corbetts supervision. Hell work with a $38,000 marketing and travel budget, and must submit any budgetary plans to Corbett for approval. Hes contracted for a year, and will be up for a two-year extension after a performance review. He replaces Tracy Bosen, who resigned in February 2011.

Chrisman also will focus on creating family wage jobs, helping existing businesses expand, getting industrial sites up to state building standards, and marketing. But another chief concern for Chrisman is attracting businesses to the industrial park near Airport Road.

Corbett said taxpayers have made a significant investment for the land to bring business to town. The city purchased 40 acres of the 525-acre industrial park for $500,000 in 2011, and all rent on that property funnels to the airport. The city also is using public funds generated from a 4-cent-a-gallon gas tax to cover $1.5 million it owes to the state for a project that improved five miles of Airport Road from Interstate 84 to the industrial park. The road was meant to make the rest of the 525-acre industrial park more business-ready by making the road accessible to semi trucks.

Weve made the investment to buy the land and we want to use that resource, Corbett said. We have a responsibility to the citizens because they bought the land.

But before marketing the industrial land, Chrisman said hed like to clean up messy properties and take inventory of rentable spaces. He said the land could be attractive to businesses because of its proximity to Interstate 84 and the airport.

Chrisman said he was attracted to Pendleton because of its rural location, but he also sees this is as his jobs greatest challenge for bringing in businesses.

The city itself is a long way from any large population, he said. You have to find the right type of companies and spend your energies on working to attract them versus working on forcing a square peg into a round hole. And space, you have a lot of open space. Thats positive for a lot of companies.

Chrismans first tasks will be to meet with Pendleton business leaders, learn state shovel-ready requirements and gather marketing material to be ready to respond to leads the city receives from the state on businesses interested in locating in Oregon, Corbett said. Chrisman will develop relationships with other communities, and forward the state business leads to them if Pendleton doesnt have resources the business needs. This will promote the regional economy, which should help the citys economy, Corbett said.

Chrisman  is married to Shannon Chrisman, 39, and they have two children, Cheney, 14, and Ella, 8. Chrismans family will stay in Seal Rock for about a year before they move to Pendleton. Chrisman is originally from Sea Girt, N.J., and moved to Oregon in 1990 to attend Southern Oregon University, where he graduated from in 1994 with a bachelors in business administration with an emphasis in marketing.

Chrisman brings economic development experience from doing business consulting and marketing, and managing small businesses as an economic development specialist for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. He has also worked in marketing for the Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City.

Chrisman also will work on the economic development page for the citys new website. Project leaders told the East Oregonian in June the project was slated to be finished the first week of July. But Corbett said Wednesday the site was not finished because there was a miscommunication between the website team and Intermountain Education Service District. Library Director Kat Davis, part of the team assembling the website, said in an email Wednesday the site should be finished in time for Round-Up.

Contact Chris Rizer at crizer@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836.