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11-29-2022 Meeting Minutes EDCEDC Minutes for November 29, 2022 Minutes of the PCEDC Regularly Scheduled Meeting Person County EDC Board Room 303 S. Morgan St., Roxboro, NC 27573 November 29, 2022 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 Ms. Sherry Clayton Mr. Jody Blackwell Ex Officios Present: Ms. Katherine Cathey, County Manager Dr. Claudia Berryhill, Agricultural Representative Mr. Brooks Lockhart, City Manager Ex Officios Absent: 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 The Honorable Derrick Sims Mr. David Newell EDC Welcome and Invocation: At 4:00p.m., Chairman Allen called the meeting to order and asked Mr. Donald Long to give the invocation. Interim Director’s Report: Interim Director Lynch’s presentation will be included in these minutes. To begin, Interim Director Lynch made the exciting announcement that the Raleigh Regional Airport website has 1 of 11 EDC Minutes for November 29, 2022 “gone live” and that a link to the website has been included on the EDC website. There are also plans to work with Person County IT in adding the link to the Person County website as well. Lynch then brought the website up on the two EDC conference room monitors to give a brief review of the website for the Commissioners. The title opinion for the North Park has been received from Attorney Alan Hicks and forwarded to Golden Leaf for their review. Bids for the clearing and grading RFP’s for the site are expected to be received by 2:30 tomorrow, after which a bid will be accepted and the process moved to the next phase. Next, there was discussion surrounding advertising. Periodicals such as Site Selection Magazine and Expansion Solutions have sent quotes for various advertisement options which range between $750 and $1,800. Given the substantial cost of these ads, Lynch is recommending an alternative of re-engaging with Palace Pointe and running 30-second spots during the previews, highlighting Person County businesses, and workforce. This was a very popular venue prior to Covid and would be a more economical alternative to the print ads and perhaps provide a more direct local impact. Lynch notes the importance of workforce and the need to keep students in Person County and show them what opportunities are here. Assistant Director has been in contact with Palace Pointe and will be procuring a current quote for both production and actual run costs for the next EDC board meeting in January. The survey of the Mega Park has been completed and forwarded to County Manager Cathey for review. Pending the review, the document will then be forwarded to Person County Planning and Zoning for possible rezoning as discussed and recommended by the EDC Board. For ease of conversation, Planning & Zoning will come to the EDC office to meet with Interim Director Lynch for review of the docs and providing their recommendations. Interim Director Lynch mentioned that the contract for our Economic Development sales tracking software (known as Salesforce) is ending, but in light of the upcoming transition to a new Director, the company has agreed to an extension of that contract, which will potentially save the County money. In addition, extending the contract will allow for a smoother transition to the new EDC Director as there may be a learning curve for Salesforce, depending upon their previous experience level with Salesforce. Interim Director Lynch then mentioned an invitation from Mr. Loren Hill of the Piedmont Triad Partnership for either the Interim Director or the Assistant Director to attend an upcoming event at Pinehurst to introduce three of the incoming EDPNC Project Managers. As the Interim Director has an immediate deadline in place for the date of the event, Assistant Director Thibault will attend to meet the new Managers and represent Person County to both Carolina Core and EDPNC. 2 of 11 EDC Minutes for November 29, 2022 Lynch then gave a summary of a meeting she attended regarding the ongoing Person County Government Pay Study, which is anticipated to be completed sometime in February for presentation to the County Commissioners. As there have been several inquiries regarding site visits, Interim Director Lynch related that yes, there are many ongoing Project requests including several that have been in the works for months. The volume is currently very steady and includes older, ongoing contacts as well as new referrals from EDPNC to work through. The department has received the “very detailed” final report from the Duke Site Readiness Program that was in preparation over the past several months. For our part, the Department was asked to present the Person County information as if it was a Site Visit request for the Mega Park location. A meeting is currently scheduled for Friday, December 2 to review the results of the report and an update to this Board will be provided at the January meeting. Next up, Interim Director Lynch mentioned a letter that she received on November 8th from the North Carolina Department of Commerce, pertaining to our Mega Site being certified under the NC Certified Sites Program. The NC Chamber now has a new Director for that program by the name of Will Best. As the Person County Mega Site was last certified in March 2020, it is currently up for renewal in March of this year. Lynch noted that as part of the re-certification process, some of the older assessments that were performed at an earlier time might need to be brought current in order for the re-certification to be approved. Lynch will be speaking with the new Director Best sometime in December to determine exactly what will need to be re- evaluated for the re-certification. An update will be provided at the January 2023 board meeting. Finally, Lynch provided details of an email that she received from JLL, which is a company engaged by EDPNC who has also engaged Timmons and Nexsen|Pruet, to identify viable mega sites within the state of North Carolina, especially in light of the interest that the Governor and the Legislature currently have in promoting mega sites. This effort by EDPNC would impact many communities and consultant agencies in the state and would involve each interested community submitting a proposal. From that collection of proposals, the top five communities will be chosen. Lynch has compiled the necessary data and will be submitting to the portal on behalf of Person County, tomorrow morning. A conversation then began regarding the current status of certification of the Person County Mega Park and it was determined that while it is currently certified, many of the studies to obtain that certification are coming up on anniversary dates. In that regard, there will be a review of those studies to determine which will need to be redone in order to renew Park certification. The final discussion point in this section has to do with the ongoing progression of the rezoning of the Mega Park as related to review of the new survey by Planning & Zoning and the review of the original landowner contract by both EDC and PCBIC Attorneys. 3 of 11 EDC Minutes for November 29, 2022 Approval of the 2023 EDC Meeting Schedule: Chairman Allen called for a motion for approval of the 2023 Meeting Schedule. A motion was made seconded and unanimously passed for approval of the 2023 Meeting Schedule as presented. Motion: Dr. Scott McKinney Second: Mr. Jay Poindexter Approval of the October 25, 2022 Meeting Minutes: The Honorable Merilyn Newell requested a motion to approve the October 25, 2022 Meeting Minutes as presented. A motion was made seconded and unanimously passed for approval of the October 25, 2022 Meeting Minutes as presented. Motion: The Honorable Gordon Powell Second: Ms. Sherry Clayton Member Comments: Ms. Katherine Cathey, County Manager stated that the search for the next Economic Director has been placed on hold for the balance of 2022 and will be reopened in the new year as there is a lack of interested candidates to warrant a continuation of the interview process through the holidays. Mr. Brooks Lockhart, City Manager mentioned that he and the County Manager met with representatives of LaBella Engineering that are the Engineers of Record with the City of Roxboro. The topic of discussion revolved around the Western Sewer Project. Mr. Lockhart also provided updates regarding the Federal ARP money and potential USDA funding pending completion of the City’s annual audit, which will be occurring in December. Mr. Lockhart then announced the repair to the oxidation ditch crack at the wastewater treatment plant will begin in January. Completion of all upgrades to the plant are anticipated for the October/November 2023 time frame. Finally, Mr. Lockhart shared that there was only one applicant for the Public Service Director opening, so the search is ongoing. Dr. Pamela Senegal, PCC President noted that the Campus Master Plan has been completed. The college is also starting two new academic programs, one for LPN (Licensed Practical Nursing) and one for Stenography. The College has also received a grant of $200,000 as part of their connection with the Carolina Cyber Security Network as well as an additional $500,000 grant from the College’s Foundation in support of the Pacer Promise Program. Dr. Senegal next announced the return of Mr. Jody Blackwell to the College in the role as Director of Customized 4 of 11 EDC Minutes for November 29, 2022 Industry Training and finally, news that seven Community College Presidents within the Carolina Core have met to strategize their response to the upcoming need to fill the 15,000 new jobs being created by several new, large businesses locating in this area of North Carolina. Specifically, what the colleges will need to do in order to scale up to that level of need for new employees. Dr. Rodney Peterson, PCS Superintendent noted that Person County Schools is now a candidate for District Accreditation, which will go a long way in advertising our school system and reminded the group that currently, only our High School is Accredited, so this step is very important. Chairman’s Report: The Chairman reported that Mr. and Mrs. Weldon Reaves are now in their new home and have officially vacated the County owned property where they previously resided. Next Meeting: Due to holiday activity and various travel plans surrounding Christmas and the New Years holidays, the next meeting is proposed for Tuesday, January 24, 2023 at 4:00 p.m. in the Person County EDC Board Room 303 S. Morgan St. Roxboro, NC. Citizen Input from the Floor: David Newell was allowed to speak as a concerned citizen regarding the proposed route of the Western Sewer Project. The point of Mr. Newell’s comments was a suggestion to utilize the $2,000,000 in Cares Act funding recently appointed to the City of Roxboro could most efficiently be used for construction of the line starting from the Wastewater Treatment Plant and put the first leg of the Project in from there. City Manager Brooks Lockhart then made the point that $900,000 of that money has already been appointed for repairs at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Mr. Newell then pointed out that by first running the line to Chub Lake Road from the Plant, that approximately 900 acres could be opened up for development, which would lead to a positive impact upon the tax base for both the City and the County. 5 of 11 EDC Regularly-Scheduled Meeting November 29, 2022 7 of 11 Interim Directors Report 8 of 11 Airport Website The Raleigh Regional Website is now live!!! A link to the website has been posted on the EDC website. Person County IT has updated the county website as well. http://raleighregional.com/ 9 of 11 Updates and Info •North Park RFP are due November 30 •Advertising •Survey of the PCMP •Meeting with Planning and Zoning •Director search information will be provided by the New County Manager later in the meeting •Salesforce agreed to extend the contract •Carolina Core Events •Person County Government Pay Study •Projects •Duke Site Readiness Report •NC Certified Sites •*****North Carolina Site Readiness*****10 of 11 Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 11 of 11