It takes three years to recruit a company to North Idaho.

That’s what Steve Griffitts says, and he should know. Since August 2003, Griffitts has directed Jobs Plus, Inc., the region’s public-private economic development agency, bringing dozens of companies, hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in payroll and property taxes along the way.

So it takes roughly three years to land a company. But to lose one? That can happen seemingly overnight. When the threat looms, Griffitts quickly rallies an army to his side and together, they do whatever they can to restore order on the region’s economic battle front. They know that sometimes, a solid defense is even more important than a good offense.

•••

There are bags under Griffitts’ eyes and his normally exuberant stride lacks a little bit of its typical horsepower. He has not just returned from a far-flung recruiting trip; he has capped what annually is a most intense and draining month or more, doing his real job while preparing for the Jobs Plus annual luncheon, and he is alone in the office the day after his meeting went off without a hitch.

Griffitts and Hilde Shetler — the only two Jobs Plus employees — put in seven-day weeks getting ready. Shetler is, Jobs Plus watchers know, a dynamo in her own right. The same can be said for Griffitts, who has won broad support through hard work and his humble, never-a-negative-word, ultra-consistent demeanor.

Consistency took a small but meaningful twist this year, however. For the first time in his nine years at the Jobs Plus helm, Griffitts’ presentation reflected an important but perhaps little noticed shift. Bullet points in the slide titled “Jobs Plus — Strategy” were flip-flopped from previous years. This time the second item stated:

• Recruiting companies to our area that sell on a national or international basis, are not location dependent, offer strong wages and benefits and are respectful of our environmental concerns.

Top billing on the slide read:

• Retaining quality companies already operating in Kootenai County.

“It’s never been first,” Griffitts acknowledged of retention’s unprecedented promotion. “None of my recruitment numbers reflect that and never will. We’ll only show new stuff.”

But that doesn’t mean the old stuff — the existing Kootenai County businesses who may or may not have been recruited by Jobs Plus — is junk. In fact, according to Griffitts and others, recent history has reminded many of the importance of taking care of what they’ve already got.

“We were taught a good lesson by this recent, humbling recession,” said Roger Madsen, the state’s Labor Department director and bonafide Steve Griffitts fan.

During an NIBJ phone interview from Boise, Madsen recalled the USA Today front-page story in 2007 that proclaimed Idaho’s economy No. 1 in the nation.

“We were booming,” he said, noting that in North Idaho in particular, construction was fueling the economic frenzy. But when the recession crushed construction and sucked the wind out of Idaho’s economic sails, “You guys got hit really hard,” Madsen said. “And now you’re coming back. There’s a tremendous synergy up there.”

Madsen credits Griffitts, Hilde Shetler, the Jobs Plus board and local elected officials like mayors Sandi Bloem of Coeur d’Alene and Clay Larkin of Post Falls with creating much of that synergy. He said all of them understand the critical need to “retain and nurture the small businesses you already have.”

Madsen used a military analogy to explain the importance of that retention.

“It makes complete sense to me that you protect your base and expand your base,” he said. “I think that’s applicable to economic development, too.”

He also said that even if this is the first time retention headed the Jobs Plus strategic plan, it certainly wasn’t the first time the agencies joined forces to keep a great local company from going elsewhere. Back in November 2003, when both men were new to their jobs — Griffitts had been with Jobs Plus just a few months and Madsen, Labor’s leader since 1995, had just been appointed to oversee Commerce — fate brought the two together. And it was no small deal, either. Their mission was to try to save an empire.

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As president of Empire Airlines, Tim Komberec didn’t want to abandon the Idaho roots that went clear back to 1977. But Spokane International Airport desperately wanted Empire, its renowned air delivery services and its 50 high-paying jobs, and bluntly, Coeur d’Alene didn’t have the facilities or the infrastructure Komberec needed.

“I felt that there were no options here,” Komberec said. But Coeur d’Alene Airport manager Greg Delavan convinced Komberec to at least see what Idaho could do.

“It escalated from there,” Komberec said. “I just couldn’t believe the energy behind what started as a simple conversation about possibly staying in Coeur d’Alene.”

Jobs Plus, Panhandle Area Council, officials from Labor and Commerce, even the Idaho governor and lieutenant governor formed a full-court press to address whatever bureaucratic barriers might stand in the way of Empire Airlines continuing to call Coeur d’Alene home. The tug of war between Spokane and Coeur d’Alene finally culminated in both sides submitting written proposals for Komberec and his board of directors to consider.

“The two proposals on paper really weren’t very far apart,” Komberec said.

Spokane’s proposal contained “some nebulous things,” he said, but had a big advantage in being closer to Empire’s customer base.

Idaho’s packed a punch because, Komberec said, in true Idaho fashion they didn’t mess around.

“They basically tied it down and said, ‘This is what we’ll do.’

“To a man the board said, ‘We trust Idaho, so let’s stay here.’

“Jobs Plus was the catalyst. We had 50 jobs then and just under 200 in Coeur d’Alene now, so I think it’s worked out well for everybody.”

“That was the first success we had,” Madsen recalled fondly of working side by side with Griffitts to help Empire Airlines stay where it belonged, where it would flourish. And of Griffitts he added, “There couldn’t be anyone anywhere in the country that’s better than him.”

•••

That was retention then. The battles are still waged now.

Without naming names, Steve Griffitts talks about two local companies that recently encountered difficulties here and/or opportunities elsewhere that could have led to the loss of hundreds of good jobs. The problems with both stemmed from “regulations and [lack of] common sense,” he said, adding that the companies “aren’t trying to usurp anything. They’re just trying to figure out what to do, and do it.”

One of the problems involved a federal agency that erroneously “demanded a much different type of water treatment that was not necessary,” Griffitts said. Out stretched the long arm of Jobs Plus.

On a recruiting trip out of state, Griffitts explained the situation to an old church friend who served as a consultant to the federal agency. The consultant agreed that a simple but important mistake had been made, and in time, the agency’s demand was dropped and a strong local company was saved.

The other company was the target of a fierce recruiting effort from another state. Again, diligent, behind-the-scenes efforts — focused largely on much stronger communication locally — carried the day, Griffitts said.

“Others are coming here to steal our companies,” he acknowledged. The diplomat mulled those words and rephrased: “Some of our companies are experiencing courtships,” he said, “but I’m usually the one who is doing the courting.”

•••

Recruit and retain, retain and recruit: Striking a balance seems to be the key.

Estimating that in the recession’s aftermath he’s spending roughly half his time on each side of that equation, Griffitts said one of the many benefits of retention is holding down costs in Jobs Plus’s already low budget of about $300,000 a year — amazingly, the same as it’s been since the agency opened its doors 25 years ago.

“It sure is cheaper to save companies than it is to go get new ones,” he said. “I sleep in my house and I don’t get on airplanes.”

On the flip side, Griffitts said his goal is “to continue to keep my pipeline as full as possible” by following up leads, cold-calling prospects and so on. “It still takes three years for me to bring a new company here. And once they’re here, we all need to help companies be the best they can be.”

Madsen and his North Idaho staff play a huge role in that, Griffitts said.

“They’re a great partner in helping companies with workforce development training funds, among other things,” he said. “Roger Madsen and Ricia Lasso, they have been amazing partners — responsive and proactive.”

Local partners in both the private and public sectors are also critical to economic development successes. As part of the push for strong retention, Jobs Plus is encouraging the area’s top public officials to communicate directly with local businesses in their communities, make sure everything’s OK and address potential troubles before they become unmanageable.

The retention message has really resonated with the officials.

“It’s urgent,” said Coeur d’Alene Mayor Sandi Bloem, who has frequently worked directly with Griffitts not just to attract new businesses to the region, but to address important issues that arise with existing ones. Bloem, who owns the downtown jewelry store Johannes & Co., said a business analogy applies to the retention model.

“We know that it’s less expensive and probably more productive to maintain a good customer than it is to try to get a new one,” she said.

Bloem, who was instrumental in attracting the Kroc Community Center and its employment power to Coeur d’Alene, also emphasized the importance of teamwork.

“Do we have a good tax base and do we work hard to keep that?” she asked. “I think Steve Griffitts and Jobs Plus certainly do.”

Those who follow the tireless recruitment efforts of Post Falls Mayor Clay Larkin suspect he’s got economic development in his DNA. But he clearly sees need for improvement.

“Unfortunately, all of us take the businesses here for granted, and I’m guilty of that, too,” he said. That’s why he and City Manager Eric Keck have made it “a personal mission” to visit local businesses. In fact, Larkin was interviewed for this story on April 12 just after he’d stopped by Overhead Door Co. in Post Falls, a strong local company that he said has grown and improved their site significantly.

“I just wanted to stop by, give them my card and say, ‘We appreciate you, we respect you and we’re happy to have you here,” he said.

Like Madsen and many others, Larkin is a raving Steve Griffitts fan.

“I was on the Jobs Plus board when we hired Steve,” he said. “I’m even more grateful today than I was then when we hired him.”

Larkin invoked a saying heard often by Griffitts’ predecessor, Bob Potter.

“Every once in awhile a bluebird lands on your shoulder,” Larkin quoted. “Steve was the bluebird that landed on Jobs Plus’s shoulder that day.”

Komberec, the leader of Empire Airlines and Empire Aerospace, now serves on the Jobs Plus board and has witnessed from new perspectives the importance of recruitment and retention.

“Understand, we need both,” he said, “but our best and brightest opportunities are already here.” Komberec walked through all the good that comes from strong local businesses getting stronger: More jobs, higher pay, better benefits, and powerful infusions of property tax dollars that help keep residential property taxes lower and public entities healthy.

The flipside? Stark contrast. When a company moves away, he said, jobs are lost; the company generally takes some employees with it while others stay here but are unemployed. Kids are uprooted from schools, neighborhoods and friends. The housing market can be hurt and the overall economic trickle effect can be devastating.

One of the region’s greatest retention success stories, Komberec insists recruitment is vital. But he also puts its peril into perspective.

“It’s better to build on a current known producer,” he said, “than bet everything on someone maybe moving in.”