From now on, Bend city officials will have final say on which business projects will get faster access to city planners, not Economic Development for Central Oregon.

The city took the baton from EDCO following the controversy that erupted last month over a plan by wireless communications company Unicel to move its Northwest headquarters and a call center into an Awbrey Butte neighborhood.

Unicel was granted ”fast-track” status by EDCO. Under a City Council policy adopted last year, companies can jump the line of applicants waiting for review by the Bend planning department if they meet certain criteria.

The fast-track review is available to companies competing in an international or national market that promise to invest resources and bring jobs to Bend. Until recently, EDCO had sole authority to determine which companies were eligible for fast-tracking.

”This is not to say that EDCO is doing a bad job,” said Andy Anderson, Bend city manager. ”For me, this whole thing is a question of responsibility. This should be the city’s responsibility and we should review these applications.”

Roger Lee, executive director of EDCO, said fast-tracking is an important tool to entice businesses that can help the local economy.

”I think it’s important to remember that this is really the only thing in Bend that is the red carpet or welcome mat for existing companies that are expanding or new companies coming in,” he said. ”It doesn’t cost the taxpayers and isn’t an undue burden on city staffers, it just helps businesses move through the process more quickly.”

EDCO has given fast-track status to eight companies since September 2004, including Unicel. While most of the businesses laud the process, one city official is concerned the businesses may not deliver the jobs they promise.

Under the fast-track policy, companies must add at least 10 percent to their work force within one year and make a minimum capital investment of $50,000.

Unicel representatives have said they plan to house between 117 and 125 employees at the new Bend location and will add eight to 10 people to their work force in the first year. The Awbrey site consolidates Unicel employees now scattered among three office locations.

City Councilor John Hummel was troubled by Unicel’s projected job additions, less than the 10 percent required.

”I wasn’t pleased with the review of that application for two reasons,” he said. ”We didn’t require any verification of the creation of jobs so that essentially makes the application process meaningless.

”If we assume their numbers are correct, they didn’t meet the minimums. On it’s face, it failed; and yet it was approved, so I asked the city manager to put the matter on the (City Council) agenda for discussion.”

Nancy Snyder, sales director for Unicel, said a 10 percent job increase wasn’t discussed in meetings she attended with senior management in anticipation of the move into the former Rudy’s Awbrey Market on Mount Washington Drive.

”The regional vice president said (EDCO) had to have a number,” Snyder said. ”We came up with the eight to 10 per year because that is what we’ve added on average in the past five years.”

Before the City Council could act on Hummel’s request for review, City Manager Anderson changed the fast-track policy.

John Russell, Bend’s economic development director, will review all future applications and give the final OK on fast-tracking.

Russell doesn’t anticipate any changes in the way fast-track applications are processed, but he will review information provided to EDCO to confirm that businesses qualify. In the future, he said, he would like documentation backing up applicants’ projected employment numbers.

EDCO Director Lee said his organization looks at the history and strength of businesses before granting expedited review. The nonprofit EDCO in the past year has fast-tracked seven other companies without incident.

Ruff Wear, BMC Motorcycle Co., IdaTech, American Licorice, Structus Building Technologies, CLS Fabrications and Charlie’s Produce all were fast-tracked.

Will Blount, general manager of Ruff Wear, a company that makes gear for dogs that includes packs and paw boots, said EDCO helped his business through the permitting process.

”In relation to what they do with local businesses, I would feel less than welcome without them,” Blount said. ”The city doesn’t really get involved with this and I’m not sure they appreciate the service they are being provided by EDCO.”

Ruff Wear was one of the first businesses to be fast-tracked, and built a new warehouse near the NorthWest Crossing neighborhood. The company moved in with 11 employees, recently hired two more and is recruiting for another, Blount said.

Dave Slovinski, vice president of operations for Structus Building Technologies, said he applied for fast-track status to build a larger facility to make gypsum drywall corners.

”It saves a lot of time in your planning cycle,” he said. ”If you are looking at two months wait time for permits and your build time is six months, that is significant.”

Slovinski said EDCO smoothed communications between his company and city offices.

”It seemed like the city didn’t have clear communication within departments about what was fast-tracked,” he said. ”We had to do some checking back and finally contacted EDCO for some help.”

The business decided to lease property in east Bend, where the owner will build the company a new facility. That alleviates the company’s need to obtain permits.

Structus expects to add 10 to 15 employees to its work force of 75 within the next three years.

Bob Viggers, general manager of Charlie’s Produce based in Seattle, said his company started the fast-track program about two months ago and described the experience as ”excellent.” The company distributes produce and specialty foods in Oregon, Washington and Alaska.

Their Bend location includes a small warehouse on Division Street, but they plan to break ground on a 24,000-square-foot refrigerated facility in Bend.

Viggers said the company will lease part of the space to another business initially, but he has no doubt their two-man operation will grow.

”As we gain business, we’ll be hiring people,” he said. ”Business overall is up 20 percent over last year and I think that Bend, with a new facility, has an opportunity for much faster growth.”

And growth is exactly what Roger Lee and EDCO’s staff will keep pushing for.

”If there are ways we can improve the fast-track process, then we are certainly open to that,” Lee said. ”But we feel overall it is a good program and look forward to continuing it.”

Meanwhile, neighbors angry about Unicel’s planned move into their neighborhood are working to try to block the relocation.

Additionally, the city has acknowledged it inadvertently skipped a required site-plan review in granting permits for the Unicel move – an error unrelated to the project’s fast-tracking.