ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
OF WAYNE COUNTY, INDIANA
Board Meeting Minutes
Monday, February 6, 2023
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:

Bolser, Cenova, Fennimore, Foster, Gaddis, Johnson, Robinson, Tanner, Turner,
VanDerBurgt, Zaleski

BOARD MEMBERS VIRTUAL:King

BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT:STAFF PRESENT:

Shaffer, Doty, Fisher, Mitchell

GUESTS PRESENT:

Warner, Mark – Liberation Labs
Sowers, George – EDC Counsel
Emery, Millie – Hometown Media Group
Oler, Ron – City of Richmond
Saunders, Gary – Wayne County Council
Thurlow, Kim – Ivy Tech

1. CALL TO ORDER
Board Chair Sherrilyn Johnson called the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Economic Development
Corporation of Wayne County, Indiana to order at 4:04 p.m. on February 6, 2023.
2. INTRODUCTION OF NEW BOARD MEMBER
a. Mike Gaddis – Appointed by Mayor Dave Snow, City of RichmondJohnson introduced our new board member, Mike Gaddis to the group and welcomed him to our Board.
Mike is president of Wayne Bank and was appointed to the EDC Board by Mayor Dave Snow.
3. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION TO LIBERATION LABS
Shaffer introduced Mark Warner, CEO of Liberation Labs who joined our meeting virtually to explain theproducts Liberation Labs will be manufacturing at their new Richmond plant. Mark said the products producedin Richmond will be based on precision fermentation creating proteins that are identical to those found inanimal sources. After fermentation, the resulting broth is purified using technology very similar to milk
processing, where the yeast is removed, and the products are separated and dried. The facility in Richmond will
be Liberation Labs’ first site for industrial applications for food ingredients and materials. They chose Richmondfor the shovel ready site near rail service and road transportation, close to feedstocks, and is powered by cleanenergy. They are projected to open by the end of 2024.
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
a. 2023 January Minutes
Johnson stated the minutes from the January 9, 2023, board meeting need board approval. No corrections
were noted.
Motion to approve January 9, 2023, minutes as presented by Zaleski, seconded by Turner. Roll Call.
Motion carried.

5. TREASURER’S REPORTa. 2023 January Financial Reports
Jim Tanner reported the EDC is under budget for January MTD and YTD by $3,351.70. He said we wereover for the month on a few line items but should be within budget next month.
1367 Employee Health Insurance and 1369 Disability Insurance is over for January due to 2 payments
being made to Anthem this month; 1368 Unemployment Tax is over for the month but will even out byyear end; 3381 Dues, Subscription and Fees is over due to our 2nd installment to Executive Pulse for ourCRM program which was $5,437.50; and 3392 Advertising and PR is over for the month due to paying ourmembership dues to East Central Indiana Development Council. We had a few miscellaneous items thatwere over however, we should be within budget at year end.
Motion to approve January financials as presented by Cenova, seconded by Robinson. Roll call.
Motion carried.
b. EDC of Wayne County Proposed Transfer of Funds
Shaffer reported we have 3 proposed Transfer of Funds that require Commissioners’ Pre-Approval, andthat approval has been received. The requests were to transfer $2,060.00 from 1367 Employee HealthInsurance to 1001 Salaries; $157.59 from 1367 Employee Health Insurance to 1365 Federal Payroll Taxes;
and $103.00 from 1367 Employee Health Insurance to 1366 Retirement. The transfer is needed due to anerror when calculating an employee’s annual increase because the wrong base salary was used whencreating our 2023 operating budget.
Motion to approve the proposed Transfer of Funds as presented by Zaleski and seconded by Tanner. RollCall.
Motion carried.
6. CHAIR’S REPORTJohnson stated the Executive Committee agreed to close two EDIT Grants. She said the committee also approveda resolution for Shaffer to enter into a real estate purchase agreement for land in the Midwest Industrial Park.
7. EDC STAFF REPORTS
Fisher – Fisher said she has been coordinating with the local organizations who agreed to donate incentive items
to the MakeMyMove program. The items vary depending on which of the 5 incentive packages they choose. She
created a spreadsheet to track information for remote workers, their incentives and to keep all aspects of theMakeMyMove process organized and in one place.
Shaffer said our remote workers are enjoying the trails, our farmer’s market, and the ambassadors have been avaluable resource for the remote workers for information on things Richmond has to offer. The two remoteworkers Valerie has met have relocated to Richmond came from Denver, CO and Los Angeles County, CA. The
other two who are looking for homes in the Richmond area are from Michigan and Nevada.
Doty – Doty said we have received a lot of good exposure with the Liberation Lab announcement, including anarticle from Inside Indiana Business. She has been participating in the Home in Wayne focus groups with Irongate
and the next and final focus group will with Tim Scales’ entrepreneurship class at Indiana University East. Afterthe final focus group is complete, the strategy development begins. She has submitted a few changes for the Jobs
EQ site, and we are awaiting a response from the website developer.
Mitchell – Mitchell said we closed on the Talbot property located in the Midwest Industrial Park and we will takepossession 90 days after closing date. She has been working with the fire department for a control burn ofstructures on the Talbot/Toschlog properties and met onsite to discuss IDEM requirements and what is allowed
to be burned. She met with Richmond Sanitary District to discuss sanitary upgrades and initiate engineering. Shesaid SugarCreek received approval from the Industrial Park Committee for their investment project that will allow
them to enclose storage tanks currently stored outdoors. She said there is an Industrial Park Priority Project liston page 20 of our packet. She helped the Boys and Girls Club of Wayne County with attending the Indiana Pacers
and Grizzlies game with 75 students and 50 chaperones to watch Desmond Bane.
Shaffer – Shaffer said thank you to our economic partners including City of Richmond administration, our utility
providers, Beals-Moore & Associates, and George Sowers for helping with the Liberation Labs project. She said weare currently working on seven BRE projects that include larger investments such as Project Keystone, a $27M
investment and 48 new jobs and Project Alma, a $150M investment with 50 new jobs. She reported we received
the Child Care survey results, and our workforce is desiring subsidies and/or tax incentives for child care assistance.
This information has been shared with Representative Brad Barrett and Senator Jeff Raatz. Shaffer recognized andcongratulated her staff on the following:• Theresa Lindsey received the Chamber’s recognition as the Business and Education Committee Volunteerof the Year Award• Sarah Mitchell is the recipient of the Boys and Girls Club’s 2023 Bob Rosa President’s Award• Renee Doty on her role as the 2023 board chair of the Main Street board of directors• Rhonda for her work on Make My Move program and ensuring that we are able to procure and deliver
our incentive package.
Shaffer announced that she has been selected as 1 of 11 economic development partners in Indiana to join theIEDC delegation to London to further strengthen economic ties with the UK and women’s economicempowerment. This is being paid for by the UK government.
8. OTHER BUSINESSa. Project Delta Resolution
Shaffer and Sowers explained the Resolution will allow Shaffer to enter into a purchase andsale agreement for approximately forty acres of land in Phase III of the Midwest Industrial Parkwith the prospect for the sum of $502,480.00. Sowers will make the necessary corrections to the written
amount on the Resolution to read “Five Hundred Two Thousand Four Hundred Eighty Dollars”.
Motion by Cenova and seconded by Zaleski to approve Project Delta Resolution for Shaffer to enter into apurchase and sale agreement with the corrections made to the Resolution. Roll Call.
Motion carried.
Shaffer stated there may be an announcement on Project Delta as early as this week. She said we are having agreat start to 2023.
Bolser announced that Ivy Tech Richmond will be hosting the March 23rd IEDC board meeting.
9. ADJOURNMENT
Johnson adjourned the meeting at 4:49 p.m.

NEXT BOARD MEETING – Monday, March 6, 2023, at 4:00 p.m.