Economic Opportunity

              Volume 1, Issue 8
1, Issue 2
Upon completion of the after-noon
sessions on the first day,
there will be a welcome reception
held at the Abraham Lincoln Me-morial
Museum. We have exclu-sively
reserved the museum for
that evening to allow the atten-dees
access to the entire museum
for the reception and a self-tour.
The following day will have ses-sions
throughout the day, includ-ing
lunch. Session topics will
include Addressing Rising Energy
Costs, Ethics in Government,
Proven Investment Practices,
GASB & OPEB, Tourism-Creating
a Tax Base, and more. We have
also reserved a block of hotel
rooms, at a discounted rate, for
the evening of May 9th. You may
call the State House Inn (101 East
Adams, 217-528-5100) to make
your reservations. You are re-sponsible
for the cost of the ho-tel;
as rooms are going fast make
sure you mention that you are
attending the Treasurer’s Sympo-sium
to get the discounted rate.
For more information on how to
sign up, please call Bob Kogut at
the State Treasurer’s Office 312-
814-1700.
Annual Public Investors’ Financial Symposium; Springfield, IL
I thought that company towns
went the way of the buggy
whip until I visited one last
year, Port Gamble, WA. The
tiny town of 85 people sits
along the Hood Canal. William
Talbot, Josiah Keller and An-drew
Pope modeled the com-munity
after their hometown
of East Machias, ME when they
moved to the region in 1853 to
build a new timber mill.
Port Gamble's heyday was in
the 1920's when the mill em-ployed
250. When the mill shut
its doors in 1995, it had the
distinction of being the oldest
continuously operating sawmill
in the USA. It fell victim to the
spotted owl and environmentalist
attacks, which resulted in over 200
mills closing in the NW during the
late 1980's and early 1990's.
Port Gamble is making an admira-ble
comeback for such a small
town. It boasts 25 entrepreneurs
today compared to only 9 in 2001.
Many of these entrepreneurs are
operating small businesses out of
their storefronts while living up-stairs,
just like in the old days. All
buildings are leased from Pope
Resources which has spent several
million dollars on refurbishing the
town and cleaning up the old mill
site. Their intention is to develop
up to 4,000 acres of timber land
that the company owns.
A unique attraction in Port Gam-ble
is the historic St. Paul's Episco-pal
Church, which has become a
popular venue for weddings. Last
year they hosted 32 weddings and
I've got to think that Pope Re-sources
has to be the only timber
company that has its own wedding
coordinator.
Do you have companies in your
community that would make these
types of investments - even after
they've been run out of town?
How can you build relationships
with your local companies that
give them this type of connection
to your community?
Volume 1, Issue 8
1, Issue 2
SPRINGFIELD OFFICE
Cory Jobe
217-557-6436
cjobe@treasurer.state.il.us
Rebecca Crabtree
217-557-6436
rcrabtree@treasurer.state.il.us
Mindy Varley
217-558-6215
mvarley@treasurer.state.il.us
David C. Freeman
217-558-6222
dfreeman@treasurer.state.il.us
CHICAGO OFFICE
John Cieslik
312-814-1788
jcieslik@treasurer.state.il.us
Michael Smith
312-814-8951
msmith@treasurer.state.il.us
Inside This Issue
Financial Symposium
Community Companies
Ethanol Fact Sheet
Retirement & Equity
Smart Women Conference
W e ’ r e o n t h e w e b @ w w w . S t a t e . IL . US / t r e a s /
Office of the Illinois State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka
Division of Economic Opportunity
Springfield Office Chicago Office
300 West Jefferson Street 100 West Randolph, Suite 15-600
Springfield, IL 62702 Chicago, IL 60601
Fax 217-557-6439 Fax 314-814-3716
A Company Town without a Company
April 2006
The State Treasurer’s Office
will once again be sponsoring
the annual Public Investors’
Financial Symposium in Spring-field
on Tuesday, May 9th and
Wednesday, May 10th. The
conference will be held at the
Springfield (Hoogland) Center
for the Arts at 420 South 6th
Street and is geared toward all
public investors and public
officials. Registration will begin
at 11:30am on May 9th; the
program will begin at Noon.
THERE IS NO COST FOR
THE CONFERNCE.