He also met with Gerry White, from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA), regarding the Winamac Industrial Park’s Shovel Ready status. OCRA is taking over the Shovel Ready program from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.

Also last month, Origer attended a regional agri-business forum at the Beck Agricultural Center in West Lafayette, along with board member David Zeltwanger. Origer explained that he had been invited to this through the MidWest Indiana regional group, and that one of the objectives of the meeting was tied to a regional grant opportunity, but that the purpose was much broader. He appreciated the discussion, but expressed the need for broader input, especially from producers and others in agri-business. Zeltwanger added, “The group needed more thoughtful awareness.” He suggested some names to consider inviting, and asked members of the board for other suggestions.

Alos in his report to the board, Origer said he travelled to Indianapolis to attend a workshop on OCRA’s Disaster-Recovery demolition-grant round and the OCRA partnership with the Indiana Brownfields group for demolition-and-clean-up projects. Thereafter, he had consultants from IWM Consulting visit downtown Winamac to see a site for pursuing the OCRA/Brownfields Partnership grant and loan. He encouraged members to provide suggestions for any buildings in the county that may be good candidates for this grant program, noting that the demolition of said buildings would have be to a boon to economic development in order for the project to be competitive.

Other items in the director's report included the following:

Business Retention/Expansion and Entrepreneurial Development: Origer hosted Ron Gifford, from the Indiana Small Business Development Center, in his office for a consultation with a Star City resident considering entering the pizza business. He also met with board member David Broad and Connie Newsome, of the Pulaski County Trading Post, who both sit on the Small Business/Entrepreneurial Development Committee, to discuss strategies. Broad noted that Ms. Newsome offered some good ideas upon which the committee would follow.

Marketing: Origer attended the monthly Rural and Rustic meeting in Rochester.

Professional Development: Origer attended an economic-development workshop at Ball State’s Indianapolis location.

Other: Origer noted that he is working with Pulaski Memorial Hospital on its Community Health Needs Assessment.

Workforce Development: Origer attended a technology roundtable at Ivy Tech – Logansport. “Every unemployment rate in the 15-county region decreased [from January to February],” Origer noted. Pulaski County’s rate was 7.3 percent, with an estimated real rate of 7.85 percent, up from about 7.6 percent in January. Only Warren County had a better official rate, with Tippecanoe County tying Pulaski at 7.3 percent.

Financial Report: A report was given on the year’s remaining funds. The Donation Fund balance remained just below $3,000, and the Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) had a balance of more than $128,000. Payments continue to come in as scheduled, and the director continues to check in with borrowers. Zeltwanger said that he had spoken with Tim Troxel, owner of AdaptaSoft, who expressed some small frustration with the re-payment structure; Origer said that he would follow up with Troxel. Board member Ken Boswell asked to meet with Origer to review the under-consideration administrative guidelines.

Priority List and Monthly Calendar: Forthcoming events on the director’s schedule were reviewed; those of note were the tentative Ivy Tech site visit; the Winamac Safe Routes to School Day on April 12; and the Inside, Outside, All Around the Town senior-friendly design/development workshop in Indianapolis, on April 17, which Origer, Broad, Sharon McKinley of the Pulaski Health Care Center, Dan and Virginia Dolezal, and Jack Frain of Pulaski County Human Services will attend.

Old Business

Communities for a Lifetime and related matters: Origer reminded members that he had been informed that Winamac’s application had been very competitive, but not quite good enough. There is no guarantee that the program will be renewed, but the sponsors hope to impress elected officials enough to secure future funding. Origer emphasized that this setback should not halt the necessary work to prepare the town, and the county, for senior-friendly development, cautioning that the choices are essentially to court seniors, or to fail to support them and to lose economic-growth potential as a result. He also suggested that market-rate senior housing would be a wise development, particularly if it could be built proximate to the Panhandle Pathway.

OCRA clearance/brownfields grant program: Origer reiterated the call for candidates for demolition, noting two options: A demolition-only grant option for buildings/sites without contaminant issues, and a demolition/remediation grant-and-loan option for cleaning up and demolishing contaminated sites. A local match is required for either option.

Commercial-building online listing: Backing away from the previously discussed vacant-building–ordinance idea, Origer expressed his desire to improve and to expand “Available Sites” on Pulaski Online. He assured that no building or site would be listed without consent. Board member Andrew Fritz mentioned the Anvil-and-Saw site southwest of Winamac. Boswell cautioned that PCED is not in the realty business, and should not infringe upon real-estate agents’ territory. Origer noted that he works with agents to provide this supplemental marketing tool.

Pulaski Online Job Bank: Origer reported that the responses to his queries about adding a Job Bank to the County’s Website had been overwhelmingly positive; one small businessman said that PCED would be “stupid not to do it.” He quickly refreshed members’ memories about the plan, a sort of localized “Monster” for Pulaski County, but featuring only help-wanted listings, without résumés. The board voted to instruct Origer to proceed.

Committee updates: Part of the Small Business Committee met earlier in the day. Origer had contacted the Tourism Committee, but had not received any feedback. He held some discussions with the PC-CARE Committee and reached out to a contact in western Pulaski County about soliciting local participation.

Economic Summit 2012: The Summit will take place in late May or June, and board member Cheryl Stone will look into using the fire station in Medaryville. Origer has been working on setting up entrepreneurship-related workshops in the lead-up to the Summit. He will continue preparations for the event.

Chamber tourism agreement: Origer has been awaiting word from the Chamber, the executive committee of which will be taking the agreement under advisement; Mary. Perren, the Chamber’s secretary, said this was to take place on the following day. Chamber board members had questioned whether $4,000 would be enough, and the director relayed this to PCED. The initial disbursement, upon signing of the agreement, would remain $2,000, and the board would reconsider the amount of the second disbursement at the appropriate time.

Plymouth Tube expansion/substation: This project is still in process; Plymouth Tube, the Town, and the County need to meet again for further discussion. Discussion ensued.

Quarterly Newsletter: Origer hopes to have the first edition published in mid-May. He asked the members to submit to him anything they would like to see included in the premiere.

New Business

Youth Retention Committee: Origer asked board president Rod Button to establish this committee, and the president agreed to serve on the committee, as did Boswell, tentatively. Service on this committee would be considered again in May. Origer expressed his desire to have a few non-PCED members serve.

Youth Retention//Small Business/Entrepreneurial-Development competition: Origer suggested that these two committees should co-sponsor a business-plan competition for high-school students. He discussed this with DeFries, who thought it a good idea and directed him to the business teacher at Winamac. Members responded positively, and the name of the business teacher to contact at West Central was provided.

OSHA 30 training: John Bawcum, of the Braun Corporation, had approached Origer about PCED’s sponsoring OSHA 30 training, for management and supervisors, for local manufacturers. The cost of the programming would be $130 per hour, plus materials and travel, for up to 20 students, and $260 per hour for more than 20. This was noted to be a very affordable cost, but concern was raised about whether paying for the program would be an appropriate use of tax money. Origer was instructed to solicit further information from the trainer and to gauge interest among Pulaski-County companies, and then to report back to the board. Whether PCED would pay all or some of the costs, or merely help to put it on, would be decided later.

Pulaski County BZA member: One final member, to be appointed by the County Council, is still needed. Origer asked the members to consider possible candidates for this position.

Pulaski Online: Noting that the Board had previously discussed overhauling the Website, but that nothing had come of those conversations, Origer mentioned that a local Web developer asked about how much the County pays for monthly Webhosting and expressed his interest in providing a more competitively priced service. The director was instructed to research hosting costs, to enquire of Golden Technologies what the basis for the current rate is, and to determine what clients of the developer think of the services provided and the costs at which they are provided.

Pulaski Online virtual-building site: Having received the suggestion from board member Bill Champion and then e-mailing a link to the members in advance, Origer asked for thoughts about the possibility of incorporating a virtual-building site, which allows potential investors in the county to envision how their facilities would look on a particular site. A major benefit of this service is the ability to provide an idea as to how a new industry would build without the costs or limitations of a spec building. Champion noted past experience working with such a feature. The primary concerns expressed are the cost and the limited land immediately available to PCED for marketing purposes. Origer will investigate the costs and report back.

2012 Election - State House and Senate: Origer reminded all that this year is a redistricted election year, and that several of those vying to represent Pulaski County at the state level have never represented the county, and may not have much familiarity with the country, nor might residents be familiar with the candidates. He suggested, post-primary election, having PCED host debates for the State House and Senate races prior to the general election. Co-sponsoring the event with a local media outlet, such as the Journal, someone from PCED could pose economic-development - and economy-related questions, while the media representative would be responsible for other questions. Perren thought the Journal would be interested; she expressed her support for such an event. Some consideration was given to where the debate would occur. General response from the board was positive, but further discussion was tabled until May.

Northwest Indiana Forum: Tabled until May.

Executive director’s one-year review: Origer reminded the executive committee that his one-year anniversary with PCED was approaching, and as such they would need to conduct his review and meet with him in executive session prior to the May meeting. This was scheduled for Tuesday, May 1, prior to a presentation from a local businessman.

Other business: Button asked if anyone knew the status of Chesapeake Recycling and ownership of the building. Discussion ensued, and Origer reported what a banker had explained to him; specifically that the company is complying with requirements.

Among the board member community reports it was noted that:

• The Medaryville Potato Fest will be replaced this year by a poker run and summer bash, with volleyball, on Aug. 4.
• Utility work is being done for the new medical-office building at Pulaski Memorial Hospital
• Alliance EMS will be providing advanced life-support service within two months and is hiring.
• The towns of Winamac and Francesville have requested and been granted authority to retain zoning and planning jurisdiction for their respective two-mile extra-territorial jurisdictions.
• WebGIS may be coming to Pulaski County.
• Fratco’s business continues to grow, with more hiring to come and a new line to be added soon.