Douglas County a good place to do business.

Byline: Shelley Nelson

Dec. 31--Overall, the communities of Douglas County are a good or excellent place to do business, according to a survey of local business executives.

That wasn't the case in 2002, when the first business retention and expansion survey was conducted in the region. Then, only 52 percent of executives gave the communities a good or excellent rating -- only 7 percent rated them as excellent. However, a survey released Tuesday showed 30 percent of executives responding ranked the communities as excellent and 50 percent rated them as good, a 28 percentage point leap in business leaders' opinions of the communities where they conduct business. The opinion of local economic development efforts and local government also …