Overview – Jim King

Hello. My name is Jim King and it was my honor and pleasure to serve as the 2022 Chair of the EDC of Wayne County
Board of Directors.
People. People form the very foundation for the EDC and between our board members and our gifted staff, we have agreat team in place working on creating opportunities for growth and investment in Wayne County. We are so fortunate tohave the EDC team, led by Valerie, and the deep and well-formed relationships with tremendous partners at the state, region, and locallevels. Truly, we are blessed with the village it takes to create success.
In 2022 we saw the expansion of five companies in Wayne County resulting in a total investment of $44.1 million and the creation
or retention of 205 jobs. We provided Economic Development Income Tax Grants in the amount of $228,000 to assist companies withequipment purchases and workforce training. We were able to exercise our option to purchase 335 acres for Phase III of Richmond’s
Midwest Industrial Park and through wetland mitigation bring 20 acres in Phase I into use. With infrastructure improvements in Wayne
County’s Indiana Gateway Industrial Park, we are now able to market available sites and current tenants continue to expand theiroperations. As with all great strides, the work and commitment by the EDC team and all of its partners in 2022 helped form the basis forthe now visible early 2023 accomplishments we are seeing in Wayne County economic development. Your 2023 EDC board, chaired bySherrilyn, working together with Valerie and the staff are delivering on the promise of economic growth Wayne County needs.
Employers are still facing challenges in the attraction and retention of talent. Through workforce development efforts such as Mfg.
Day and Find a Job Friday we’re connecting employers to high school students to make them aware of the career opportunities available
right here in Wayne County. And to make residents and newcomers aware of the quality of life and benefits of living and working inWayne County we continue to improve and strengthen our Home in Wayne initiative. Through the MakeMyMove program we are targeting
remote workers who can live and work anywhere, to make them aware of Wayne County and what it can offer.
None of this would be possible without the vision and direction of the board and the skills and expertise of our staff. I want to thankPresident, Valerie Shaffer; Economic Development Manager, Sarah Mitchell; Marketing and Communications Manager, Renee Doty;
Business and Workforce Development Manager, Theresa Lindsey; and Office Manager, Rhonda Fisher for all their dedication and hard
work to make Wayne County a place where businesses grow and succeed, and people want to live and work. We are fortunate to havethe level of experience and knowledge each board member brings to benefit Wayne County. We are also fortunate to have dedicatedpartners working alongside us on behalf of the residents and companies in Wayne County. Our future is in good hands and our future although always requiring careful management and the efforts of so many - is hopeful and bright. Thank you.

Partner Communities
Cambridge City • Centerville • Economy • Hagerstown • Milton • Richmond • Wayne County
Staff

Valerie Shaffer

President
valerie@whywaynecounty.com
17 years of service

Renee Doty

Marketing & Communications
Managerrenee@whywaynecounty.com
20 years of service

Sarah Mitchell

List of 2022 Officers and Board Members
Chair – Jim King (Cambridge City Town Council)
Vice Chair – Sherrilyn Johnson (Wayne County Commissioners)
Treasurer – Peter Zaleski (Wayne County Council)
Secretary – Kyle Turner (Centerville Town Council)
Peggy Cenova (Wayne County Commisioners)
Sayward Salazar (Mayor, City of Richmond)
Jim Tanner (Mayor, City of Richmond)
Ann Fennimore (Richmond Common Council)
Brad Robinson (Hagerstown Town Council)
Chad Bolser (Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce)
Randy Templin (Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce)
Tim Frame (Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce)

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WAYNE COUNTY

Theresa Lindsey

Economic Development Manager Business & Workforce
sarah@whywaynecounty.com
Development Manager
5 years of service
theresa@whywaynecounty.com
3 years of service

Rhonda Fisher

Office Manager
rhonda@whywaynecounty.com
1 year of service

Recognition of Outgoing Board Members
The EDC of Wayne County is happy to recognize the contributions ofoutgoing board members.
Sayward Salazar (served two 3-year terms) Served on theMarketing & Communications Committee
Randy Templin (served a full 3-year term, 2 years of second term)
Served as Chair in 2020, 2021
Tim Frame (served 1 year replacing another board member, and3 two-year terms after) Served as Chair, 2018 and served on theMarketing & Communications Committee

Business Retention & Expansion
Total projects for the year

Total jobs created or retained

Total investment

Total amount of EDIT grants provided

205

5$44,103,854

Richmond Baking Company grew their Richmondoperation by adding an additional production shift andinvesting $720,000 in their 120-year-old facility. Thecompany created 38 new full-time jobs. RichmondBaking received an EDIT grant of $24,000 to assist withthe purchase and installation of new equipment andprovide workforce training.

$228,000

Taconic Biosciences received a $50,000 EDIT

Grant to help build a new barrier building andprovide workforce training. Taconic Biosciences willoffer advanced certifications to new and existing
employees as well as safety training. The company
invested nearly $6.5M and will create 14 new fulltime jobs in 2023.

Vandor Group, Inc. invested in both their Funeral Products &Reel Options divisions, increasing its Richmond footprint by investing$2.8M and creating 28 new full-time jobs. Reel Options added aproduct line at a new facility on Progress Drive, and Vandor Funeral
Products added over 17,000 square feet to its Rich Road facility. A$38,000 EDIT Grant was provided to help with the project. In 2022,Vandor celebrated their 50th year in business!

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Business Retention & Expansion
Dot Transportation, Inc., a division of Dot
Foods in Cambridge City, continues to utilize its

unique Earn to Learn program to recruit and train new
CDL drivers. The EDC supported this program for athird time as Dot continues to expand their numberof truck drivers by 16 new full-time jobs. They also
invested $5.5M in upgrading their facility that included
expanding their office space that allowed previous
office space to be converted into a truck driver lounge.
Additional improvements to their parking lot and gate
station were also made. As a result, the company wasawarded an EDIT grant in the amount of $66,000 to
support their Earn to Learn program.

Johns Manville invested $28M in new
equipment essential to their production process forblowing wool insulation. The company retained 107
full-time employees and created two apprenticeship
positions. An EDIT Grant of $50,000 was provided toassist with workforce training and the purchase andinstallation of equipment.

Total number ofvisits conducted364WAYNE COUNTYIn addition to incentivizing growing
companies, the EDC also provides
support to existing businesses byconnecting them to tools, resources,and other institutions that can
support their operations. We do thisby regularly meeting with them toidentify their needs.

Workforce Development
Find A Job Friday (FAJF) is a program
where local companies visit area highschools on scheduled Fridays during
the spring semester. Employers engage
with students, provide information aboutcareers, skills needed, pay, and benefits.
Participating employers in 2022 include
Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Reid Health, DotFoods, Holland Colours, Belden, Menasha(formerly Colorbox), and Johns Manville.

In recognition of Mfg. Day, the EDC andIvy Tech Community College coordinatedtours for Wayne County high school students
at area manufacturers. One hundred fiftytwo students from all five county highschools toured two to three participating
manufacturers that included Blue Buffalo,Johns Manville, Ahaus Tool & Engineering,
Primex Design and Fabrication, Taconic
Biosciences, SugarCreek, and Dot Foods.
Ivy Tech also gave a presentation about
educational pathways into manufacturing.

The EDC participated in careerand hiring fairs, signing days, and on
several committees supporting workforce
development. We also partnered with
Forward Wayne County on a survey todetermine challenges working parents
face regarding childcare. We are now
using these results to find solutions. We
continued our partnership with Purdue
University and East Central Indiana
Regional Partnership on our region’s annual
wage and benefit survey to support ouremployers.

The EDC would like tothank the employers
who participated inthese initiatives in2022. Through yourengagement we wereable to expose ourstudents to a variety ofcareer opportunities.

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Industrial Park Development
The EDC is responsible for marketing and managing two industrial parks.
Midwest Industrial Park (MIP)
Phase III Expansion•The EDC partnered with the Cityof Richmond and Wayne County
Government to acquire 335 acres toestablish Phase III.

•Installed new billboards promoting
newly available land in the park.

•Preliminary Engineering Reports areunderway for wastewater and roadupgrades for Phase III.

Phase I Marketability•Wetland mitigation completed to utilize
an additional 20 acres in Phase I.

Gateway Industrial Park (GIP)

6•Upgrades to the Western Wayne Regional Sewer District are underway that will support the park by providing
1.8M gallons per day of wastewater treatment capacity.

•The Town of Cambridge City is planning for water improvements to the park to improve flow rates and establish
a second water tower.

•All three tenants in the park continue to invest and grow their footprint in 2022. Tenants in the park include
SugarCreek, Dot Foods, and Taconic Biosciences.

WAYNE COUNTYMarketing

The Home in Wayne Talent Attraction & Retention Initiative worked
on a large-scale branding and marketing strategy with IronGate
Creative to expand the initiative gathering research throughsurveys and focus groups. Focus groups included employers,
high school students participating in the Golden Eagle Industries
program, HYPE (Helping Young Professionals Engage), and thoseattending Indiana University East entrepreneurship classes.

The Home in Wayne Talent
Attraction & Retention
Initiative worked on alarge scale brandingand marketing strategy,
gathering researchthrough surveys andfocus groups.

Through MakeMyMove the EDC partnered with Wayne County
Government and the City of Richmond to participate in the program
to market Wayne County to remote workers looking for a new place
to call home. Incentives are offered including memberships to local
attractions and $5,000 to help with moving costs; $2,500 after the
initial relocation and $2,500 after one year of residency in Wayne
County. The goal is to recruit 20 households to relocate. By the endof 2022, four new residents have moved to Wayne County from
California, Colorado, Michigan, and Nevada.

Economic Development Partnership Award - East Central Indiana Regional PartnershipThis year we want to recognize the East Central Indiana Regional Partnership (ECIRP). This regional economic
development organization is made up of nine counties, of which Wayne County is included. ECIRP deserves thisrecognition for many reasons. For decades they have been a strong regional partner through several different
programs and initiatives, including sales trips, attendance at trade shows and other marketing and lead development
efforts promoting East Central Indiana. In recent years the ECIRP has expanded their reach through the developmentof a talent retention and attraction program, Forge Your Path, to assist member counties in recruiting talent to thearea. Forge Your Path dovetails nicely with Wayne County’s Home in Wayne initiative and doubles down on our efforts
to attract and retain talent. Most recently, ECIRP spearheaded efforts to create and submit a Regional Development
Plan to the state’s Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI). The work paid off in theregion receiving a $15M allocation that will be leveraged to achieve quality of life projects and programs across theregion. Wayne County’s READI allocation totals $2,950,000 and is slated to be used to assist with the development ofmarket rate apartments on the former Elder Beerman site. We would like to thank ECIRP for their ongoing partnershipin our economic development efforts in Wayne County!

WAYNE COUNTY

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Websites
whywaynecounty.com
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter on theCommunication & Media webpage.
homeinwayne.com
Your talent recruitment resource.
Social Media
Facebook – facebook.com/homeinwayne
Twitter – EDCofWayneCo
Instagram – @homeinwayne
LinkedIn – Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County, IN

Physical Address
900 North E Street, Suite 100
Richmond IN 47374
Mailing Address
PO Box 1919
Richmond IN 47375(765) 983-4769