ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
OF WAYNE COUNTY, INDIANA
Board Meeting Minutes
Monday, March 4, 2019
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:Bolser, Frame, Leisure, Parker, Salazar, Templin, Turner, Warner, Yaeger

BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT:

Golden, Zaleski

STAFF PRESENT:

Shaffer, Mitchell, Geres

GUESTS PRESENT:

Crist, Duane – Indiana American Water
Dunlap, Nick – Citizen
McClane, Brenda – Hometown Media Group
Oler, Ron – Richmond Common Council
Sowers, George – EDC Attorney
Truitt, Jason – Palladium-Item

I. CALL TO ORDER
Board Chair Robert Warner called the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Economic Development Corporation ofWayne County, Indiana to order at 3:59 p.m. on Monday, March 4, 2019 in the EDC board room.
II. APROVAL OF MINUTES
Warner stated the minutes from the February 4, 2019 board meeting were on pages 2-5 of the board packet. Motion byParker, second by Leisure to approve the February 4, 2019 minutes as presented. Motion carried.
III. TREASURER’S REPORTMarch 2019 Financial Report
Templin provided the treasury report. He reported on being over budget $1,328.75 MTD and under budget $8,259.12 YTD.
Motion by Parker, second by Bolser to approve the February 2019 financials. Motion carried.
IV. COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. Executive Committee – Warner reported the executive committee met on Thursday, February 28, 2019 anddiscussed the Elder-Beerman property, the MIP farm lease, and EDIT grant guidelines.
B. Marketing and Communications Committee – Shaffer reported the committee met on February 6 and discussed thetwo full page ads that had been completed, one for the Livability magazine and one for the Richmond travel guide.
They also discussed the Home in Wayne website and Shaffer explained it is to be used as a talent recruitment tooland is intended for those who are looking at Wayne County for potential relocation. Shaffer reported she would bepresenting the website at the next HR Association meeting. Lastly, she reported discussing the street brackets andbanners and hopes to have them repaired by the spring to promote Richmond as a college town.
V. EDC STAFF REPORTS
Geres – Under Business Development, Geres reported on creating an eblast for the Matthews International facility listingand sending it out to the local businesses and site selector lists in Mailchimp, creating a listing for the Elder-Beermanproperty in ICREX and on our own sites and buildings database, started a draft of the property brochure and eblast for theElder-Beerman property, created a listing for the land listed on Industries Road listed by Alan Stamper, working with GIS
Planning and Renee to add the new property viewer to our website, and working with GIS Planning to add an opportunity
zone to our sites and buildings database. Under Financials/Audit, Geres reported filing the entity annual report with theIndiana Secretary of State, sending the audit engagement letter to the State Board of Accounts for approval, following up
with BSE Partners to obtain a recent peer review report as requested by the State Board of Accounts and forwarding it tothem, updated the EDIT obligations spreadsheet to track the consolidated EDIT balance against future commitments,submitting several claims to Wayne County for EDIT grants and invoices related to the maintenance of the Elder Beermanproperty, and submitting the annual census and IRS Form 5500 questionnaire to First Merchants for the administration ofthe staff’s 403B accounts. Under Other Business she reported on receiving new furniture for her office from Friends Office,preparing the Excel Roundtable focuses on manufacturing, working with Vickey Allen at Wayne County to return her oldfurniture and her and Renee’s old computers, working with Craig Weigle to install shelving in the server room, providing
data to Center City, creating a solid black version of the EDC logo, and meeting with Earnie Holtrey of OCRA with Sarahand Valerie.
Mitchell – Mitchell reported on making adjustments to the Find A Job Friday schedule, helping to facilitate and also
attend the workforce development roundtable with the Excel Center and manufacturing partners, participating in JA fora Day at RHS, helping to plan the job fairs and associated Touch-A-Truck event with the Chamber’s Business andEducation committee, working on WorkKeys and exploring the possibility of testing Excel Center students, and working
on industrial park expansion and phase I planning with Gordon Moore. She also reported on community engagement
and participating in the following meetings: Boys and Girls Club (board); CIS (board); EIRCP (board) – on the flipping
finance challenge which was an output of the regional stellar project, Purdue meeting on iFront Door, and HB 566 on TIF
for residential housing; OCRA meeting with Earnie Holtrey, Valerie and Alaina; and TPMA on the OZ project. Lastly, shereported working on the Elder Beerman property on site security, obtaining photos of the property with Renee,transferring the utilities, and maintenance planning.
Shaffer – Under business development, Shaffer reported Project Mitel has been very active as they are considering
Wayne County locations for a new back office operation. She reported on attending a kick-off meeting with the partners
on the Opportunity Zone project with Thomas P. Miller and Associates. They learned about each zone was comprised ofand what to expect moving forward. The work should be completed by July of this year. Under workforce development,
she reported on attending a ½ day seminar with Ivy Tech on the Skill Up grant. They discussed training programs and area year out to spend down $1.28M. She also worked with the Excel Center to host another round table with themanufacturing industry and are exploring roundtables with healthcare and building trades employers. She reported oncontinuing to work to acquire more ground for industrial park development. She reported her and Bob Warner and still
actively involved in the WWRSD conversations and regularly attend their board meetings. She reported no decision has
been make on options, but they are moving forward with improvements on the lift station.
VI. ELDER-BEERMAN PROPERTY UPDATE
Shaffer reported Mitchell had transferred the utilities over to the EDC and is working on a maintenance plan. Shaffer isworking with Sowers on a showing agreement for commission independent of the sale price as an incentive to show it.
She is seeking approval on two contracts associated with the property for the insurance and security system, that she
signed under the approval of George Sowers and Bob Warner due to the time sensitivity of each contract.
She reported working with Harrington Hoch to secure a binder with Mount Vernon Fire Insurance Company. The policy isfor $2M coverage and includes an initial installment of $4,447 and future installments of $2,211 to be paid in June, Augustand October. Motion by Frame, second by Parker to ratify the contract previously signed by Shaffer. Motion carried.
Mitchell presented on the Johnson Controls Contract for 24-hour monitoring of the site. Mitchell stated this was thecompany used by Elder-Beerman and out of three options to use as is, update some equipment, or update everything, shewent with the option of using the equipment as-is. Motion by Salazar, second by Bolser to ratify the contract previously
signed by Shaffer. Motion carried.
VII. MIP FARM LEASE
Shaffer reported the lease with the City of Richmond and EDC was approved in January for another 10-year term. Thelease with the farmer had expired as well and is a 2-year term sublease allowing him to farm the ground. The lease isthrough December 31, 2020 and includes 154.32 acres at a rate of $190/acre up from the previous lease rate of $180/acre.
The clause to clean up untillable ground was removed from the last lease. All other language stayed the same, including
the clause to repay the farmer for crop damage if a lot is sold and developed. Motion by Turner, second by Bolser toapprove the sublease for the farming of the Midwest Industrial Park as presented. Motion approved.

VIII. REVISED EDIT GRANT GUIDELINES
Shaffer reported the current guidelines have been in place since 2013 and the ad-hoc committee comprised of board
members Chad Bolser, Tim Frame, Bob Warner and herself and Mitchell from staff met to discuss updating the guidelines.
They looked at the minimum starting wage, talked through challenges, and discussed tightening them up. The current
guidelines requested a company meet 3 of the 4 requirements:- Create 5 jobs
- Pay a minimum of $10.87/hr- Invest $250,000- Training grant requests fund programs that provide employee with certification or transferrable skill set
The committee kept the number of jobs created at 5 and minimum investment at $250,000, increased the minimum wage
to $12/hour, deleted the training requirement, and added that a business must be a for-profit entity. They also added asection on additional considerations:- Higher wages will result in a higher grant award- The industry sector of the business applying for a grant must align with the sectors as identified in the EDC’s
strategic plan.
- Start-up entities will be required to submit additional information including, but not limited to, their business planand financial projections.
- Special economic development projects will be considered for funding that are identified as priorities of the EDC
and a Wayne County governmental unit.
Motion by Yaeger, second by Turner to accept the new guidelines as presented. Motion carried.
IX. ADJOURNMENT
Warner adjourned the meeting at 4:45 p.m.
NEXT BOARD MEETING – Monday, April 1, 2019
at EDC of Wayne County, Richmond, Indiana at 4:00 pm