ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
OF WAYNE COUNTY, INDIANA
Board Meeting Minutes
Monday, July 10, 2023
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:Cenova, Foster, Gaddis, Johnson, King, Robinson, Tanner, VanDerBurgt, Zaleski

BOARD MEMBERS VIRTUAL:

Fennimore, Turner

BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT:

Bolser

STAFF PRESENT:

Shaffer, Doty, Fisher, Lindsey, Mitchell

GUESTS PRESENT:

Sowers, George – EDC Counsel
Crist, Duane – IAW
Emery, Millie – Hometown Media GroupThurlow, Kim – Ivy Tech
Saunders, Gary – Wayne County Council
Johnson, Mark – Liberation Labs
Warner, Mark – Liberation Labs

1. CALL TO ORDER
Board Chair Sherrilyn Johnson called the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Economic Development
Corporation of Wayne County, Indiana to order at 4:00 p.m. on July 10, 2023.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
a. 2023 June Minutes
Johnson stated the minutes from the June 15, 2023, board meeting need to be approved. No corrections
were noted.
Motion to approve June 15, 2023, minutes as presented by Turner, seconded by King. Roll call.
Motion carried.
3. TREASURER’S REPORTa. 2023 June Financial Reports
Jim Tanner reported the Economic Development Corporation is over budget MTD by $16,392.70 however,the EDC is under budget YTD by $39,173.97. He said the following 4 items were over budget due to having
3 pay dates in June: 1001 Salaries, 1365 Federal Payroll Taxes, 1366 Retirement, and 1389 Disability. He
reviewed several other items over budget due to various reasons and they were: 2221 Gasoline, 2249 InHouse Supplies, 3310 Vehicle Lease, 3320 Contractual/Professional Service, 3321 Postage & Freight, 3323
Travel Lodging & Meals, 3342 Insurance Worker’s Compensation, 3343 Vehicle Insurance, 3371 RentEquipment, and 3374 Rent-Building, Structures.
Motion to approve June financials as presented by Gaddis, seconded by Robinson. Roll call.
Motion carried.
4. CHAIR’S REPORTJohnson stated the Executive Committee reviewed and approved Liberation Labs EDIT Grant Application#23-216, TOOTRiS Childcare platform, and Irongate’s proposal all of which will be discussed in our meeting
today.

5. EDC STAFF REPORTS
Fisher – Fisher stated she, Valerie and Theresa have started working on our 2024 Budget. She and Valerie metwith Kelly at Opti-Vise regarding renewal of our IT agreement for 2024 and reviewed the hardware that will need
to be replaced next year per our IT agreement. She attended Liberation Labs groundbreaking ceremony with staff
members and the READI 2.0 community planning workshop with the staff members. She stated that Brady Warewill be here to conduct our 2022 Audit later this month.
Lindsey – Lindsey reported she submitted 4 projects: Alloy, Max, Breadbasket, and Green Eagle to IEDC this month.
She had 5 BRE meetings in June and attended the K-8 and High School Coalition meetings. She continued workwith TOOTRiS and area employers to move forward with bringing a childcare platform to Wayne County. She said
she is participating in the Total Eclipse Initiative, and for those of you who are unaware, there will be a Total Solar
Eclipse on April 8, that will be visible in Wayne County. There will be an Eclipse Community Information session
on July 19th from 9 a.m.-10 a.m. at IU East Campus if you are interested in attending.
Doty – Doty stated we are getting close to kicking-off the Home in Wayne brand strategy. She has been working
with Irongate on a cost proposal and they mentioned the possibility of developing a community calendar, but thishas not been decided upon yet. She worked on the overview for the quarterly Marketing Committee to show thedirection for the Home in Wayne brand. She stated we plan to do a soft launch of the Jobs EQ web portal in hopesof working out any issues prior to going public with it. At the request of Shaffer, Doty will send the Jobs EQ link toour board of directors so they can also test the site before we go public. She assisted Liberation Labs public
relations firm to promote the company’s groundbreaking, provided them with a list of local photographers andhelped distribute information and photos of the groundbreaking on EDC’s social media platforms and website.
Mitchell – Mitchel said we cancelled our Industrial Park meeting in June due to lack of added information orcommunication to provide the group. She attended the Rural Housing Summit presented by the Indiana Board ofRealtors along with Melissa Vance from the Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce. She has also beenworking on project profile development for HELP. She has been busy with housing development discussions withvarious developers who are wanting to move forward. She attended her last Community in Schools Board ofDirectors meeting after serving on this board for the previous 7 years.
Shaffer – Shaffer said Liberation Labs had their groundbreaking ceremony on June 29th at their site in the Midwest
Industrial Park. She said Project Thomas, which is now known as Anchor Ingredients, announced they are locatinga new rail transloading processing and bulk storage facility in Richmond’s Midwest Industrial Park. This project will
result in a $40M investment and create 30 jobs at an hourly rate of $25. The EDC is a pass-through for this project’s$900,000 rail incentive and said the City of Richmond is continuing to work on the three-way incentive agreement
between the City, EDC, and the company. She has been participating in weekly meetings with Earlham andcommunity leadership to work on identifying projects for Earlham’s application to the Lilly Endowment’s Collegeand Community Collaboration Grant. Earlham will apply in the September round. She has also been meeting withIU East leadership regarding their application to the same grant from Lilly Endowment. IU East will be applying inthe Spring of 2024. The monthly regional READI 1.0 meetings are still on going, and Shaffer said they have begun
meeting a 2nd time monthly to discuss our region’s application for READI 2.0. The kickoff meeting for READI 2.0
was in Richmond on June 13th with about 30 community members coming together to prioritize the needs ofWayne County. READI 2.0 has a $500M allocation from the State of Indiana and some of the unapproved projects
from READI 1.0 could benefit from this funding. She said the Ball Brother’s Foundation in Muncie is offering ECIRP
counties $5,000 mini grants to assist with planning efforts. Shaffer asked the board for their approval to apply forthese funds. All members agreed. She said we have three MakeMyMove offers pending, and the group will bemeeting this week.
6. OTHER BUSINESS
a. Liberation Labs EDIT Grant Application #23-216
Shaffer welcomed Mark Johnson and Mark Warner from Liberation Labs who attended the board meeting
virtually. She thanked all board members who were able to attend their groundbreaking ceremony. Shesaid Liberation Labs has completed an EDIT Grant application requesting the $250,000 grant proposed intheir incentive package. Liberation Labs will be making a $115M investment, creating 45 new jobs at anaverage hourly wage of $35. Shaffer asked Mark Warner with Liberation Labs to explain their operationand plans for the EDIT Grant to the group.

Mark Warner said he appreciates all who attended their groundbreaking ceremony. He said construction
has started on their project and there were no issues on the PER environment checks. The air permit ismoving forward although there are certain phases of the project that cannot move forward until the airpermit is approved. They have $38M worth of equipment on order and are still on target to begin
operations by the end of 2024. They are currently working on the foundation and sub-surfaces. Beginningin 2024 the building will start going up and operations should start in 4th quarter of 2024. They have hired
their first local employee, Mike Witham. They are working with Ivy Tech on hiring and training support.
Liberation Labs will serve as a contract manufacturing partner for companies creating alternative proteinsfor use in foods. They are not an end-product manufacturer. Shaffer stated we would like the board’sapproval for Liberation Labs EDIT Grant Application #23-216.
Motion to approve Liberation Labs EDIT Grant #23-216 in the amount of $250,000 as presented by Tannerand seconded King. Roll call.
Motion carried.
b. TOOTRiS Childcare Platform
Shaffer said the EDC partnered with Forward Wayne County to develop, distribute, and compile achildcare survey to determine our local workforce needs. We had 18 employers participate in sending itto their workforce that resulted in 276 responses. The #2 requested benefit is childcare subsidies. Then,
we found a platform called TOOTRiS run by a technology company based out of California. TOOTRiS will
come to the community to evaluate our childcare providers and get them all on their platform making it
easy for individuals to research and sign up for services. They also offer payroll deductions and help
employers implement and manage a childcare subsidy. Since there is a cost to employers, the EDC
applied to Duke Energy’s Childcare Grant Program, and we will receive $21,500 in funding to help
employers with their costs to implement the program for the first year. The cost to employers would be$1.25 per employee. Lindsey said she is in constant contact with employers regarding the childcare
platform. Shaffer asked the board for support of the $5,000 deficit in funding for the TOOTRiS platform
so we can cover employers up to a total of 1500 employees.
Motion by Cenova and seconded by Robinson to contribute $5,000 towards bringing the TOOTRiS
platform to Wayne County. Roll call.
Motion carried.
c. Irongate Proposal
Doty stated that as we move forward through the Home in Wayne brand and enter the implementation
phase, we have found that finding actual human interaction is important to people and could attract top
talent to the area. We will have 2 workshops, the first workshop will have approximately 15 participants
focused on brand identity, messaging, and guidelines. The second workshop will be comprised ofapproximately 30 strategic partners focusing on brand ambassadors, and the development of anewsletter. It is important for this to become a community initiative, not an EDC initiative. Irongate’s
proposal for $20,500 covers the cost for facilitators, messaging, and all planning.
Motion by King and seconded by VanDerBurgt to approve the Irongate Proposal in the amount of$20,500 for Brand and Community Building Workshops for Home in Wayne. Roll call.
Motion carried.
d. Tracy Cross & Associates Proposal
Johnson said Tracy Cross & Associates will provide an update on the viability of new housing
opportunities throughout Wayne County. The information from our last report is out of date and needs
to be completed again. She said they are adding in subsidized housing needs for low-income families thistime around and they will of course update the market rate housing information provided in the 2021
report. For $12,000 we have the opportunity to have the most up to date numbers for Wayne County.

Mitchell said there have been 96 apartments added to Chester Heights since our last report and market
rate apartment costs are vastly different than they were in our 2021 report.
Shaffer asked for the support of the full board to approve the Tracy Cross & Associates Proposal in theamount of $12,250 to be paid from Contractual/Professional Services.
Motion by Tanner and seconded by Foster to approve the Tracy Cross & Associates Proposal in theamount of $12,250. Roll call.
Motion carried.
Johnson asked if there was any other business to discuss. No comments were made.
6. ADJOURNMENT
Johnson adjourned the meeting at 4:58 p.m.
NEXT BOARD MEETING – Monday, August 7, 2023, at 4:00 p.m.