ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION OF WAYNE COUNTY, INDIANA
Board Meeting Minutes - Wednesday, February 26, 2014
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT:STAFF PRESENT:GUESTS PRESENT:

Barrett, Clark, Cohen, Elzemeyer, Green, Guiley, Hackman, Meredith, Quigg, Upchurch,
Warner, Witte
Upchurch
Shaffer, Doty, Geres
Beeson, Chris – Wayne County Council
Burns, Denny – Wayne County Commissioner
Butters, Mary Anne – Wayne County Commissioner
Cross, Ron – Wayne County Attorney
Oler, Ron – Richmond Common Council
Plasterer, Jeff – Wayne County Council
Ronald, Louise – Palladium-Item
Saunders, Gary – Wayne County Council
Stidham, Dave – Wayne County citizen

CALL TO ORDER
Board Chair Cohen called the special meeting of the Board of Directors of the Economic Development Corporation ofWayne County, Indiana to order at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 26, 2014, in the EDC board room. He started off
the meeting by discussing the ground rules.
STRATEGIC PLAN DISCUSSION
President Valerie Shaffer presented and discussed the following topics with the group: original and updated scope of thestrategic plan, the planning process and community involvement, indentified goals, definition of economic development
for the EDC, economic growth strategies to support goals, and the implementation plan. The following are some of thepoints of discussion and other ideas that arose during the meeting:- Bill Quigg had questioned the listing of financial services as a target industry in Wayne County and wondered
what inherent advantages Wayne County had over other markets. Shaffer stated this needs more review.
- Mary Anne Butters had questioned the listing of mining as local industry with growth. Shaffer stated this was
based on data from Purdue research and needs investigated further.
- Ron Oler suggested making the annual meeting more of a public celebration including those who were hired as aresult of project we assisted with.
- Ken Paust questioned how we would acquire and fund more land for industrial park development.
- Ron Oler suggested sharing information and examples of when site selectors and companies have stated qualityof life is a high priority to them with members of Richmond Common Council.
- When discussing key performance indicators, suggestions were to track tax base, per capita/household income,educational attainment. Meredith questioned how we’d measure and track perception.
- The group discussed regionalism in detail including what regional groups to join, why, and what counties toinclude in forming a replacement to EIDD.
- The group discussed private vs public funding and the importance of maintaining the EDIT consolidated fund forincentives.
- The group discussed communicating more with the town councils, taking the plan to their meetings forpresentation. Meredith suggested sending an email to the council members of activity and Shaffer stated she
does include all of that information in the board packet. Warner stated he took the information back to theHagerstown council for report and wondered if the other members did the same with their appointing bodies.
- The group discussed the recommended hiring of another staff member to support business services.
- Finally, the group discussed how to move forward and suggested Valerie come up with a plan for the rest of2014 and to include priorities for X year when requesting funding for X year moving forward.
ADJOURNMENT
Cohen adjourned the meeting at 5:53 p.m.
NEXT BOARD MEETING – Tuesday, March 11, 2014, at EDC of Wayne County, Richmond, Indiana at 4:00 p.m.