The New Castle Henry County Economic Development Corp. (EDC) board met Thursday.
The meeting was ran by EDC President and CEO Corey Murphy.
Upcoming Events
Henry County REMC is hosting a live line demonstration on April 26 at 1 p.m. in their warehouse. The event will cover the dangers on live lines on the ground.
The Cool Climate Fest will be April 30 at the Arts Park. The event will start at 10 a.m. There will be food from local vendors, community speakers, live music, crafts, and discover different “green” technologies.
The Memorial Day Ceremony will be May 30 at 9 a.m. at the Henry County Courthouse. The Memorial Day Parade will follow the ceremony and is set to begin at 10 a.m. The theme is remembering 200 years of fallen service members.
Guest Speaker
Jonathan Dilley, Chief of Staff for Early Learning Indiana, was the guest speaker the EDC meeting.
Dilley spoke about how child care affects Henry County’s workforce. He said Henry County has Early Learning Access Index of 58.3. The Early Learning Access Index is a scale that rates a county on the quality and quantity of child care available.
The county has a quality index of 76.7, affordability index of 74, and a capacity index of 36.5.
Henry County’s biggest challenge is its capacity, Dilley said.
To combat this shortcoming, Henry County Child Care Network was awarded a Closing the Gap grant. The grant made it possible for local daycares to “close the gap” by adding 25 infant or toddler openings and 102 preschool openings in our local daycares and schools.
Dilley also talked about a new website that will be released in coming months. The website will be the “Early Learning MarketPlace.” The site provide Indiana parents and guardians with a centralized spot to look at all the available daycares around them.
Henry County Updates
Murphy reported that several streets in New Castle were left with large holes after the city’s sewer update plan fell behind schedule. The company has started fixing these holes and will hopefully have them finished soon.
Conversations have continued with professional services about a new hotel coming to Henry County. They are currently deciding how to lay out the property that the hotel will be on. The hotel will be located off Interstate 70 Exit 123.
Boar’s Head is also hoping to break ground on their new expansion this summer.
Other Business
The EDC has canceled their monthly meeting that was planned for May 12, since their annual meeting will take place on May 11. Their annual meeting will take place at the W.G. Smith Building at 5:30 p.m.
The Enterprise Loan Fund Committee had a vacancy that will be filled by Paulette Lees.
Murphy publicly thanked Henry County Council for adapting their schedule to accommodate the Boar’s Head expansion approval process.
The Friends of Bundy, who are currently raising funds for the renovation of Bundy Auditorium, are forming a Community Advisory Committee to find events and speakers to come to New Castle.
The next EDC board meeting will be their Annual Board Meeting on May 11.
– Story by Haley Segarra Torres (HTorres@TheCourierTimes.com) of The Courier-Times. Read more local stories at TheCourierTimes.com.