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02-28-2023 Meeting Minutes EDCEDC Minutes for February 28, 2023 Minutes of the PCEDC Regularly Scheduled Meeting Person County EDC Board Room 303 S. Morgan St., Roxboro, NC 27573 February 28, 2023 Voting Board Members Present: Mr. Phillip Allen-Chairman Mr. Kenneth Perry Mr. Donald Long-Vice Chairman Dr. Scott McKinney Mr. Jay Poindexter The Honorable Gordon Powell The Honorable Merilyn Newell-Secretary Voting Board Members Absent: Mr. Jody Blackwell Ms. Sherry Clayton Ex Officios Present: Ms. Katherine Cathey, County Manager Dr. Claudia Berryhill, Agricultural Representative Mr. Brooks Lockhart, City Manager Dr. Pamela Senegal, PCC President Dr. Rodney Peterson, PCS Superintendent ED Staff Present: Others Present: Ms. Brandy Lynch, Interim Director Mr. George Willoughby Mr. Michael Thibault, Asst ED Director (Minutes) Mr. Bo Freeman EDC Welcome and Invocation: At 4:00 p.m., Chairman Allen called the meeting to order and officially recognized Ms. Brandy Lynch as the new Person County Economic Development Director and praised her for doing an outstanding job for the County as Interim Director. Chairman Allen then asked Mr. Donald Long to give the invocation. 1 of 13 EDC Minutes for February 28, 2023 Palace Pointe Ad Information: Assistant Director Thibault provided a brief update regarding the status of progress made with the Palace Pointe movie theatre on-screen advertising. First, to the questions asked at the previous EDC Board meeting, there is no difference between the pricing of a 15-second ad versus a 30-second ad, so the Board has discretion to decide on either option. Secondly, with regard to Tier placement. At the current time as an example, an EDC ad in Tier two would be shown from between 3 to 5 minutes before the previews begin, which is a very good placement. Also, per a recommendation by Dr. Senegal, we contacted Beth Townsend at PCC for assistance with the ad production aspect for the Palace Pointe video. Beth has already begun work on the project and has given us a projected target date for a product for your review, of the 1st week of April. Director’s Update: Director Lynch’s presentation will be included in these minutes. The new Director began her portion of the meeting with some personal comments regarding her decision to seek the Director position and particularly thanked the County Manager and Chairman Allen for their steady support and encouragement throughout the period during which Ms. Lynch was Interim Director. The more she thought about the prospect of seeking the Director position, the more she realized the positive impact she could have on the citizens of Person County, particularly her children and that is the primary reason she decided to move forward and “give it a shot”. The review of the North Park RFP has been completed by the County Attorney and the contract will be presented the Person County Board of Commissioners at their meeting on March 6th. As soon as the contract is approved, we can move forward with the bonds and ultimately to the clearing and grading. On February 16th, Director Lynch and Chairman Allen presented to the Kiwanis Club. Topics covered for the Club included the ongoing situation with Duke Energy and their continued presence in Person County, the volume of site visits to the Mega Site and the process that the Department implements when there is a request for a site visit. Both the Director and Assistant Director were able to attend the Person County Tourism Summit held on February 23rd and there was good networking with the multiple Tourism partners on hand. There were a number of presenters including the Museum, the Roxboro Area Merchants 2 of 13 EDC Minutes for February 28, 2023 Association, the Person-Caswell Lake Authority, the Cooperative Extension, the Sunset Ridge Buffalo Farm and Person County Recreation, Arts & Parks. The contract with Coastal Cloud, which is the company that supports our Salesforce software that we use to track Department activity, expires today. Fortunately, Coastal Cloud was willing to extend the contract during the time of the Director search and many modifications needed for how we use the program were accomplished during this time. Of course, their consultants are available should future modifications be necessary. From the “very detailed” final report from the Duke Site Readiness Program last month, one of the conclusions regarding the PCMP is that more recent and easier to interpret maps are recommended. Currently, maps being used with prospective businesses were prepared by the Timmons Group back in 2017 and most refer to a particular Project that never materialized. However, after a call from Director Lynch, Timmons Group has agreed to provide the Department with updated maps and drafts will be available for review by mid-March. Director Lynch has requested that one of the maps should reflect boundaries according to the new survey as well as include maps of varying sizes. Finally, Duke Energy has mentioned to Director Lynch that they might possibly be able to provide some funds towards the production of those new Timmons maps. Director Lynch next reminded the Board that the NC Certified Sites Recertification was turned in on January 24th. Unfortunately, the PCMP cannot be recertified until the Option on the land has been renewed, which ends on December 31st of this year. Fortunately, the site can still be marketed as a Mega Site at least until the final day of the existing Option and talks are underway with the owners. Director Lynch informed the Board that, although we were not chosen by the Governor’s North Carolina Site Readiness program, the consultants have agreed to provide feedback on our application, which should prove to be helpful. The Board was presented with a black and white copy of some proposed WRAL Advertising, which would be an alternate to either the Glossy Magazine and Palace Pointe advertising discussed at last month’s meeting. The WRAL advertising is actually “digital” and specifically targeting the youth of Person County through an ap that can be viewed on tablets and smart phones. Director Lynch informed the group that she and Assistant Director Thibault have a meeting this week with PCC regarding a grant for bring Truck Driver Training to the College. As a portion of the Commissioners’ Retreat, the Commissioners reviewed the proposed Budget and were given a brief synopsis of the recent Pay Study that was conducted on behalf of the 3 of 13 EDC Minutes for February 28, 2023 County. In the Budget, there are 23 new positions being requested across the County Departments. Director Lynch informed the Board that she is requesting an additional position to the three existing positions within the ED Department. The newly requested position would be for a Project Manager. Director Lynch next gave a rundown of the Assistant Director’s activity, which includes work on a Person County Business Survey as a part of the 2023 Strategic Plan, a face-to-face meeting with a couple gf the HR professionals at GKN along with a representative from NC Works, an afternoon Roxboro Area Chamber Board Retreat, attended the Affairs Reception at the Merrimon-Wynne House in Raleigh and has been involved in the planning process for the upcoming Kerr Tar Innovate 2023 Summit to held in Littleton on Thursday, March 23rd. To begin the round of Board member comments, Dr. Scott McKinney asked if Assistant Director Thibault could give a brief synopsis of his process regarding the in-person survey questioning. Thibault related how the face-to-face process is taking much longer, due to busy schedules, but in the long run should prove to be more beneficial. The reception has been great and meetings are in all cases thus far, taking longer than the promised 15 to 20 minutes, due to the engagement of the person being interviewed and the low-key and cordial nature of the process. The final question to wrap the interview pertains to how can PC Economic Development best serve your needs and everyone has been quite pleased that this Board is reaching out to them and actually values their opinion, both as business owners and as citizens of Person County. Jay Poindexter brought up that fact that the roadside trash along the route from Roxboro to the Mega Site would not be that expensive to have cleaned up. A clean roadside would leave a better impression on those driving passing through on their way to the Mega Site. Dr. Berryhill thanked everyone that participated in the recent Tourism Summit for their attendance and stated that the Tourism Board is pleased that they accomplished what they set out to do. She also gave a report on the film she recently viewed called “The Hog Farmer” and mentioned that it is disconcerting how money and greed can have a negative effect, not only in the agricultural business community, but any type of business community. Dr. Rodney Peterson stated that he and Dr. Senegal had a recent meeting with UNC Chapel Hill regarding the “Teach the Person” and announced an award of $3MM, whereby teachers that are trained through the program will come to Person County to begin their careers. The thrust of the program is to encourage teaching programs in rural America. Dr. Senegal announced that Roxboro Savings Bank as the Title Sponsor has agreed to another round of “Boost Funding” that will be awarded to small businesses that meet certain criteria. PCC has also received some funding from their system office to support a quick term construction project for plumbing. The Trucker Training grant mentioned earlier in the meeting 4 of 13 EDC Minutes for February 28, 2023 is being done jointly with Vance-Granville Community to share the costs associated with the training. She also mentioned that there is a waiting list of abut 50 students hoping to enroll in this program. Finally, Representative Foushee will be coming to the PCC campus to meet with all of the Statewide Community College leadership. Ms. Katherine Cathey, County Manager thanked the EDC Board for their support of Director Lynch during the Interim Director period and is pleased that the position has been awarded to Ms. Lynch and is confident that she will do a great job. County manager Cathey also mentioned the successful Budget process and the continued emphasis on Economic Development. Mr. Brooks Lockhart, City Manager mentioned that with regard to the Western Sewer, there is an upcoming meeting with the USDA to discuss what the City’s funding would look like sometime before the end of March. Must have a completed audit prior to meeting to determine how much indebtedness the City can take on. There will be a request to the City Council at the March meeting to add a Verizon antenna to the existing tower to enhance the local signal. This is at the expense of Verizon and will provide some income to the City. Next, Chairman Allen opened the floor to the other regular Board members and Dr. Scott McKinney posed a question regarding the negative comments placed on social media sites pertaining to a lack of adequate broadband coverage in the County. This gave opportunity for County Manager Cathey to provide the group with a current update on this issue. The County Manager related that a contractor has been appointed for the Broadband Project an that a draft agreement with the State Office of Information Technology, the Provider and the County. They’ve since received feedback from the interested parties and are currently working on a re- draft of that document. Cathey also noted that the State is also waiting on additional information from the Feds regarding certain rules with regard to the American Rescue Plan (ARP). The local provider is ready to perform the work as soon as all the documents have been approved and signed. Although the process appears to be moving at a snail’s pace, the County is doing everything possible to leverage County funds to maximize the result. It was next noted by Chairman Allen that the metal façade at the Green’s Jewelers building is currently being removed to reveal the original brick work. Additionally, Brooks Lockhart indicated to the group that the recent safety issue Uptown has been dealt with. Finally, with regard to Uptown Roxboro, Dr. Berryhill noted that several new eating establishments have been opened recently. Chairman’s Report: Chairman Allen began the next portion of regular business with his Chairman’s Report by stating that as of late, he and Director Lynch have been on a speaking tour with presentations at the recent Tourism Summit as well as the Kiwanis. Chairman Allen also made note of all the various activity that has been happening with regard to the EDC office over the past couple of months. 5 of 13 EDC Regularly-Scheduled Meeting February 28, 2023 7 of 13 Interim Directors Report 8 of 13 Updates and Info •North Park RFP have been reviewed, contract to be presented to the Person County Board of Commissioners on March 6. •Chairman Allen and I presented to the Kiwanis Club on February 16th •Person County Tourism held a tourism summit on 02-23- 2023. Multiple Tourism Partners were on hand. •Coastal Cloud contract to end today •Timmons Group Map •Duke Site Readiness/Mapping 9 of 13 Updates and Info •NC Certified Sites Recertification was turned in on 1-24- 2022. Received notification the site can not be recertified until Option is renewed •North Carolina Site Readiness Follow-up •WRAL Advertising •Meeting with PCC this week to assist with applying for a grant for Truck Driver Education •Budget and Pay Study 10 of 13 Assistant Director •Strategic Plan-Business Survey •Reporting of Survey •Joint meeting with NC Works and GKN •Roxboro Area Chamber of Commerce Board Retreat •Government Affairs Reception •Kerr Tar Innovate 2023 11 of 13 12 of 13 Thank You! 13 of 13