COEUR d'ALENE - Steve Griffitts looked like someone had just handed him a bazooka in a squirt-gun fight.

In the combat zone known as economic development, Griffitts wants every weapon he can get - even if the bazooka, in this case, doesn't sound all that intimidating.

It's called the Tax Reimbursement Incentive, and it was unveiled recently in the Legislature by Idaho Commerce Director Jeffrey Sayer. The TRI would reward Idaho businesses - those already here and those moving in - for creating jobs.

"It's the most important piece of legislation, from an economic development standpoint, I have ever been a part of in the state of Idaho," said Griffitts, who took the Jobs Plus helm in 2003. "It's that much of a game changer."

At this stage of the game, Griffitts wants whatever he can get, both offensively and defensively.

"Competition today is frantic," he said. "And we have to be patient in the midst of disorder. We have to know who we are and what we do. We can't just throw spaghetti against the walls. I don't want to panic. I just want to use whatever arrows are in my quiver."

While the Jobs Plus organization features only two paid employees - Griffitts and Jame Davis, whom Griffitts called "a star in her own right" - they're surrounded by an impressive board of directors and receive financial support from dozens of local businesses and government entities. As a group, they understand the ferociously competitive nature of the job recruitment and retention game.

Doug Wright has seen the competition up close and personal for almost a decade as a Jobs Plus board member, but perhaps even more as chief financial officer for Panhandle State Bank. In that role, he's keenly familiar with bottom-line business activity in communities throughout Idaho and eastern Washington, where Panhandle has branch offices.

"Every community is out there looking to enhance jobs," said Wright, in his second year as Jobs Plus board chair. "It's priority No. 1 for I would say the vast majority of communities, particularly coming out of the recession and the relatively slow economic recovery. Everyone understands that job growth and economic development is paramount to having a healthy community. Everyone is focused on that."

While almost every community is working feverishly to bring in good jobs, the attention isn't lost on companies that have those jobs.

"Companies and clients are very well aware that they are in demand," Wright said. "They have the jobs that communities are seeking. They've become more savvy but also more demanding in terms of what they're looking at and what incentives they can garner to be able to move the business to a new area.

"They are working much more actively at comparative packages and competitive conditions among different communities and what people have to offer."

The same holds true for companies that already are here, said Griffitts, who quantified the time he spends on retaining companies as "more than 50 percent" the past couple of years. The thing is, when Griffitts & Co. are successful on retention, you never hear about it. And when they aren't successful? Headlines telling you that a stalwart company like Coeur d'Alene Mines is moving to Chicago jump right off the front page at you.

The paid army of two - Griffitts and Davis - aren't alone with their board in this economic development business, though. New Coeur d'Alene Mayor Steve Widmyer, sworn in Jan. 7, already has assembled a group of fellow Kootenai County mayors to look into ways cities can do more to win the jobs war.

"I think Steve is doing a good job of job recruiting and job retention especially considering his operation just consists of himself and an administrative assistant," Widmyer said. "Job creation and retention is an extremely competitive business."

But, like others - including Jobs Plus insiders - Widmyer said the competitive landscape requires even greater teamwork.

"It is going to take much more than just Jobs Plus to get the results our community needs," Widmyer said. "We as a city need to help Steve in his efforts by working with him to make contacts with prospective job creators as well as reaching out to existing businesses to see how we can assist them. Successful economic development takes teamwork and it's time that we as leaders roll up our sleeves and do everything we can to support Steve and Jobs Plus.

"Successful collaboration will be the key to our success."

State Rep. Frank Henderson, who chairs the House Business Committee, is all in, as well. On Feb. 19, Henderson announced that he and former state senators Jim Hammond and Dick Compton have formed a political action committee - Jobs Creators PAC - to identify and support candidates keen on economic development. As a goal, Henderson wants Kootenai County leaders at all levels working together at a higher level.

"It's my opinion that what Jobs Plus does, it does well - but it is time to upgrade their strategy," he said. "The election of new mayors opens the door for new ideas and new energy. Since its beginning, Jobs Plus has had only two employees. Now there is opportunity to include talented local government staff to establish a new business plan.

"The area is a regional medical treatment center and in recent months has become an area of aero-technology with the strength of these changes anchored in abundant educational institutions. We have much to be proud of and much to offer expanding companies."

Wright, the Jobs Plus board chair, also dispenses accolades where he thinks they're deserved. But he also welcomes criticism with open arms.

"I'm excited and I know Steve [Griffitts] is excited about what's happening with jobs creation in Kootenai County," Wright said. "This is all positive energy we see with the mayors getting together, legislators focusing more and other groups getting focused on it.

"I honestly hope we always have some Jobs Plus critics, and I hope that internally, we're always critical of ourselves. I think constructive criticism is very good for the organization because there's always room for improvement."

According to Jobs Plus records, since its inception in 1987, Jobs Plus has attracted to Kootenai County 94 companies worth 5,570 jobs, $58 million in property tax and $629 million in capital investment. That, Griffitts and Wright agree, is impressive, especially for two employees with an annual budget hovering around $300,000.

But as Wright says, "There are always things we can do better."

One of those is to keep up with rapid changes in the jobs retention/jobs attraction environment.

"Things that were competitive six or seven years ago are not competitive anymore," he said, noting that state-sponsored incentive programs weren't the dominant forces in relocation decisions that they are today. "We need to evolve our approaches to ensure we stay competitive."

A key approach that must evolve, Wright said, is building an even more powerful relationship process.

"Steve has done a good job working with various constituencies," he said. "I would say we probably haven't done as good a job of... creating structures to formalize relationships and ensure that it's an ongoing and continuous dialogue - formalizing ongoing process so conversations are taking place and action plans are being implemented."

What so much of success comes down to, though, is beating the competition - pure and simple, Griffitts said. Retention is more than half the battle these days, he said, because when you lose a good local company, you've actually lost much more than the sum of its parts.

"When you think of retention, if we lose companies, lose jobs, then we don't get the inherent growth from them that hopefully companies are going to generate," he said. "And then we lose the support industries for those companies. That's measured in multipliers, whether it's job multipliers or dollars."

Griffitts was asked if Kootenai County can work together to create its own "secret sauce" of cooperation like the one Twin Falls has used to bring in more than 1,200 jobs in 13 months. Or is the competitive spirit between, say, Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls so strong that they'll beat each other up and, together, lose out?

"Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene, Rathdrum and Hayden all want business in their municipalities. Of course they do," Griffitts said. "But I have always seen them work together for the benefit of the entire county. Most definitely, we can all work together."

But togetherness has its limits, he added, nodding toward the Washington state line.

"Spokane continues to say that what's good for the region is good for Spokane," Griffitts said. "That's great. But then I want to beat them every time."

Annual meeting

- The Jobs Plus annual meeting, which is open to the public, is March 27, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Coeur d'Alene Resort. President Steve Griffitts will update the community on how the economic development agency is doing. Info on Jobs Plus: www.RelocateToIdaho.org; questions, email info@RelocateToIdaho.org