Jasper Board Tables $105,000 Economic Development Consultant Contract

The Jasper Board of Public Works pumped the brakes Tuesday on a proposed partnership with NextSite, a private consultant that pitches communities to retailers and commercial developers, voting unanimously to table a three-year contract that would have cost the city $105,000.

The decision, reached during the board's March 10 meeting, stops short of killing the arrangement outright. Tabling the contract leaves the door open for the board to revisit the agreement, though no timeline for reconsideration was announced.

NextSite operates by positioning cities as attractive targets for retail and commercial investment, essentially serving as a marketing intermediary between municipalities and the businesses they hope to recruit. For a mid-sized Indiana city like Jasper, that kind of outside representation can carry appeal, particularly as commercial corridors around the state compete for the same pool of national and regional tenants.

The $105,000 price tag, spread across three years, would have averaged $35,000 annually. Whether the board's hesitation stemmed from concerns about cost, the scope of services, or the broader question of whether outside consultants deliver measurable results for communities of Jasper's size was not detailed in available information from the meeting.

The unanimous vote signals that whatever reservations existed, they were shared across the full board rather than representing a split over competing priorities. The board will need to decide whether to bring the contract back for further discussion, renegotiate terms with NextSite, or pursue commercial development recruitment through other means.