Each new year begins with a series of ‘state’-ments – as in state of the city, state of the state and state of the union.
Monday night, New Castle-Henry County Economic Development Corp. President Corey Murphy added another ‘state’-ment to the mix. His comments to the City Council almost seemed like a “State of the EDC.”
And that ‘state’ is busy.
From working to recruit new business to searching for a new shell building site and promoting more housing development, 2020 is off and running, according to Murphy.
There certainly is a lot to do.
Shell building
The search for a site to build a new shell building is ongoing, Murphy said. With Boar’s Head’s purchase of the existing shell building, officials believe another one should be constructed as soon as possible.
“We’ve identified about 15 different sites,” Murphy said. “We’ve hired FPBH Engineers to go through a site selection process, so an objective ranking of the sites can be done from a quality standpoint, a utility standpoint and a location standpoint.
“If it is in the city – and there are some sites in the city we’re looking at – we may be able to partner with the city redevelopment commission on financing that shell building,” Murphy said. “The indication I’ve gotten from the county redevelopment commission is ‘what are you waiting on? We need another shell building.’
“It’s really effective marketing,” Murphy concluded.
Housing
Murphy said the formal process is starting on a housing development by the Henry County YMCA in Northfield Park.
Local developer Jeff Smiley intends to build 80+ condominiums east and north of the Henry County YMCA.
The housing addition would require new roads to be built in the area, connecting the homes to Garner Street, N. Memorial Drive and New York Avenue.
A developer-backed bond issue will be used to fund the infrastructure improvements. Murphy said a series of upcoming meetings would feature approval items to get the project into gear. Those include:
Jan. 13 New Castle School Board Jan. 17 at YMCA public meeting RDC action on Jan. 22” This bond will not be supported by any city tax rate,” Murphy emphasized. “This is developer backed, so the developer assumes all the risk. If the development does not pan out and the bonds cannot be paid, they cannot come back to the city. You are simply serving as a conduit. You are making available tax increment from that development. Your blessing is making that increment available to pay the debt in order to put in the infrastructure.
“I know of no other source for you all to fund that road out there,” Murphy added. “This is a really good tool to add some housing to the community.”
Murphy stressed the roads at Northfield Park now were built using the same mechanism.
“I’m excited about that housing project,” Murphy said. “I think it is going to create a lot of churn in the market – good churn. There are people sitting on good houses who really don’t have anywhere to go. So we have this new product, they can put their house up for sale, go to this new place and other housing opens up.”
Murphy said officials from Baker-Tilly will give a formal presentation on the financing of the project soon.
Website
Murphy said improving the EDC website would be a major focus in 2020.
“Our front door is our website,” Murphy said. “We have to have a mobile, responsive, friendly, sexy website. We have to. We’re being evaluated from a residential standpoint, a tourism standpoint and a business standpoint and we don’t even know it. They’re on their laptop, they’re on their phone. And it’s got to be friendly.”
CVB
In a related matter, Murphy said a study done in connection with the local convention and visitors bureau revealed the need for a paid, full-time director there. It has been suggested that the salary could come from food-and-beverage tax funds.
Both Mayor Greg York and Councilman Rex Peckinpaugh agreed the limited staff at the local CVB creates missed opportunities to promote the city and county.
“There’s places I’ve went to as a wrestling coach for conference meets and you’ll get information from that community before you ever go to it,” Peckinpaugh said. “We don’t do that very well.”
“What we have out of whack a little bit is the Chamber has the Memorial Day Parade, they have the Cash Bonanza,” York said. “Corey is recruiting businesses to come to town. It’s not up to them to promote New Castle in the whole. It’s up to the visitor’s bureau to go to the chamber, to go to the EDC, to go to the car shows and the cruise-ins and compile all of that and advertise New Castle.”
Councilman Jerry Walden said the comprehensive plan stressed we don’t advertise ourselves well enough.
Officials emphasized their comments were not intended to be critical of people doing their best at the CVB now, just that more resources need to be allocated toward that effort.
Wages
Murphy presented information regarding the average hourly wage by county, a chart that had pay here at the bottom of 10 regionally. Henry County’s average hourly wage is $16.84, about $2 less than both Madison and Rush counties, and more than $4 less than Hancock.
Murphy said Henry County’s average hourly wage was 11th worst among the state’s 92 counties.
“The whole purpose of economic development – it is about growing the tax base,” Murphy said. “But it’s also about raising the per capita income of a community, so I think this information is important. I think we’ve got some room to grow.”
While it’s difficult for government to do anything about wages, Murphy said he believes the wage information can serve a valuable purpose.
“It’s not council’s fault,” Murphy said. “There’s not a whole lot council can do or government can do to force businesses to pay people more, but I think knowledge is power. How I’m going to use that information in engaging with you, particularly as it relates to tax abatement, is that the higher the wage, I think the more aggressive we ought to be.”
Other business
In other business at Monday’s council meeting:
Rex Peckinpaugh was chosen as City Council president for 2020, taking over for Councilman Mark Koger, who had served in that capacity for the past few years. Councilman Jeff Hancock will again serve as vice president. Cindy Cross was appointed to a three-year term on the Henry County Convention and Visitors Bureau. Councilman Aaron Dicken reported the second floor windows are in at the historic Murphey Building. He said the third floor windows would be replaced in the next week or so.Dicken also reported results of an informal door-to-door canvassing of Audubon Road revealed the majority of residents don’t see a need to change parking regulations there. It had been suggested the Council look into restricting parking on just one side of the busy street because of congestion, but some believed that would make congestion even worse. Dicken said the council’s traffic committee is recommending no change at this time. Councilman Peckinpaugh thanked department heads for their consistently good work. “When you consider the potential number of complaints there could be, the number of complaints we get is miniscule,” Peckinpaugh said. “Thanks to all the department heads for their quick response when problems arise and for taking care of them quickly.”Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Shaun DuFault announced the mayor’s annual “State of the City” address is scheduled Thursday, Feb. 20 at the Chamber luncheon.
– Story by Darrel Radford (DRadford@TheCourierTimes.com) of The Courier-Times. Read more local stories at www.TheCourierTimes.com.