ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
OF WAYNE COUNTY, INDIANA
Board Meeting Minutes
Monday, August 7, 2017
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:Elzemeyer, Frame, Jackson, Leisure, Parker, Upchurch, Warner, Witte,Yaeger

BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT:

Barrett, Russell, Salazar

STAFF PRESENT:

Shaffer, Doty, Henry, Geres

GUESTS PRESENT:Greene, John – New Lisbon Telephone Company
Oler, Ron – Richmond Common Council
Plasterer, Jeff – Wayne County Council
Sowers, George – EDC Attorney

CALL TO ORDER
Board Chair Jackson called the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Economic Development
Corporation of Wayne County, Indiana to order at 4:01 p.m. on Monday, August 7, 2017 in the EDC boardroom.
APROVAL OF MINUTES
Jackson stated the minutes from the June 5, 2017 board meeting were on pages 2-6 of the board packet.
Motion by Parker, second by Witte to approve the June 5, 2017 minutes as presented. Motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Elzemeyer reported on being under budget $23,346.71 MTD for June and $57,278.23 YTD as of June 30,
2017. He reported on being under budget $7,042.86 MTD for July and $64,321.09 YTD as of July 31, 2017.
He reported on items over budget for the month and year and stated they would all catch up by the endof the year, with the exceptions of 1369 – Long-Term Disability and 2215 – Equipment Supplies, which
would need a transfers. Motion by Frame, second by Upchurch to approve the June 2017 financials. Motion
carried. Motion by Warner, second by Frame to approve the July 2017 financials. Motion carried.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. Finance – Elzemeyer reported the finance committee on June 29 and July 27 and reviewed the GL’sfor June and July, respectively.
B. Executive – Jackson reported the executive committee also met on June 29 and July 27. The discussed
the following topics: moving, project updates, industrial park expansion, WWRSD, BRE visits withboard members, new whywaynecounty.com domain, school district meetings, and WorkKeys testing.
C. Industrial Park – Warner reported the industrial park committee met on July 27 and reviewed the RFP
responses for wetland delineation and narrowed the selection down to three firms. They also
discussed WWRSD, Garr Jackson and Round Barn Road upgrades, land acquisition, and the New
Holland opening.
EDC STAFF REPORT
Geres – Geres reported she’d been busy with the move, submitted buildings for Project Breakout, metwith new IEDC Project Manager Jessica Tower with the rest of the staff, toured the former Area 9 Agency,created a list of the site, sent out an eblast with site details, sent out RFPs for the wetland delineation that
Warner spoke of in the industrial park meeting, attended a webinar on data, updated the KPIs with moredata requested from the Wayne County Commissioners, volunteered at the Wayne County Area Chamberof Commerce’s golf classic and Richmond Art Musuem’s Secret Garden Tour, and attended the Wayne
County Area Chamber of Commerce’s Farm Tour at Bell’s Strawberry Farm in Hagerstown.
Henry – Henry reported on visiting several school districts with Shaffer and meeting with thesuperintendents and other administration from those schools. They talked about using Hoosier
Opportunity not only for a resource for the students, but also for hiring talent themselves. Most were notaware they needed to complete a separate profile as an employer, which is different than the school
profile they completed early on in the process. They also discussed the Find-A-Job-Friday initiative whicharose from Primex spending a Friday in the cafeteria of RHS during lunch hour. Primex, Omen, CIT, andReid are all interested in this approach to recruiting high schools students. The schools are receptive too.
Some have stated interest in bringing in retail or fast-food employers so students may find a job to workat through high school. The also spoke about getting employers into the middle schools and talking aboutcareer exploration so these students may get a sense for a future career in Wayne County and to build
awareness of the opportunities in the area. They also spoke about Manufacturing Day and involving all
the students, not just those in technical programs. This would be a way to show the students of all of theopportunities in industry, not just at the line level, but HR, accounting, management, sales, marketing,etc… Lastly, they spoke about WorkKeys testing with the schools. With the AT&T grant, we are now able
to subsidize the testing for the students. Some schools are on board, while others are hesitant to bring inmore testing. He spoke of the issue with WorkKeys testing and the lack of proctors. He is working withWorkOne to remediate the problem. He reported on attending the IEDA Best Practices conference where
he learned we were already ahead of the game or are par with many of our initiatives. Lastly, he reported
on community networking, BRE visits, and compliance.
Doty – Doty started off her staff report by asking the board for volunteers for our open house on Saturday,
September 9, 2017 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, which is a part of the Return of the Depot Festival. She
reported on writing and being awarded a $10,000 grant from the AT&T Foundation to assist withWorkKeys testing of our area high school students. She reported on working with Porter Advertising on
the billboard contract that was coming up later on the agenda and working with Louise Ronald on a new
Brightside story. She reported her last story on the Model T Museum had recently been sent out. Lastly,
she reported on switching the domain to whywaynecounty.com, updating our emails with the sameextension, and updating all of our printed materials, letterhead, business cards, and envelopes with thenew address, emails, and domain.
Shaffer - Shaffer reported on receiving two new leads since the June meeting, which isn’t unusual
because summers are typically slow in economic development. Projects Pipeline, Stormtrooper, Fridayand Silo are all still active. She reported on an impromptu visit from a site selector who happened to bepassing through area. He specializes in logistics but is also involved in workforce development andshared some best practices with her. She reported on attending the JASI gala with representatives fromTBK, Suncall, and Earlham’s Japanese study program. She reported Blue Buffalo is organizing acommunity event for September 11, 2017 from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm. They will follow with a job fair inOctober and plan to hire 100 between October and December. She also reported on continuing to beengaged with industrial park expansions and spoke about the meetings with city and county officials totalk about land acquisition. She also continues to be engaged with the wastewater issues in western
Wayne County. Even though Sugar Creek, Cambridge City, and Wayne County have all filed formal
complaints against WWRSD, the district is still moving forward with an expansion of their plant. A publichearing about the proposed rate ordinance is planned for August 21, 2017 at 7:00 pm at Dublin Town
Hall. Lastly, she reported on attending the meeting of the Richmond Board of Zoning Appeals to speak infavor of two variances, one for the Vectren regulator construction to meet the needs of Blue Buffalo andfuture park tenants and one for larger signage for Blue Buffalo’s building. Both variances were approved.
OTHER BUSINESS
A. New Lisbon Telephone CompanyJohn Greene, CEO of the New Lisbon Phone Company, attended our meeting to provide an overview of
the company’s operations in the past, present and future. Starting as a small phone company in HenryCounty, they have grown from 400 to 2,700 customers in just the past three years. They have been
expanding fiber for internet into the rural areas of east central Indiana including Dublin, Cambridge City,Hagerstown, College Corner – Mineral Springs, and Economy. Future fiber builds include Hagerstown(continued build out), Cambridge City (continued build out), Dublin (continued build out), Greens Fork,Williamsburg, and Fountain City.
B. Billboard Contract
Renee reported on the billboard contract with Porter Advertising for Hoosier Opportunity. The contract
is for three illuminated locations to be ran from September to December. The cost for the contract is$4,932.00. Special instructions on the contract states ‘plus the cost of posters and freight.’ Doty stated
she would inquire further about these instructions. These funds would come out of our marketingbudget and is a supplement to the group marketing done with the partner other counties. Motion byWitte, second by Elzemeyer to approve the contract as presented and any additional fees for the costs ofposters and freight. Motion carried.
ADJOURNMENT
Jackson adjourned the meeting at 5:05 p.m.
NEXT BOARD MEETING – Monday, September 11, 2017
at EDC of Wayne County, Richmond, Indiana at 4:00 pm