11-28-2023 Meeting Minutes EDCEDC Minutes for November 28, 2023
Open Session
Minutes of the PCEDC Regularly Scheduled Meeting
Person County EDC Board Room
303 S. Morgan St., Roxboro, NC 27573
November 28, 2023
Voting Board Members Present:
Mr. Phillip Allen-Chairman The Honorable Gordon Powell
Mr. Donald Long-Vice Chairman The Honorable Merilyn Newell
Dr. Scott McKinney Ms. Sherry Clayton
Mr. Jay Poindexter Mr. Jody Blackwell
Mr. Kenneth Perry
Ex Officios Present:
Dr. Claudia Berryhill, Agricultural Representative
Mr. Brooks Lockhart, City Manager
Dr. Pamela Senegal, PCC President
Ms. Katherine Cathey, County Manager
Dr. Rodney Peterson, PCS Superintendent
ED Staff Present: Others Present:
Ms. Brandy Lynch, Director Mr. George Willoughby
Ms. Briana Whitt, ED Specialist (Minutes) Mr. Bo Freeman
Ms. Julie Maybee
Mr. Derrick Sims
EDC Welcome and Invocation:
At 4:00p.m., Chairman Allen called the meeting to order.
Mr. Donald Long gave the invocation.
Approval of Minutes:
Chairman Allen recognized The Honorable Merilyn Newell for the approval of the
October 18, 2023 minutes.
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EDC Minutes for November 28, 2023
Open Session
A motion made, seconded, and unanimously approved to approve the October 18, 2023
meeting minutes.
Motion: Mr. Phillip Allen Second: Mr. Jody Blackwell
Chairman Allen called for a motion for approval of the 2024 Meeting Schedule.
A motion was made seconded and unanimously passed for approval of the 2024
Meeting Schedule as presented.
Motion: Mr. Phillip Allen Second: Mr. Jody Blackwell
Director’s Report:
Ms. Lynch starts by going over the busy month of November. Ms. Lynch attended the
Organization, Operation, and Strategy for Economic Developers at ECU, and will return in
December for the Legal Framework for Economic Developers. The class in November was
instructed by Charles Hayes very funny and light-hearted class.
Ms. Lynch was invited to attend the NEXT program in Chicago, which is a program for Economic
developers at the start of the journey. Noble members of the top 50 economic developers have
attended the class. (photo in the PowerPoint to show a few notable faces of others who
attended)
The board was invited to attend the Farm City Breakfast on November 9th, 2023. Ms. Lynch
wanted to thank Mr. Freeman for the invitation and applauded the fellowship and meal, Dr.
Rachel Vann was the keynote speaker. Hope to invite Dr. Vann to a 2024 meeting, very
informative. (Shared the program from Farm City Breakfast)
The Economic Development website is in desperate need of updates, Marketing Alliance built
the website and they would be the best beat to update it. Ms. Lynch shared some examples of
other websites that had interested her that Marketing Alliance had previously built with bold
colors, bold video, bringing in the sites but then they also talked about local lakes and
recreation.
Ms. Lynch brought up the question when it came to her attending all these different classes and
conferences, that the logo that Person County Economic Development has compared to other
Economic Development departments is very different. If the board would agree to the logo
change, Marketing Alliance would be the ones making the new logo first, they would send a few
ideas to be voted on. If the logo gets changed it will push back the website update.
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EDC Minutes for November 28, 2023
Open Session
A lot is currently changing, the walls in the boardroom are currently blank. Hoping to make
some changes to the boardroom to make it more welcoming and inviting when guests come.
The plan is to incorporated some local photographers and their photography that we have
received permission to use. Wanting prospects when they enter the boardroom to know what
Person County is and what we represent.
Ms. Lynch gave an update on when the Board of Commissioners will meet which is on December
4th, 2023 in the county auditorium. As far as the December meeting it has always been left up to
the board if they would like to meet. If the board decides to not have a meeting in December,
the next meeting would be in January the yearly organizational meeting, election, and ethics
training would be taking place so there after as well.
Ms. Lynch updated the board about the WRAL video, received the first draft a couple of weeks
ago and Ms. Lynch and Ms. Whitt reached back out to WRAL with a few tweaks to the video and
guaranteed to have the second draft back on Friday. Wanted to work with some local partners
to look at the video before it is made live. The plan was to let the video go out in November and
December but after cross-communication, Ms. Lynch did not want the message to be missed.
Articles have been pushed to the first of the year and will be put on a rotating basis, coming out
every couple of weeks.
A motion was made, seconded and unanimously passed to contract the redesign of the
Economic Development logo.
Motion: The Honorable Merilyn Newell Second: Mr. Jay Poindexter
Member Comments:
Dr. Senegal started off by making the board aware that Piedmont Community College received a
visit from the board of nursing, and they were very impressed with the work that was being
done that the board of nursing immediately approved the school to increase the number of
students to 48.
Dr. Berryhill tagged on to Ms. Lynch's comments about the Farm City Breakfast.
Dr. Peterson gave a shout-out to the commissioners in regards to approving the project at the
High School, there are several projects underway thanks to the covid money, the high school is
currently going through a full complete HVAC and will now have air through the hallways.
Mr. Lockhart stated that he is currently sitting outside of 6 weeks waiting on the award letter
before they are able to receive their funding. The permitting for the western sewer is in process
and will begin on December 15th, 2023. Acknowledged the new utilities director Mr. Chad
Lawson.
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EDC Minutes for November 28, 2023
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Dr. McKinney also tagged on about the Farm City Breakfast and was impressed by the
speaker.
Chairman’s Report:
Chairman Allen offered no report.
Closed Session:
Chairman Allen requested a motion to enter into Closed Session pursuant to NC General
Statues 143-318.11(a)(5)
A motion was made, seconded and unanimously passed to go into closed session.
Motion: Mr. Donald Long Second: The Honorable Merilyn Newell
Closed Session was entered into at 4:28 pm
Chairman Allen turned the meeting over to Donald Long before his departure.
Next Meeting:
A motion was made, seconded, and unanimously passed to approve the next meeting
date.
Motion: The Honorable Merilyn Newell Second: Mr. Jay Poindexter
The next meeting is announced for Wednesday, December 20, 2023, at 4:00 p.m. in the
Person County EDC Boardroom, 303 S. Morgan St. Roxboro, NC 27573.
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3.20%
2.90%2.80%
3.40%
2.70%
3.30%
0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
2.00%
2.50%
3.00%
3.50%
4.00%
Caswell
County
Durham
County
Granville
County
North
Carolina
Orange
County
Person
County
September 2023 Unemployment Rates
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
23-
JAN
23-
FEB
23-
MAR
23-
APR
23-
MAY
23-
JUN
23-
JUL
23-
AUG
23-
SEP
23-
OCT
4 13 11
61
10 18
31
5 5 10
27
50
38
37
43
49
45
34 39
453
3
1
1
2
3
4
2
2
4
PERMIT ACTIVITY
SFD (Single Family Dwelling)Bldg (No-mods)Modular Homes
Person County Demographic Report
$824.00
$1,715.00
$1,016.00
$1,259.00
$1,389.00
$922.00
$828.00
$1,575.00
$989.00
$1,159.00
$1,239.00
$887.00
$843.00
$1,666.00
$1,039.00
$1,207.00
$1,409.00
$908.00
$894.00
$1,682.00
$1,075.00
$1,235.00
$1,445.00
$924.00
$0.00 $1,000.00 $2,000.00 $3,000.00 $4,000.00 $5,000.00 $6,000.00 $7,000.00
Caswell County
Durham County
Granville County
North Carolina
Orange County
Person County
Average Weekly Wage 2022
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
$-
$5,000,000.00
$10,000,000.00
$15,000,000.00
$20,000,000.00
$25,000,000.00
July 2023 Net
Collections
July 2022 Net
Collections
August 2023 Net
Collections
August 2022 Net
Collections
September 2023
Net Collections
September 2022
Net Collections
October 2022 Net
Collection
May 2023 Net
Collections
May 2022 Net
Collections
Sales Tax Person Caswell Orange Durham Granville
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««Notice: For Emergency and/or Special Called Meetings of the EDC, please check
the EDC Meeting Materials section of the EDC website.»»
Upcoming 2024 Meeting Dates for the
Person County Economic Development Commission
Date: Time: Location:
January 23, 2024 4:00 p.m. Person County Transit & Development Building**
March 26, 2024 4:00 p.m. Person County Transit & Development Building**
May 28, 2024 4:00 p.m. Person County Transit & Development Building**
July 23, 2024 4:00 p.m. Person County Transit & Development Building**
September 24, 2024 4:00 p.m. Person County Transit & Development Building**
November 19, 2024 4:00 p.m. Person County Transit & Development Building***
December 2024* TBD TBD
*The EDC meets on 4th Tuesdays of every other month. Because the 4th Tuesday of December 2024
falls on the week of a major holiday, the Commission will determine at its November meeting
whether to hold a December meeting.
**Person County Transit & Development Center is located at 303 S. Morgan St. Roxboro, NC 27573
*** The November meeting will be on the 3rd Tuesday.
For more information, please contact the ED Office at 336.597.1752.
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EDC Regularly-Scheduled MeetingNovember 28, 2023
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Directors Report
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Economic Development
•Attended the Organization, Operation, and Strategy for Economic
Developer in North Carolina Class at East Carolina University
•In December the Director will attend the class on Legal Framework
for Economic Developers in North Carolina at East Carolina University
NCCED
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Economic Development
•Attended the Next+ Program in Chicago
•The program is for Economic Developers at the start of their
journey.
•Notable members of the Top 50 Economic Developers have
attended the class.
•Program included a Gallup Strength Assessment and 2 Executive
Coaching Sessions.
•RTRP was a partial sponsor.
•North Carolina had several Economic Developers in the class.
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Economic Development
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Updates and Info
•Attended the Farm City Breakfast on November 9, 2023
•Thanks to Cooperative Extension for the invitation.
•Dr. Rachel Vann was the keynote speaker. Dr. Vann is the
Platform Director for Extension, Outreach and
Engagement, Assistant Professor and Soybean Extension
Specialist.
•Advancements in research for various crops.
•Plant Sciences Building at NC State University
•Plan to invite the Person County’s Field Crop Agent to a
2024 meeting.
•The Farm-City week poster contest was amazing!
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Economic Development
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Updates and Info
•Website Updates, Marketing Alliance
•Economic Development Logo update-Direction from the
board
•Board and Office space updates
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Updates and Info
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Updates and Info
•The Board of Commissioners will meet on Monday
December 4th
•December Meeting
•January Meeting
•Officer Elections
•Ethics Training
***WRAL Video***
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Thank You!I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!
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