The meeting proceeded as follows:

Executive Director’s Report 

Strategic relationships:

• Origer attended the January Northwest Indiana Forum Economic Development Committee meeting. He also attended the Forum’s legislative reception in Indianapolis at which he was able to speak with a number of state legislators, as well as economic-development colleagues and private-sector leaders in Northwest Indiana.
• He met with county councilman Doug Roth to discuss PC-CARE, and economic development generally.
• He met with Courtney Poor, Pulaski Memorial Hospital board chairman, and Tom Barry, new PMH CEO. Origer will accompany Barry to town-council and county meetings across the county to provide formal introductions.
• Origer met with Krysten Hinkle,  PCED member candidate and coordinator for Pulaski Co. for Four County Counseling Center.
• He attended the January Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce board meeting.
• He attended the January K-IRPC meeting, and was re-elected secretary. He also reported that K-IRPC has hired a new employee, one whose skill-sets will allow her to do much of the work Origer did when he was an employee of the organization; this will help K-IRPC better to serve its member-communities, he noted.
• He attended the GrowSmartAgTalks 2013 in Francesville where met with members of the farming and farm-services community in Pulaski County. 

Infrastructure:

• Origer attended the first in series of “Electric 101” online seminars.
• He is serving on an advisory group for NIPSCO’s MVP Reynolds-Topeka ESIP.
• He continues to serve as advisor (and interim secretary) to Pulaski Co. Adv. Plan Commission; met with Rhein-Bach, Inc., regarding maps.

Business Attraction/Retention/Expansion & Entrepreneurial Development:

• Origer visited K&B Manufacturing, Clear Decisions Filtration, T&S Recycle, and Winamac Lumber Yard. He noted that T&S Recycle’s Tom Bonnell reported two prospects for large clients, one a potential supplier and one a potential buyer.
• He also noted the successful Galfab Acquisition and GalCo tax-abatement requests and the pending Galfab expansion. 
• Spoke to Brandon Burgess’s class about business-plan competition
• He and board member David Broad attended a business–start-up workshop at the Starke County Economic Development Foundation provided by the Northwest Indiana Small Business Development Center (NWISBDC). Origer found it to be helpful, providing him better knowledge to use when working with would-be entrepreneurs.

Marketing: Origer attended the Rural and Rustic regional-tourism January meeting where they are working on a regional brochure.  He also distributed the quarterly Pulaski County Economic Development Digest.

Workforce Development:  PCED sponsored successful OSHA-30 training course.  Origer reported Pulaski County’s unemployment rate was 7.6 percent in December, up from 7.0 percent in November; this change reflected broader trends.

Financial Report:  In January, PCED expended $8,433, leaving just more than $132,000 available. The entire CEDIT Fund had non-appropriated funds of more than $1.6 million. Not including funds from The Braun Corporation for OSHA-30 training, the Donation Fund has a balance of $2,038. The Revolving Loan Fund had just shy of $48,500 available; all repayments continued to be made on time, although a small mix-up, which was soon corrected, had occurred with Adaptasoft. 

Priority List and Monthly Calendar: Forthcoming events on the director’s schedule were reviewed. On the day before the meeting, the director had intended to attend an informational meeting given by a representative of Cobblestone Hotels, but was unable. He reported what had been relayed to him: local industry and banking were represented, and potential exists, but Cobblestone first needs to find a local investor (group) to finance the project and to own the franchise. 

Origer's calendar also included meetings of Northwest Indiana Community Development, LLC, and the Northwest Indiana Forum’s Economic Development Committee, the Indiana Economic Development Association’s Legislative Day, and speaking to two classes at Winamac Community High School as part of the Junior Achievement program. In late February, he will meet with Tim and Joel Troxel of Adaptasoft. Origer noted that the Monterey Town Council has moved its meetings from the first Wednesday of the month to the last, still at 7  p.m. Eastern Time. 

Old Business

PC-CARE engineering-study proposal: The director reported that he would appear before the County Council to request an additional appropriation for the engineering study; if the Council approves advertising this, he will authorize Territorial Engineering slowly to begin work, awaiting final approval in March before committing fully. After advertising approval, he will also schedule a luncheon meeting with CSX’s design engineer.

ITC (MidWest Indiana)/Northwest Indiana Forum:  Origer noted that has had concerns about the logistics of belonging to both groups; however, he has had a very positive experience as a member of the Forum to date, and he had just  received a lead through ITC. He had included the annual ITC Partnership Agreement in the meeting packet for review and approval, but no action could be taken. 

Student–business-plan competition: Origer has spoken to the students in the Winamac class who would be participating in the pilot, and afterward their teacher, Brandon Burgess, reported that they were developing some good ideas. Ron Gifford of the NWISBDC has agreed to come to speak to the students to introduce himself, to talk about entrepreneurship, and to get to know the students, prior to working with them one-on-one to review their ideas and plans.

New Business

Membership — New-member slate: No action taken.

Membership — Officer nominations: No action taken.

Other Business Deemed to Be Necessary

Great Lakes Basin, LLC: PCED president Rod Button inquired as to the current standing of the proposed Monon-rebuild project. The director noted that he had spoken with a retired Indiana Economic Development Corporation employee familiar with the situation, and Mr. Patton had been reconsidering seeking private investment. Origer noted that it is entirely possible that PCED could revisit its position on the proposal if Mr. Patton were to return with the promise of multiple investors and less risk for Pulaski County. 

Theme for 2013, PCED attire: Recalling board member David Zeltwanger’s comments in January, Broad suggested “Carpe diem” as a theme for 2013, and encouraged  PCED to have shirts designed.

Attendance: Board member Bill Champion suggested that having 15 members may be a hindrance to progress, given the number required for quorum. Discussion ensued briefly.

Special Session

Because of the lack of quorum, the special session to consider proposed changes to the Community Development Commission of Pulaski County By-laws was not called to order.