Economic development staff for the City of Cedar Park delivered a year-end report at the board meeting, outlining marketing and business recruitment accomplishments, new initiatives and several company announcements the city credits with helping create hundreds of jobs.

Staff said Cedar Park launched a new logo and website this fiscal year after market research showed limited outside awareness of the city. The presentation said the redesign — including a Texas-shaped element in the logo and a bolder green color palette — has improved the city’s external marketing and led to measurable increases in website traffic and referral leads.

The report highlighted the addition of Victoria Dunlap to the economic development team and said she has driven the city’s business retention and expansion (BRE) efforts and helped frame a strategy for workforce development in support of local employers. Staff also said the city began developing an “innovation fund” to support startups and the city’s plug-and-play initiative.

Staff noted several company announcements during the year: Zateo Biomedical (drug and biologic technologies); Element USA (rare earth mineral recovery and production); Innovus (medical-technology additive manufacturing and surgical technology); Exo Discovery Technologies (Korean biotech relocating U.S. headquarters); and an expansion by Swagelok, which staff said will invest about $3,000,000 to build a new adjacent facility. The presentation said the city ended the fiscal year meeting or exceeding most department goals and reported approximately 464 new jobs created (as stated in the meeting remarks).

Other highlights included national earned-media coverage producing an estimated 55,000,000 impressions and two national press visits, plus the Aug. 8 formation of the Central Texas Spaceport Development Corporation, which staff described as a regional initiative to attract aerospace investment and high-wage jobs. Staff also summarized a first Cedar Park workforce summit held at Park Social in September that drew “over 130” attendees and featured Williamson County Judge Stephen Snow, Texas Workforce Commission chairman Joe Esparza and Mayor Jim Penney Moore (as listed in the presentation).

The presentation concluded with staff noting revised, more ambitious goals for the coming fiscal year and an acknowledgement of the economic development team’s contributions.

Direct quotations in the presentation came from the staff presenter, who reflected on the year and said the new branding and website made it easier to market Cedar Park to site selectors and prospective employers.