ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
OF WAYNE COUNTY, INDIANA
Annual Board Meeting Minutes
Monday, May 13, 2019
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:

Bolser, Frame, Golden, Leisure, Parker, Salazar, Templin, Tuner, Warner,
Zaleski

BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT:

Yaeger

STAFF PRESENT:

Shaffer, Doty, Mitchell, Geres

GUESTS PRESENT:
Allen, Michael
Barrett, Johnnie
Borchers, Steve
Brackemyre, Bryan
Burns, Denny
Cheung, Oi Lin
Cochran, Denny
Cruz-Uribe, Kathryn
Cunningham, Michael
Davis, Gerald
DeLaPaz, EdFord, Fred
Green, Nancy
Hancock, Caitlin
Hartley, JennyHeiny, PatHolbrook, RonHollenberg, Derek
Huffine, Jeff
Hutcheson, DanJackson, Jeff
Johnson, Curtis
Johnson, Sherrilyn
Kenworthy, Mindy
Kieffer, Rinda
King, Jennifer
Lingle, Paul
Mahon, Diane
Matney, Melissa
McLane, Brenda
Mintz, Howard
Morrison, Troy
Murray, Becky
O’Brien, Steve
Oler, Ron
Paust, Ken
Paust, Linda
Pegg, Paris
Plasterer, Jeff
Poinsett, Kimberly

Quinn, Phil
Raatz, Jeff
Ray, Valerie
Reinecke, Sarah
Row, Mike
Russell, AlanRussell, Josh
Salo, Pam
Saunders, Gary
Schutt, Mary Anne
Slick, Kevin
Stapleton, Dan
Tamborski, Peter
Thurlow, Kim
Troutwine, Jason
Truitt, Jason
Vance, Melissa
Wandersee, DanWeddle, ColleenWitte, PaulWELCOME
Board Chair Robert Warner called the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Economic Development
Corporation of Wayne County, Indiana to order at 12:00 p.m. on Monday, May 13, 2019, at Lingle Hall in
Reid Health located in Richmond, Indiana. He thanked everyone for attending and thanked IMPA forsponsoring the luncheon.
As 2019 Board Chair, Warner and staff developed five goals for the EDC to accomplish during 2019. Hepresented on those goals and provided updates as to where they stand:•The first goal is to finalize the Home in Wayne website. The purpose of the Home in Wayne
website is to promote the benefits of living and working in Richmond and the Wayne Countyarea. This website was fully functional in January of this year so we have already reached ourfirst goal.
•Our second goal is to work with the Western Wayne Regional Sewer District to develop asolution to the sewage treatment concerns in the Western Wayne sewage district. Regularmeetings are being held and we believe a solution will be forthcoming within the next fewmonths.

•Our third goal is to investigate and develop the remaining land within the existing Phase I of theMidwest Industrial Park to try to best utilize all of the land owned in that area. The Industrial
Park Committee of the EDC is currently meeting with consultants to maximize the available
tracts of land and explore the best uses possible.

•Our fourth goal is to find additional large tracts of land that may be available so that we canhave multiple sizes of sites shovel ready for future business prospects. We are exploring
available land opportunities and hope to find acceptable land areas by the end of the year.

•We have set a goal to review and update the EDC By-Laws and the EDIT Grant Application
guidelines. To date, we have completed an update of the EDIT Grant guidelines and we plan tostart reviewing the By-Laws next month.

Warner then introduced the staff and board of directors. He then invited 2018 EDC Board Chair Tim Frameto review 2018.
2018 IN REVIEW
Frame reported in many ways the EDC serves as the “sales force” for Wayne County. Whether the EDC is
responding to requests for proposals, seeking out land for future development opportunities, providing
grants to local businesses for new projects, or promoting education and training opportunities, the EDC
maintains a critical role for our current and future success.
As with any successful organization or mission, the key ingredient is people. He reported we are
fortunate to have Valerie Shaffer serving as President of the EDC in Wayne County. Valerie’s tenure asPresident has been one of accomplishment, with 2018 being no exception. A talented leader tends toattract other talented people, and the EDC certainly has an exceptional team that work extremely welltogether in support of the EDC’s mission of improving the business environment and employment
opportunities.
Tim reported, whether we are looking at the next year, the next five years, or even the next 25 years,
the importance of an active and engaged Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County remains
critical to the success of our communities. When our EDC is successful, we all win together
RECOGNITION OF PAST CHAIR AND BOARD MEMBERS
Warner returned to the podium with Frame to present Johnnie Barrett, Jeff Jackson, Josh Russell, andPaul Witte with tokens of the EDC’s appreciation for their service on the board as an outgoing board
members. Then Warner presented Frame with a token of the EDC’s appreciation for serving as board
chair last year.

Johnnie Barrett was appointed to the board of directors by the Centerville Town Council in 2016 andserved a three-year term. Johnnie was an active member of the Marketing and Communication
Committee during his time on the board.
Jeff Jackson was appointed to the board of directors by the Mayor of the City of Richmond in 2015.
During his time on the board he served on the Executive/Finance Committee as treasurer in 2015, vicechair in 2016, chair in 2017 and past chair in 2018. In 2019 the board reluctantly accepted Jeff’s
resignation due to business interests. This was Jeff’s second time to serve on the board of directors. In
total, Jeff spent eleven years serving the community and aiding in county-wide economic development
efforts.
Josh Russell was appointed to the board of directors by the Wayne County Council in 2016 and served athree-year term. During his time on the EDC Board Josh lent his expertise to the Industrial Park
Committee.
Paul Witte was appointed to the board of directors in 2013 by the Wayne County Area Chamber ofCommerce. Paul was reappointed to a second term in 2016. While on the board Paul was a member ofthe Industrial Park Committee from 2013 to 2016. In 2014, Paul was elected secretary and became amember of the Executive/Finance Committee. In 2015, Paul served as the vice chair, and was elected tochair of the board in 2016. He remained on the Executive/Finance Committee in 2017 as the past chair.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP AWARDShaffer returned to the podium to present the Economic Development Partnership Award toCommissioner Kenneth Paust.
Each year the EDC recognizes an individual or organization who has gone above and beyond tostrengthen Wayne County’s economic development efforts. This year the EDC recognizes Wayne County
Commissioner, Ken Paust.
Ken was chosen as this year’s recipient of the Partnership Award for his unique ability to bring people
together to accomplish a common goal. Once Ken gets his hands around a project that he knows will
make a difference, its full speed ahead and he never takes no for an answer, and instead sees no as anopportunity to continue discussions until a compromise can be found. He is a convener, a collaborator
and a visionary.
Over the last few years Ken has been instrumental in several impactful projects across the county.
••••

He created a taskforce focused on purchasing the former Elder Beerman property, which we did
and are now working together to find a suitable developer.
He helped establish the partnerships needed to build a road to support the growth of theMidwest Industrial Park.
He encouraged the partnership with his colleagues in county government, the City of Richmondand Reid Health who collectively came together to raise the funding to tear down the former
hospital.
And currently Ken is a member of a working group focused on finding a solution for additional
wastewater capacity in Western Wayne CountyWhat Ken will tell you is that he doesn’t do any of this on his own and it takes a team. What others willtell you, is that if you want to get something done, bring Ken into the project and he will make sure asolution is found and the project comes to fruition.
I sincerely appreciate all of the support that Ken provides to the EDC and the time and talents he lends
to economic development projects in Wayne County. Ken please come forward to accept the EDC’s
Partnership Award.
COMPANY RECOGNITIONSSarah Mitchell joined Valerie Shaffer at the podium to recognize and present an appreciation award to
the following companies and their representatives and thanked them for their investment in Wayne
County in 2018:
JM Hutton & Co., Inc.
• Investment – $1M• New Jobs – 7• Incentives – $10,160 EDIT Grant
Taconic Biosciences• Investment – $1.2M• New Jobs – 6• Incentives – $13,500 EDIT Grant
SugarCreek• Investment – $33M
• New Jobs – 150
Grace Sales & Engineering, LLC• Investment – $1.1M• New Jobs – 14
• Incentives – $41,000 EDIT Grant
Omen USA• Investment – $15M
• New Jobs – 200• Incentives – $237,000 EDIT Grant
Collectively, these 5 new investment projects represented:• 377 new job commitments;• A total new annual payroll over $13.5M;• An average wage of $17.16 per hour;• And total capital investment exceeded $51.4 million
GUEST SPEAKER – SARAH REINECKE, DEVELOPMENT COUNSELLORS INTERNATIONAL
Shaffer presented guest speaker Sarah Reinecke of Development Counsellors International who spokeon the topic of the importance of economic development and tourism groups collaborating together,highlighting points that relate to tips for converting visitors to residents, as well as marketing lifestyleand livability, and speak to why online presence is an important tool for talking to talent as well as share
best practices for communicating messages to talent online.
CLOSING
Warner thanked everyone for attending and adjourned the meeting at 12:55 p.m.
NEXT BOARD MEETING – Monday, June 10, 2019
at EDC of Wayne County, Richmond, Indiana at 4:00 pm