She spoke of the Bonnell family’s history in agriculture; the founding of the company; and the company’s growth; the challenges and opportunities faced by the company; and how PCED can assist the company, and vice versa. A round of questions and answers with the members of PCED ensued. All board members where greatly appreciative of Mrs. Anspach’s time and insights.

The presentation was followed by PCED's regular monthly meeting.

Executive Director’s Report

Strategic Relationships: PCE Director Nathan Origer reported on activities of the previous month. The MidWest Indiana regional economic-development group had met twice since the last PCED meeting; the director noted that the group is becoming more cohesive and starting to discern a coherent path forward. Jim Walton, of Brand Acceleration, who has previously done work with PCED, has been contracted to develop a marketing program for the regional group.

Origer also attended town board meetings in Francesville, Medaryville, and Monterey: All three communities have new board members, so he presented a short “PCED 101” lesson, spoke of forthcoming opportunities, and discussed issues related to the Pulaski County Advisory Plan Commission and how the County’s land-use ordinances will affect these towns.

At the January Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission meeting, Origer was voted into the board-secretary position. In late January, he made numerous business visits, distributing copies of the PCED Business Survey, as well as checking in on businesses and introducing himself to business owners and managers whom he had not yet met. He met with John Bawcum, from the Braun Corporation and the Friends of the Panhandle Pathway, regarding myriad items of interest to Winamac or the company, and later met with Bawcum, Dave Bennett, and Don and Bonnie Cripe, who own land on the northwest side of Winamac where access will be needed for the extension of the Panhandle Pathway; the Cripes expressed willingness to work with the Friends to grant access. Finally, Origer noted attending the January meeting of the Advisory Plan Commission, stating that he is assisting them in the search for a new member and Board-of-Zoning-Appeals members.

Infrastructure: Origer discussed the most recent efforts of the Winamac Safe Routes to School taskforce, noting that routes have been agreed upon, as well as phasing for implementation, and that various safety-related equipment has been ordered. The director attended both a meeting at the Plymouth Tube Hot Mill and an executive session of the Winamac Town Board regarding the proposed substation for the Hot Mill. He informed the board that the Town would be voting to make a formal proposal to Plymouth Tube regarding cost-sharing and ownership of the completed substation. Also, the director has made numerous updates to Pulaski Online.

Business Retention/Expansion and Entrepreneurial Development: Origer visited Apple Blossom Honey Farm, in Star City, twice to discuss projects that Doug Hoffman is considering; he provided some employment-related information, based on input from other local businesses, as Hoffman prepared to expand his workforce. The director also “attended” an online seminar, co-hosted by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), about the upcoming Indiana Young Entrepreneurs Program.

Marketing: Origer attended the January meeting of the Rural and Rustic tourism group. The group is finalizing the advertisements that will be included in the outdoor-recreation brochure.

Other: The director made a second Junior-Achievement appearance in Mike Harter’s economics class at West Central High School. He found it again to be a worthwhile, insightful opportunity. He informed the students of the proposed PCED student board, hoping that it may inspire one or two of them to follow up with him regarding membership.

Workforce Development: The reported unemployment rate for Pulaski County for December 2011 was 7.6 percent, up from 7.0 percent in November, below the rates for Indiana and the nation, and fourth-best in 15-county region for which statistics were offered. The director explained his rough-estimate calculation for the real unemployment rate for the county (including the underemployed and those no longer actively seeking employment) was 10.1
percent, based on past years’ labor-force numbers.

Financial Report: Through the first month of the year, about $6,200 had been expended, leaving about $108,000 in the PCED budget. Director Origer noted that the CEDIT Fund had a balance of about $2 million, three-fourths of which remained un-appropriated. Other than Chesapeake Recycling, which has long since defaulted on its loan, all Revolving-Loan-Fund (RLF) borrowers are repaying their loans appropriately, and the director had visited each of
those businesses within the previous two weeks. Discussion ensued regarding standard operating procedure when a payment is missed, and county commissioner/PCED member Ken Boswell expressed that written guidelines need to be developed for the administration of the RLF to ensure accountability in the future and to prevent defaults from occurring again.

Priority List and Monthly Calendar: Events for the month of February were reviewed. Of particular note were the first 2012 meetings of the Winamac Industrial Park Advisory Board, the Ivy Tech - Logansport “For the Love of Education” scholarship-fundraising ball, Economic Development 101 in Delphi, and the Communities for a Lifetime planning-grant-award announcement.

Old Business

Strategic Plan — Economic Summit: Origer reported having spoken with an economic-development consultant, who suggested that the open-house format that the director had previously proposed for the 2012 Economic Summit would not likely be well attended; a more effective program would be one in which individual sessions were held (featuring, e.g., Paul Wyatt, from the Small Business Administration, or Origer speaking at the Pulaski County Public Library about the RLF program), culminating in the 2012 Summit, with at State of the County Economy address, a meal, and a guest speaker — specifically, a successful entrepreneur. PCED members concurred with this notion. Discussion ensued regarding potential speakers, with strong consideration given to having a panel of three entrepreneurs, perhaps representing different business sectors, rather than one speaker. The director would follow up on the discussion with communication with potential guest presenters and Summit-panel members.

Tourism — Brochure/Committee: The director reported, first, that he had installed a brochure rack in the lobby of the courthouse, focusing on tourism, small-business development, and education opportunities; John Bawcum had told him that it should be possible to make tourism brochures available to users of the Panhandle Pathway. Alex Haschel, who previously served as the Chamber/Tourism coordinator, agreed to Origer’s request to serve on the Tourism Committee. The director would follow up by scheduling a committee meeting. A review of previous discussion regarding brochure-distribution strategy ensued.

Tourism — Chamber of Commerce: Origer instructed members to view the draft of the PCED/Chamber tourism agreement found in the board packet; he had provided it to Chamber executive director Angie Anspach, who seemed to agree with the requirements in the agreement. The director requested approval from the board to offer a final draft to Mrs. Anspach for Chamber-board approval. Discussion ensued regarding language in the draft, keeping the Chamber accountable, and how much money to expend on this agreement. The PCED board voted to enter into the agreement (with changes presented) with the Chamber, with an initial payment of $2,000 to be made upon entrance, and a second $2,000 payment to be made in mid-2012, assuming Chamber compliance with the stipulations of the agreement.

Business Survey: Origer reiterated that he had spent the previous weeks distributing surveys, but that the efforts had not yet proven to be fruitful.

Youth Retention: Origer has not had any interest shown by Pulaski County-resident sophomores at North Judson-San Pierre High School; he would follow up with the guidance department with an invitation letter expanding student-board membership to any grade level, and would re-commence communications with the other high schools.

New Business

Membership — New-member slate/nominations: Seven people had expressed some degree of interest in membership on the PCED board. Board member Courtney Poor announced that he would be resigning after the April meeting as his duties as president of the hospital board demand much of his time. The board welcomed Rebecca Anspach, Bill Champion, and Dave Zeltwanger to the board.

OCRA/IEDC Young Entrepreneurs Program: Origer explained the pilot program, geared toward pairing college students and recent graduates, with a degree or certificate in entrepreneurship and a business plan, with communities interested in attracting entrepreneurs. He had presented information to the trustees of Francesville, Medaryville, and Winamac, and agreed to attend the March meeting of the Monterey town board to explain the program to them. He will keep members apprised of the project, and anyone wishing to attend the Preview Event, at Purdue University, with him would be welcome to do so. Members responded favorably to news of this innovative program.

Ivy Tech “For the Love of Education” Ball: The director reminded members that PCED would be a corporate sponsor for this Feb. 11 event, and that seats remained available at the organization’s table. President  David Broad and his wife will accompany Origer and his wife; Secretary MacKenzie Ledley expressed interest in representing Pulaski County, too.

OCRA DR2 Demolition/Clearance Round: At the January KIRPC-board meeting, Origer learned that OCRA is planning to announce a disaster-recovery grant round dedicated to demolition projects for the sake of public safety or economic development. Details had yet to be released, but the director planned to keep an eye on this; he explained how such funding, if secured, could be used to remove derelict buildings to encourage new growth.

KIRPC Brownfields Project: Origer reported that KIRPC would, with a consultant’s assistance, be re-applying for an Environmental Protection Agency regional-coalition brownfields-assessment grant; the application would be submitted in October. He asked members of the commission to provide a list of any potential sites that he should have included in the KIRPC application.

By-Laws, in re Membership: Noting that how PCED membership is handled does not comport precisely with how the by-laws mandate it be done, the director presented to the members the notion of revising the by-laws to reflect the current de facto policy, which has worked well. Secretary Ledley asked what the requirements for changing by-laws are, and Director Origer said that he would investigate this. Discussion ensued, and the director said that he would report back to the board with an explanation of the amendment process and a first draft of proposed changes.

Website Résumé/Job Bank: Having recently discussed employee-seeking issues with a local businessman, Origer wondered if creating a résumé bank, similar to a localized Monster or CareerBuilder, on Pulaski Online would be worthwhile — and if, potentially, a local-job-availability bank would be useful, too. Members felt that a résumé bank would present too many obstacles, but that a job-postings Webpage could be useful and would complement print-media employee searches. The director will solicit input from local businesses.

IEDA Spring Conference: The director reported on this, which will take place March 1-2, and will focus on The New Economy, and especially entrepreneurism in the New Economy. The board voted to permit Origer to attend.

READY - NWI:  President Broad discussed this initiative from the Center of Workforce Innovations, which focuses on linking educators and employers.

Community Reports

Among reports from PCED members were the following:

Cheryl Stone: Medaryville has two new town-board members who are younger and eager to improve the community. The storm-water project is ahead of schedule.

Jamie Bales: The wind turbine is up at West Central; they are waiting on NIPSCO. Year-end reviews are keeping people at Alliance Bank busy. They are seeing local businesses do more again; the bank and Timm Services will be hosting an agri-business seminar at the Francesville Fire Station.

Jim Fleury: The historic-site application for the bandstand will be on the agenda for the April meeting of the designating body; the Town of Monterey may acquire the railroad depot. The new bridge construction on the north side of town is drawing nearer. An auction at the now-closed mini-mart in Monterey would take place on Feb. 18 The Town has applied for a planning grant for a sewer-system study; planning for Monterey Days 2012 is underway.

Courtney Poor: A nurse practitioner, who will be working under Dr. Allman’s supervision, will be replacing Dr. Johnson in early March, at least until a new physician is hired.

Christy Perdue: Plymouth Tube has been busy with critical improvements, and a few new employees have been hired. She discussed the company’s employee-assistance program and the difficulty that they face with finding counseling and other resources for employees.

MacKenzie Ledley: PACE grants for continuing education are currently available. Circulation of e-books continues to increase at the library.

Ken Boswell: The land-use-implementation proposal has been approved by the commissioners; it will now go before the county council. Building Inspector Dave Dare will serve as the plan administrator.