ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
OF WAYNE COUNTY, INDIANA
Board Meeting Minutes
Monday, December 8, 2014
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:

Barrett, Clark, Cohen, Elzemeyer, Green, Guiley, Hackman, Meredith,Quigg, Warner, Witte

BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT:

Upchurch

STAFF PRESENT:

Shaffer, Doty, Geres

GUESTS PRESENT:

Burns, Denny – Wayne County Commissioner
Hollis, Misty – Richmond Common Council
Jackson, Jeff – BradyWare
Ortiz, Jorge – Senator Joe Donnelly’s Office
Plasterer, Jeff – Wayne County Council
Sheeley, Rachael – Palladium‐Item
Sowers, George – Attorney for EDCThurlow, Kim – Ivy Tech Corporate College

CALL TO ORDER
Board Chair Cohen called the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Economic Development Corporationof Wayne County, Indiana to order at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, December 8, 2014, in the EDC board room.
APROVAL OF MINUTES
Cohen stated the minutes from the October 13th board meeting were on pages 2 ‐ 4 of the board packet
and allowed time for the board to review them. Motion by Quigg, second by Green to approve the October
13th, 2014 minutes as presented. Motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Elzemeyer reported on September, October, and November financials. In September, the EDC was underbudget MTD by $17,297.12 and under budget YTD by $84,157.85. In October, the EDC was under budget
MTD by $2,186.71 and under budget YTD by $86,344.56. In November, the EDC was under budget MTD
by $6,937.11 and under budget YTD by $93,281.67. The account summary as of November 30th, 2014 isas follows: Operating ‐ $134,978.26, Discretionary ‐ $24,034.27, Grand Administration ‐ $6,472.43, andEscrow ‐ $5,021.59. Motion by Witte, second by Green to accept the September financials as presented.
Motion carried. Motion by Green, second by Quigg to accept the October financials as presented. Motioncarried. Motion by Witte, second by Green to accept the November financials as presented. Motion carried.
EDC STAFF REPORT
Cohen reported no verbal report would be given in the interest of time and to please review the staff
report in the board packet.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. Finance – Elzemeyer reported the committee met on November 20th, reviewed the October GL andaccounts, reviewed the RFP for audit services, reviewed the 2015 budget and recommended it forapproval to the full board, and discussed the office lease. The committee also met the afternoon of
the board meeting and reviewed the November GL.
B. Executive – Cohen reported the committee met on November 20th also, received an update on the2014 work plan, reviewed the 2015 work plan, reviewed the new position description, reviewed theGIS Planning contract, reviewed Primex’s EDIT application, and reviewed Sower’s legal services
agreement – all of which will be discussed later. Two items talked about not be discussed later were
the review of Wernle’s EDIT application (which they are looking for more information beforeapproving,) and the funding taskforce update. At this point the funding taskforce recommended thatprivate funds should not be pursued, but maybe later for specific projects.
C. Industrial Park – Warner reported the committee met on October 30th, narrowed down the property
search to a few choice locations, talked about options, and prepared a list of questions for Burns topose to council such as how will the options and purchase of land be paid for, etc.
D. Marketing and Communications – Guiley reported the committee met on Wednesday, November
19th, and reviewed the 2015 marketing plan which is in line with the strategic plan, reviewed theplastics webpage being linked to edcwc.com, reviewed the new educational billboards at theindustrial parks, reviewed the finished GIP entrance signs, and reviewed the GIP brochure. He
reminded the board the committee meets quarterly now.
OTHER BUSINESS
A. EDIT Application #14‐171
Shaffer reported on EDIT application #14‐171 for Primex Plastics, Inc. The company is requesting a$70,000 EDIT grant for assistance with a 3‐phase project. The company plans to invest $4.7M andcreate 19 new positions with an additional payroll of $571,152. Phase I of the project is theimplementation of a new bubble guard machine line, phase 2 is the implementation of a newenterprise resource planning system, and phase 3 a human capital initiative – a plan to develop andtrain their employees. Meredith questioned if they had applied for a grant in the past. Shaffer
responded yes, in 2009 and 2011, and had filled both commitments. Elzemeyer questioned thetimeline of the projects, and Shaffer referred the board to page 32 of the board packet where thecompany states the projects will begin in 2015 with most complete by 2016. Motion by Green,second by Hackman to approve EDIT application #14‐171 for a $70,000 grant out of the consolidated
EDIT fund. Motion carried.
B. GIS Planning Contract
Geres reported on writing about the GIS Planning upgrade in her staff report, but also updated theboard that she started looking into an upgrade because of the need for mobile functionality of thedatabase and also with a need for a project proposal generator. She looked into two companies forthe upgrade, the current company they use – GIS Planning and also Community Systems. After
reviewing both companies’ proposals, they decided to stick with GIS Planning for upgrade and hadbrought the contract before the board for approval. The cost of the upgrade is $4,000/year, which
was $1,640 less than Community Systems’ quote. Motion by Meredith, second by Quigg to approve
the GIS Planning contract as presented. Motion carried.
C. Branding Standards
Renee reported on the branding standards on page 41 of the board packet. She stated the branding
standards spell out the ways the logo, photos, and marketing should be used. She stated thatbranding standards can run from extremely detailed to general and the EDC decided to stay on thegeneral side. It states how to treat the EDC as well as BrightSide logo, including the white spacearound the logo and color mixes used, that the tone of marketing should be free of any acronyms,
that photography should be Wayne County based, and addresses the use of marketing on billboardsand banners. She stated once accepted by the board, it would be made into a PDF that could behanded out at request and also made available on the website. Motion by Green, second by
Meredith to accept the branding standards as presented. Motion carried.
D. Sowers Legal Services Agreement
Shaffer reported on Sowers’ legal services agreement, which is an agreement for Sowers to provide
legal services to the EDC for the year. His yearly retainer is $5,000 and his rate is $185/hour, up$25/hour from his past rate which has been in effect since 2011. The rate given to the EDC issignificantly less than his normal rate of $220/hour. Shaffer stated the executive committee
reviewed the agreement and had recommended it to the full board for approval. Motion byMeredith, second by Green to approve Sowers’ legal agreement as presented. Motion carried.
E. EDC Office Lease
Shaffer reported on the EDC office lease with Wayne Bank, that the staff and Upchurch had
considered 7 other offices and had looked at 5, but none would suffice either because of lack ofspace, ADA issues, or the properties were for sale only. Shaffer stated the EDC had been tenants ofWayne Bank since 1994 and an extension to the original lease was included in the board packet. The
only terms to change since the last extension was the monthly rent, which Shaffer negotiated to$2,366.50/month down from $2,700.00/month or a yearly savings of $4,000.00. Shaffer also statedthat Wayne Bank verbally agreed to replace the blinds in the office to help with the temperaturefluctuation caused by the afternoon sun, replace the ceiling tiles stained by leaking water, add
ventilation in the server room, and fix the broken front door. Motion by Green, second by Guiley toapprove the Wayne Bank lease extension as presented. Motion carried.
F. EDC President Contract
Cohen reported on the contract with Shaffer for the position of the EDC President. Cohen praised
Shaffer for a job well done. Cohen stated the contract was for a 2 year extension of her originalcontract with a salary increase of $7,000/year for a total salary of $87,000/year. Motion by Quigg,
second by Meredith to approve the extension of the contract as presented. Motion carried.
G. Manager of Existing Business and Education Position
Shaffer reported on the job description for the new position of Manager of Existing Business andEducation. Shaffer proposed the EDC hire 1 new full time employee to focus on one of the threegoals of the strategic plan – to grow the skill level of the workforce. She proposes the new hire willvisit with existing business – 55 per year, focusing on workforce development and issues, and workwith K‐12 and post‐secondary educators to fill the demand. The new position will be a liaison
between businesses and educators. This new position will poise us to attract new companies as it
will show we are committed to improving our existing workforce. Shaffer stated the new position
will have a starting salary between $40,000 and $45,000 per year with a total costs of hiring with
benefits and payroll taxes included at $67,000. Motion by Hackman, second by Quigg to approve thecreation of a new position. Motion carried.

H. 2015 Work Plan
Shaffer reported on the 2015 work plan. She stated the board has had 2 weeks to review the plan,but hasn’t had a lot of feedback. She pointed out a few key components of the plan including thenew position, increasing the time to market for companies with a design ready building plan, andinvestigating a trans‐loading facility with the City of Richmond at the old Dana property. Doty talked
about the recent web audit and changes to be made to the website next year. Motion by Green,
second by Witte to approve the 2015 work plan as presented. Motion carried.
I.

Proposed 2015 Budget
Elzemeyer reported on the proposed 2015 budget, stating this was the first budget with an in‐depth
plan of action. He stated key changes are in personnel services, which shows an increase for the newposition as well as staff raises. Secondly, the next big change was in the funding for Manufacturing
Matters. $50,000 was budgeted this year, but only $20,000 was used. Only $30,000 will be budgeted
for next year. The total budget comes in at $543,307.78 up from this year’s budget of $499,047.00.
Motion by Green, second by Barrett to approve the 2015 budget as presented. Motion carried.

J.

2015 Board Appointees
Cohen reported Elzemeyer and Upchurch were re‐appointed to serve an additional 3 year term. He
reported Hackman, who was unable to be re‐appointed, was being replaced by Jeff Jackson who wasappointed by Mayor Sally Hutton. Cohen thanked Hackman for his 8.5 years of service to the board,
who had started his time on the board by servicing the remainder of someone else’s term.

K. Proposed Slate of Officers
Cohen reported the nominating committee had selected the following as the proposed slate ofofficers: Chair – Lee Elzemeyer, Vice Chair – Paul Witte, Treasurer – Jeff Jackson, and Secretary –Brett Guiley. Motion by Green, second by Warner to close the nominations. Motion by Green, secondby Quigg to accept the slate of officers presented by the nominating committee. Motion carried.
L. 2015 Board Meeting and Committee ScheduleShaffer pointed out next year’s committee and board meeting schedule was the last page attachedto the board packet.
ADJOURNMENT
Cohen thanked the staff for an exceptionally superior job and adjourned the meeting at 5:01 p.m.
NEXT BOARD MEETING – Monday, January 12, 2014
at EDC of Wayne County, Richmond, Indiana at 4:00 pm