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And then finally, Senate and Chris Bes
is in his place. He came by.

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» I'm going to call the meeting. Uh,
August 11th

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EDA meeting to order.
>> Looks like we have a quorum. Eric, could

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you call the role, please?
>> Yes, sir. Bob Smith,

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» yep. Here.
>> Robert,

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» here. Gorge here. Lawson Roberts here.
>> Bond here. Tatum.

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St. Mary's
>> here.

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Stand by for invitation and pledge.

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Lord, we thank you for this day. We
thank you for the opportunity to come

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meet and
betterment of the county. Ask blessings

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on everyone here. Lord, we just uh give
you praise and honor. Amen.

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» Amen. And we do the pledge
of allegiance to the flag of the United

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States of America and to the republic
for which it stands. One nation under

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God, indivisible, liberty and justice
for all. For all

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you make uh
first of all, I want to welcome Dexter

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to our meeting.
Eric, did you you met David?

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» Yes.
>> Yep.

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So, uh approve or amend the agenda. I
have one item to to uh put in the agenda

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be uh after new business. It'll be the
EDA 101 that Dave is here to present.

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Want to make sure we get it on the tape
so if anybody has to leave early, they

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can uh watch it at their leisure.
And without objection, we'll put that in

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there.
Consent agenda.

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The minutes. Anybody uh have any uh
corrections to the minutes?

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» Passed out the uh under
the finance report. are passed out the

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the LGIP statement for the uh Union
County

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EDA.
We have $784,1556,

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but uh that's back in
July 31st. We haven't closed the the

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year yet. That's my understanding. So, I
think there's some bills that haven't

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been that have been paid but haven't
didn't show up on here. So, uh, I talked

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to Stephanie about that the other day.
She's working actually on that,

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but the stuff we get from the county,
uh, really doesn't have any meaning for

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us. We, uh, we operate out of this
account.

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And I bring that because later on we're
going to be approving the, uh,

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application for

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the grant from the back of commission.
and we have to put up some money for

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that. So, uh, any questions about the
the financial amendments?

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» Not. I'll entertain a motion to approve

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both.
>> I approve. Accepted. Minute.

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» Motion. Thank you. Second. Second.
>> Second. Go ahead. Second. You weren't

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here last. All
>> in favor? I I

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» oppose like sign. Thank you. Have any
public comments?

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Dexter, you got anything? Any wisdom you
want to give us?

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» No.
>> When it comes to wisdom, no.

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» All right. Mia County Regional Commerce
Park update.

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00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:08,959
Uh, I was going to have Neil do that,
but since we can't hear him, I'll I'll

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00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:16,799
take that.
>> Can you hear? move forward with uh

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the road entrance road design.
I still have problems with understanding

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why that's going to take eight months to
do. You ride right up uh 360 and the new

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uh entrance they just put off on the
north side. That's exactly what they're

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going to put on an hour. So, looks like
to me you just flip it. Yeah.

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» He wants to do that then it has to be
approved.

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Be that. What is it? It's going to be a
good year, I think, before we see any

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any.
You probably rode by there, noticed that

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uh they're paving 360 and they're
parking their vehicles over their

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property.
>> They were nice enough to open the gate,

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go through the gate instead of going
over. So,

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» I don't have have any idea how much
longer that's going to be. Like I told

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the board of supervisors, when you see
the the equipment out there, don't get

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all excited. We're not we're not ready
to go in there and put the interior

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roads in yet. You know, the
the back of commission grant for the

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well update that's going to be uh we
plan to do three wells and three

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different locations in the property.
It's uh we're going to apply for the

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grant for uh tobacco commission. It's
they're going to supply $192,000 and

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we're going to supply $192,000.
That's why I wanted you to see the LGIP

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statement. We have the money. It's not a
problem. And uh

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we have a draft resolution in here for
the board of supervisors. We're not sure

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whether we'll need it for the uh
for the back of company grant back

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the back of commission grant. Uh
but uh

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it's always good to have
resolution from the board of supervisors

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when you apply for a grant. So we have
that ready for their August uh September

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meeting,
August meeting. And uh so if we need it,

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we have it.

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That's all I have for the

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Commerce Park. And we talked about the
tobacco commission grant

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and the draft resolution.
GBC building update. That's still moving

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along very slowly. I'm sure Sam would
tell you very slowly.

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uh still on our plate.
Hopefully in the next month or so we'll

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have something for you.

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» Uh Gap Alliance,
we had a meeting on the 28th of July.

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» We've uh come a long way. David's here
to uh he's part of the rural resilience

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advisors. He and Liz put that together
and here the

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umbrella we've gone through to uh have
our redo our regional economic

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development organization
we've decided on a name which is gap

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allowance alliance if you look at the
map for uh

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state of Virginia
Powan and Amelia we're in white

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everybody else was affiliated so now
we're affiliated they this already told

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us they're good to redraw that map and
put us in there. So that'd be

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» we decided to get the the design firm to
work on a logo for us. They proposed to

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come up with six different logos for
$150

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and uh we can
choose the one. I'm sure we're getting

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pretty close to that now.
So uh all these figures I'm giving you

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are uh are max figure I mean the total
divided by three. So cost is $50 for

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that uh website design that uh price
came down from our meeting. So now $650

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with free hosting for the first year and
$99 a year after that if we wanted to

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keep hosting.
So that uh

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that's $650 for the medium.

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Establish a URL
www.gapallianceverirginia.com.

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We thank David for that.
Not been populated yet, I don't think

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last time I was there, but it's there.
Uh we're going to have an in-person

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meeting on September the 2nd with the
Virginia BEDP in Richmond. Uh each one

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of the counties is going to have a
little time to talk about what's going

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on in their county. We Neil was nice
enough to put together three slides for

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us. And uh I looked at those last night.
It looks pretty good.

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And the only thing it's going to cost us
down there is lunch. And uh I don't know

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how much that's $25 to $35 a piece. And
there' be two of us for a million. So

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$70 maybe. Can't imag $70.

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Um
I got a thing down here on finances and

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$50 for the logo, 650 for the web, a
total of $700.

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when we uh
agreed to join the U

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redo, I took that as tested approval
that we knew there was going to be some

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startup cost and that's why I went ahead
and and told her we we pay our fair

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share for that and I don't know if you
want to put a limit on what I can do on

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my own or you just want to trust me that
I'm not going to spend all your money

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but uh you don't have to decide that
today. I can't imagine anything coming

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up that would be
too expensive.

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Fact the startup is is the only cost
we've talked about.

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Really excited about
what we've done so far. If we all

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remember when we were talking about the
heritage thing out of

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Farmville, it was
I don't think they've still done a whole

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lot of stuff, but
a whole lot cheaper. At least 30, but I

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don't think we've ever gotten
this done. We've got six people on the

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board of directors and I don't think
they have 21.

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But that's a report. Anybody have any
questions about that?

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you do anytime, just uh give me a call,
send me a text.

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Any new business?

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All right, we'll move on to EDA 101 with
Mr. Denny. Where would you like to

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stand? Are you going to put something up
on the board?

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» I think I've got a slideshow.
>> Okay.

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» I've been sitting in a car too long, so
I'm going to stand up. location.

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» Well, I'm going to move down there
so I can see that.

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» Okay, put that there.
>> Um, well, first of all, thank you for

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letting me do this. This is uh kind of
fun as if I don't often get to uh to

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educate anybody or work with anybody on
new stuff. So, uh this is kind of fun.

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Uh, and I appreciate that and thanks for
showing up uh, today. Uh,

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just a little bit of my background, just
so you know, I didn't fall off the truck

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out of town.
>> Um, I am a native of Danville, Virginia.

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Born and raised in Danville. And um, my
dad was a banker, local banker. My mom

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was a housekeeper until we went to
college and she figured she better go to

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00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:48,000
work, keep us in Washington and Lee. So
she did and she worked uh for Damble

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Concrete Products which was Danny
Marshall's uh operations mom and dad we

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actually grew up together and so she
worked with them in bookkeeping for a

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number of years and I went off to
college and got a degree in geology of

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all things and then got a master's
degree from Tennessee University of

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00:13:02,560 --> 00:13:09,040
Tennessee and ended up in business. I
was actually working for a gold company,

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00:13:07,279 --> 00:13:12,160
an exploration company because a lot of
people don't know that all the gold

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before the strikes out in cattle,
California in the 1800s came from this

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00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:21,120
belt from Delana, Georgia all the way up
to Co Pepper, Virginia. It's called the

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Carolina slate belt. So, we were going
in looking at a lot of the old gold

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00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:29,200
claims. And my job was to go out in the
field and do testing and take samples

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and stuff and try to avoid snakes
because there was a bunch of them where

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00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:36,399
I was working. you get out of the get
out of the truck with your snake

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00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:39,440
leggings and you could hear pop pop. So,
and I hate snakes, but you know, I had

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to live with them. So, I did that for a
while. Ended up in business and worked

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for engineering and architectural firms
for about 20 years, 22 years in

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different marketing roles, but also as a
senior project manager. I worked on

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00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:55,839
infrastructure projects and site
development projects and that kind of

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00:13:53,600 --> 00:14:00,000
thing. But I always had this love and
fascination about economic development.

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So I started we were living in
Blackburg, Virginia. We lived there for

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00:14:02,079 --> 00:14:09,360
22 years.
And I just got tired of of of being the

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00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:12,240
overhead in a in a firm that every time
the economy turned down a little bit,

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00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:16,240
they'd say, "Well, you're overhead.
Won't you get out of here?" So I decided

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00:14:14,639 --> 00:14:19,440
I wanted to a work in economic
development and two work for myself. So

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00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:24,000
that way I could look in the mirror and
yell at the boss all day and not get

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00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:28,399
fired. But maybe not. So uh that's what
I did 24 years ago. started my own

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00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:33,839
economic development and small business
practice, just consulting work, and had

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00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:38,160
the opportunity um for 12 years to work
with a a regional actually a southeast

167
00:14:36,639 --> 00:14:43,360
regional economic development
organization called Sanford Holdouser

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00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:47,680
Economic Development. And we did the
whole gamut of of pretty large projects

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00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:51,199
uh in economic development, including
site location work for companies,

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00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:57,279
especially foreign companies that were
looking for a domestic uh location. Um

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but again I got restless with that and
I'd known Liz Povar and many of you know

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Liz. I'd known Liz Povar for probably 30
some years and we had started working

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together because she started her own she
left VDP and we started working together

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00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:16,959
doing some c consulting work and we both
had this feeling and this this desire

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00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:22,079
and that was we want to work with rural
localities and economic development

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00:15:18,959 --> 00:15:25,279
because as you know rural areas and
urban areas have the same desire when it

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00:15:23,839 --> 00:15:31,040
comes to economic development. You want
to create jobs and opportunity

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00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:37,199
investment. The difference is capacity.
And so what we try to do is to work uh

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00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:43,600
with our rural areas in particular, but
adjust our uh our fees and adjust our um

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00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:48,320
fill in with uh with with your your
staffing and that type of thing to add

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capacity and add uh you know some ump to
your program. So that's what we do.

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We've been doing it now for two years.
and uh we had this idea about a regional

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00:15:55,120 --> 00:16:03,199
economic development uh organization and
uh great that we've got three great

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00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:07,759
members including Amelia County EDA and
thank you for doing that. Uh and just as

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00:16:05,519 --> 00:16:11,040
an aside, Bob, after this meeting, I'm
going to Richmond because Liz and I are

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00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:14,240
meeting with three vice presidents at
BDP to talk about the GAP Alliance.

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00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:18,800
» Good.
>> We did three last four last week. We're

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00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:22,399
doing three in person this week. So, I
went up there for that meeting. So,

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00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:28,320
anyway, thank thank you again. That's a
a long preamble. I don't mean to be uh

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00:16:24,959 --> 00:16:33,440
too too too much with that, but um what
you do is extremely important. First of

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00:16:30,959 --> 00:16:37,920
all, it it's a sacrifice. You take time
from your from your work, from your

192
00:16:34,959 --> 00:16:43,120
life, from your family, and but it is a
it is a noble thing that you're doing.

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00:16:40,399 --> 00:16:46,320
Um, in Virginia, we have these economic
development authorities, which are by

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00:16:44,639 --> 00:16:51,680
statute established, and you've got a
ton of different types of um of

195
00:16:49,519 --> 00:16:59,839
abilities that you have both borrowing
money, issuing bonds, uh, leasing land,

196
00:16:56,399 --> 00:17:04,079
uh, leasing buildings to to tenants, all
kinds of things that you can do. And the

197
00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:07,919
way I look at it, it's kind of a simple
analogy for me because sometimes I have

198
00:17:05,839 --> 00:17:11,120
trouble get my head around things. If
you think about it, the board of

199
00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:15,919
supervisors is almost like an architect.
They're coming up with a concept and a

200
00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:18,799
design and they're putting some some
specifications on this building they're

201
00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:22,079
trying to build, but they it doesn't
happen until they get a builder or a

202
00:17:20,319 --> 00:17:25,280
developer and you're the building
developer. You're where you're where the

203
00:17:23,679 --> 00:17:30,000
rubber meets the road and trying to
develop things. So, it's a it's a good

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00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:34,720
partnership. It needs to be a good
partnership, but each has a role to play

205
00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:38,880
and your role is extremely important.
It's more like a public private

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00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:44,880
partnership for lack of a better word.
So getting into this um oh got let me

207
00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:50,520
make sure I can make this work. That's
always the challenge whenever you do

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these things. They're all different.

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Oh, I probably hit it backwards.
Okay.

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» Trying to do something. Yeah, I'm trying
to make it make it move, but it's not

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moving.

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» USB out here.

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Try again.

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I can move over.
That's good.

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is trying to get through.
>> Ah, there we go.

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» Yep.
>> Are we going now?

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» Oh, yeah. Beautiful. It's a beautiful
thing.

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So anyway, what we'll uh what I'd like
to talk about today with you is uh you

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know the who, what, when and how of uh
economic development and kind of the

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context of it. Want to look at some of
the trends that are today and for the

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future because economic development is a
process and economic development is

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constantly changing. Uh but what are the
fundamentals? If you don't know the

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fundamentals, you can't go take the step
up and and kind of go with the flow when

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things change. And thi finally
partnerships roles and responsibilities

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are the next thing uh that we'll we'll
talk about. Um

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if it's if you're agreeable um we got
well quite a few slides. We've got a

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limited amount of time. So if you don't
mind let me cover the slides and if you

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got a question just jot jot it down and
at the end let's let's have a talk about

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and answer questions about those things.
Uh but if you feel compelled to jump in,

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just jump in.
Okay. But why economic development?

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Well, really there's three major players
in economic development. First, they're

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companies. And companies are all about
profit, sustainability. Where can I make

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money and how can I keep that com that
flow coming? But for the citizens, it's

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all about quality of life and wealth
creation. So, it's about having a good

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job. It's also about having the revenue
in your local government who can do

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amenities uh to really make it a great
place to live. And then of course for

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the government, it's all about services
for CIS citizens creating better and

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stronger communities.
So as you know, if you know company

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moves in or a person moves in, it adds
to your your burden on your services. So

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you're going to have to increase your uh
you know your water sewer service got to

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provide these different things. So, it's
all about trying to get those services

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for the citizens, whether they're new or
established, and create a better strong

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community.

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This is kind of the who, what, when, and
where. Um, it's really important to know

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that economic development is not a
oneall thing. It's not an announcement,

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even though, you know, it's great to
have an announcement. It's not uh you

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know putting just water in somewhere. It
is a process and it's uh it takes a lot

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of background work, a lot of hard work
especially when it comes to developing

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sites and buildings as you're already
already know about this. It's preaching

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to the choir. It just takes a while to
do this. And I came from Danville and

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and and I've seen it firsthand. It's
taken Barry Hill now is a successful

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» piece of property site but it has taken
them 10 at least 15 20 years to get that

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to the point where they attract these
types of big projects. So it does take a

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while to do that. So who leads this?
Well really it's as I said it's a

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process but it's also a team thing. It's
designated individuals. So it might be

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an economic developer local economic
developer. It might be the EDA but

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there'll be a designated uh individual
or organizations for that and again it's

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a process uh and influences the growth
and structuring of economies

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and it's not something again that
happens once. It is a marathon. It is

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not a sprint. It's a marathon. You you
put your plans together. You work

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together. You work with your partners
and you slowly surely you win the race.

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Um and it's done actually
internationally. It's done on a country

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level, state level, regional level, and
then local level. And each one of those

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levels uh are kind of to going towards
the same goal, but in different ways

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with different responsibilities.
And it's done through understanding of

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businesses um act proactively creating
healthy climates for business

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development. Having a vision and goals,
that's extremely important. You can't

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know where you're going to go until you
have a vision where you want to go. Um,

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and you've got to partner it. You can't
just do it all on your own. It all there

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are partners in anything you do in
economic development. And then the best

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thing to do is to measure results and
adapt your strategy. So if you've got

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that vision and strategy, monitor that,
see how you're progressing on that. And

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that can be something as simple as a
spreadsheet or it can be something as

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complex as a fiscal impact analysis. So
those are all things very very important

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to to understand. The economic
development process has got many layer

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layers of government including counties,
cities and towns. Um so again hope you

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can see it's not a it's not a simplistic
thing but it's it's something that uh I

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like to tell people this too. They're
very I don't think there's only there

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might be only one degree in the whole
country that you can get in economic

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development. Most people in economic
development like me, they come from a

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very background either in business,
planning, lots of different things, but

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they get into economic development. So
to be honest with you, in some ways it's

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pretty simplistic. The fundamentals are
kind of the same,

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but the the landscape changes and we'll
talk about that some too.

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Here's some of the changes and I'm not
going to go through each one of these

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but essentially on the left hand side
these are the traditional economic

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development uh components.
Um so and and they're still they're

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still fundamentals. They're still
fundamental to what we do but things

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have changed over the years and they
continue to change. You know, it used to

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be you just say, "Hey, we're open for
business and we've got a bunch of

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incentives and you know, it's all about
jobs, jobs, jobs and that's it." But now

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that has kind of morphed over. Yes, it's
all those things. But it also, yeah, we

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want don't want just jobs and then they
go away in five years. You know, how

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many how many times have you looked
around the Commonwealth and seen a big

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company? I mean, Dan Dan River Mills,
who thought Dan River Mills would ever

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go away? and it devastated my hometown.
And so you don't want to put all your

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eggs in one basket, but it used to be,
hey, just bring us jobs. We'll take it,

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you know, and then not look for the
future. Now it's all about sustained

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growth. Give us the jobs, but tell us
that you're you're sustainable and this

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and you can grow this thing. And it's
very data driven. Everything these days

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are it's data driven. Um, you know, in
the back in the old days, you could win

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things almost on a handshake or somebody
a company rep says, "Oh, I like these

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people. They're really nice. I think
we'll just we'll go there. Well, that

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doesn't happen anymore. It's very very
datadriven.

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Um, and it's about competitiveness and
productivity on the project deal side.

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You can read that. It's was really very
very t tactical transactional. You want

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to come here? Yes, we do. Okay. We got a
building over here. We'll sell it to you

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for this or hey, maybe we'll give it to
you. That type of thing. Very

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prescription, very bricks and mortar
oriented. And as I said, oneoffs and

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that's all changed. You yes, some of
those factors are still there, but

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they've morphed into again focus more on
sustained economic growth for the long

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term. And looking at human capital, you
know, do you have do you have the right

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human capital? Do you have the right
workforce? Do you have the not just the

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numbers, but you have the quality of the
workforce?

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And then finally, swing for the ble
bleachers.

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It used to be that everybody wanted that
big deal. You got to have that big deal.

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Uh and or what's the next big thing? You
know, is it chip manufacturer? I know we

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all went down the road in in uh Virginia
about chip manufacturing.

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Um and it never really panned out the
way they thought it was going to be.

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» And now it's all about, you know,
entrepreneurial ecosystems. Yes, it's

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all about trying to find a good big
solid project, but it's also about

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developing your own through economic
through entrepreneurial development um

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00:26:57,120 --> 00:27:04,000
resiliency uh benchmark to focus
resources and regional and global

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00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:08,000
growth. It's not just about my patch.
It's also about what's good for the

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region is good for us. We can all
benefit from that. So those are the

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things that that really have
transitioned to make it a more dynamic

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and and sometimes a more complicated
process in economic development.

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This is one that I I an issue that I
especially uh like I guess because I did

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come from from business and
I learned from some people who taught me

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that you got to have a business mindset
for a lot of things in your life to

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really be successful. So you know what
is a business mindset? Well, what are

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the costs of public services per
household in your community? So that's

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00:27:45,360 --> 00:27:50,720
part of an equation, a business
equation. What are the taxes that are

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going to be paid in your community per
household? Whether that's bringing in a

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00:27:52,640 --> 00:28:00,799
company that will add to that tax base
or and also adding, you know,

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00:27:58,559 --> 00:28:05,440
calculating up what your households will
pay. And then what's the gap? And the

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00:28:03,120 --> 00:28:09,440
gap between the cost of public services
and and the taxes collected is the

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primary reason we do economic
development is to keep that keep that

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00:28:11,919 --> 00:28:22,240
balance or to keep that uh in the pro
side and the upscale side. Um

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00:28:19,120 --> 00:28:26,720
so business taxpayers do fill that gap
very well. Um and then you want to

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00:28:24,799 --> 00:28:30,720
figure out you know what types of
businesses can you attract to help fill

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00:28:28,559 --> 00:28:36,960
that gap. you know, if you're only
looking at a low wage uh low uh

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investment type of project,
you need a lot of those to fill that

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00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:46,320
gap.
But maybe if you don't want the 500

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00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:51,679
employee, $100 million project because
you don't think you can support it,

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maybe the 50 million or 25 million with
50 employees or 100 employees is the way

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00:28:54,080 --> 00:29:02,000
to go because still the formula, the
business formula still works.

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00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:08,240
the business case still worked. You want
to fill that gap with some companies

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00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:13,120
and a place like Amelia or other rural
areas need can probably help fill that

350
00:29:11,039 --> 00:29:17,919
gap through some entrepreneurial work.
Grow in place I call it. Uh there's some

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00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:24,240
great examples of companies that started
out as you know three or four people and

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00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:29,840
uh had an idea got some good support
from local folks and grew their business

353
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:35,440
and they stayed and now they employ 50
100 150 people have been very

354
00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:39,600
successful. So, you know, in rural areas
in particular, you got a lot of folks

355
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:43,520
with a lot of great ideas, and it's just
a matter of creating that ecosystem to

356
00:29:41,679 --> 00:29:47,240
help them develop themselves and grow
themselves in place.

357
00:29:50,559 --> 00:29:59,520
And speaking of rural aspects of rural
economic development, um

358
00:29:56,720 --> 00:30:03,840
you know it's
the factors are lower population

359
00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:08,399
densities obviously longer distances
between economic assets, stronger

360
00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:13,440
reliance on natural resources,
agriculture, manufacturing, tourism,

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00:30:11,279 --> 00:30:18,159
smaller budgets. We all know about
those. The issue of brain drain and

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00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:22,240
that's not just rural areas. It's also
some of the areas like again that I came

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00:30:20,159 --> 00:30:27,919
from uh kids couldn't wait to get out of
high school and go somewhere sexy, you

364
00:30:24,559 --> 00:30:31,840
know, for lack of a better word. Um and
then you sometimes you have that issue

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00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:35,919
of the come here's versus the from
here's. You know, the people who've been

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00:30:33,919 --> 00:30:39,039
here, they don't want things to change
necessarily, but you got a bunch of

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00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:43,200
people moving in. They don't think they
can just shake it up. And there's that

368
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:48,960
tension sometime between those that that
needs to be f uh fostered a solution to

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00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:54,320
try to make everybody feel like they're
they're from here eventually. Um and you

370
00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:57,520
got fewer institutional resources. So
you don't have a four-year college

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00:30:55,679 --> 00:31:03,039
anywhere. Uh what's the closest
community college? Is it uh Southside

372
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:06,799
over in Blackstone? I know they got a
facility over Blackstone, but

373
00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:12,159
» Right Point.
>> Yeah. So, yeah, that's close, but still

374
00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:17,760
it's not a large force
four-year college or or or training

375
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:23,039
facility. Um, and then of course you've
got phil philanthropic organizations,

376
00:31:21,279 --> 00:31:26,240
you know, foundations like the Cameron
Foundation over in Petersburg or

377
00:31:25,279 --> 00:31:30,320
» John Randolph.
>> Yeah, exactly. You know, there's those

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00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:37,519
foundations which can help you drive
from a financial standpoint, those are

379
00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:41,600
often missing, too. Um, so rural areas
have to devel have to rely on these

380
00:31:39,679 --> 00:31:45,679
relationships. It's really more
relationbased and that's why this

381
00:31:43,519 --> 00:31:49,760
regional organization that you decided
to join, I think is one of the reasons

382
00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:55,039
that Liz and I thought, hey, this might
be a good idea. U because right now

383
00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:59,440
you're you're kind of the flagship or
you're you're running it on your own and

384
00:31:57,360 --> 00:32:03,360
now you've got two more partners in this
and you're complimentary. you have

385
00:32:01,039 --> 00:32:09,679
complimentary abilities and a regional
organization has more uh influences when

386
00:32:07,279 --> 00:32:18,320
it comes to the state than you do
individually. Um so all of these things

387
00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:23,440
are challenges in many ways. Uh but it's
reality and in business or in any in

388
00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:27,679
economic development you have to deal
with reality. How do you overcome or

389
00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:33,600
work around or how do you turn some of
the realities into assets for yourself

390
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:38,679
when you tell your stories? So
challenges but plenty of opportunities

391
00:32:35,679 --> 00:32:38,679
too.

392
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:47,360
You know I talked about the business's
core needs and us all need need to think

393
00:32:43,519 --> 00:32:52,559
like a business. Uh very simple stuff.
Uh they want a suitable location with

394
00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:56,559
reliable infrastructure. That's where
that's where groups like yourself and

395
00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:59,200
your efforts really are so extremely
important because you're trying to

396
00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:02,799
provide that. That's why they call it
product. You know, in economic

397
00:33:01,519 --> 00:33:06,480
development, we say sites and buildings
are product because at the end of the

398
00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:11,440
day, we're kind of selling those things
to a company. You got to have that

399
00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:14,960
adequate supply of qualified workers.
So, it's not just quantity, it's got to

400
00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:19,279
be qualified. And that's where your
training programs, what's where your K

401
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:25,440
through2 programs come into into play,
the CTE programs, uh gok if you're in

402
00:33:22,559 --> 00:33:30,320
goatee, uh it's another great way to uh
and rise is another one of doing

403
00:33:27,679 --> 00:33:37,200
workforce training. And you got to have
a businessfriendly environment. Uh

404
00:33:34,799 --> 00:33:42,720
I won't name the county, but we recently
we were trying to uh to do some

405
00:33:40,159 --> 00:33:47,600
consulting work in uh in a in a county
in Virginia

406
00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:53,440
and the contract was I mean minuscule
was like10 or $15,000 wasn't much but

407
00:33:51,519 --> 00:33:57,840
but they had a rule that we had to get a
business license to do and I got think

408
00:33:56,240 --> 00:34:01,600
about say well what about if you're a
contractor and you're coming in to you

409
00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:05,440
know do something or road do they have
to a business license, too. They said,

410
00:34:03,519 --> 00:34:08,960
"Well, you don't have to pay us anything
in taxes or anything, but you got to

411
00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:12,399
have a license." So, we had to pay a fee
to get a license. It was great. You

412
00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:16,159
don't want to be that way. You want to
make it as easy as possible, not give

413
00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:19,440
away the the farm, but you want to be as
easy as possible to get companies to

414
00:34:17,919 --> 00:34:24,159
come in and see that you're
businessfriendly

415
00:34:21,119 --> 00:34:30,079
» and reasonable cost of doing business.
you know that are your are your water

416
00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:35,280
rates, you know, uh reliable or they the
reasonable uh are are is a company

417
00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:39,679
paying its fair share and not being
targeted to pay more than its fair

418
00:34:36,879 --> 00:34:44,079
share. So those types of things and then
reliable and knowledgeable partners and

419
00:34:41,839 --> 00:34:48,639
that's where this uh we'll talk about
business retention and expansion is a

420
00:34:46,399 --> 00:34:53,200
service that we offer in economic
development and that's where this

421
00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:56,800
reliable knowledgeable partners really
comes to four because if you're out

422
00:34:54,879 --> 00:35:00,800
visiting with companies and companies
feel that you are truly a partner and

423
00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:07,560
looking out for them
it's going to be a successful uh

424
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:07,560
marriage. So doing those types of things

425
00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:13,880
So again, think like the client, the
client being businesses.

426
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:22,800
There's 16 key trends that are shaping
the future. We talked about kind of

427
00:35:20,079 --> 00:35:27,119
where economic development was and you
know what are the things that are uh the

428
00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:31,200
future of business of economic
development. Um and there's a list. The

429
00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:34,880
red ones are the ones that that are
really the the newest. they've happened

430
00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:40,000
in probably the last three years, two to
three years and and into the future. You

431
00:35:37,599 --> 00:35:44,880
know, again, I talked about I think CO
really was a stimulant for a lot of this

432
00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:48,960
entrepreneurial awakening. You had a lot
of people who couldn't go into their

433
00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:53,839
jobs or came out of CO and said, I'm
just disgusted with what I'm doing, but

434
00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:56,960
I got an idea. I really want like I want
to work for myself. I want to work I

435
00:35:55,280 --> 00:36:01,119
want to be my boss and and put the
pressure on myself. And there's a lot of

436
00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:05,359
that going on. a lot of entrepreneurial
awakening, a lot of companies, a lot of

437
00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:08,960
individuals uh that are that are
developing. And the other thing is

438
00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:12,560
workforce housing. And I think the
important thing about workforce housing,

439
00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:17,200
I mean, it used to be if you had a
prospect come in, you never talked about

440
00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:21,440
housing. They might ask, well, you know,
where can we're going to move Bill down

441
00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:25,119
from Miss Minnesota, can you get me in
touch with a realtor for a house? You

442
00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:30,160
know, they never thought about this. But
if you don't have good housing and a

443
00:36:27,599 --> 00:36:33,119
variety of houses, you're going to be
challenged with the workforce because at

444
00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:38,400
the end of the day, if you bring a
company in and you don't have enough

445
00:36:36,240 --> 00:36:41,680
local workforce, the workforce is going
to come somewhere. Well, one of the

446
00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:45,440
goals ought to be, well, let's get them
to come down here and buy a house and

447
00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:49,680
live here while they work in this new
factory instead of commuting down an

448
00:36:47,599 --> 00:36:55,839
hour or whatever it might be. And
workforce housing should not be

449
00:36:51,599 --> 00:37:00,880
construed as a uh as subsidized housing.
It it's it's about having houses that

450
00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:06,400
are not the upper end of the market or
the other end of the market but in the

451
00:37:03,119 --> 00:37:09,760
the market the area of the market that
workers who are working in a factor

452
00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:14,320
whether in management whether line
workers whatever they may they've got

453
00:37:11,839 --> 00:37:19,680
opt they've got enough quantity of
affordable houses that they can live in.

454
00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:24,400
child care is is something that's that's
relatively new in the in the mix when it

455
00:37:22,079 --> 00:37:28,960
comes to talking to prospects.
And I think back to uh time when we were

456
00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:32,079
living in Blackburg, I was uh working
doing some work or actually had an

457
00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:35,839
office at the corporate research center
there in Blackburg and they had a great

458
00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:39,920
idea. They said, you know, we've got all
these really smart people and we've got

459
00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:43,599
these spouses who've moved down with
their husbands. They're, you know, at

460
00:37:41,839 --> 00:37:47,359
tech and they have nothing to do. You
know, they they want something to do.

461
00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:51,440
maybe they they get a secretarial job,
whatever it might be, but they can't

462
00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:57,200
really do those things without child
care. So, Virginia Tech Corporate

463
00:37:54,160 --> 00:38:03,280
Foundation, which runs the CRC, teamed
up with a child care provider and they

464
00:38:00,240 --> 00:38:07,599
built the CRC built the facility and the
childcare operation

465
00:38:05,359 --> 00:38:12,560
operated it. And so, that was something
that they offered businesses that wanted

466
00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:16,960
to move into the CRC. And it was great.
And this was, you know, 10 years ago. So

467
00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:22,079
with child care is a big deal because it
it frees up workforce. If if if if

468
00:38:20,240 --> 00:38:27,520
parents know they've got good child care
in the area site develop ready

469
00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:30,320
development, you know, it used to be got
a green field piece of property. A

470
00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:33,839
company would come, they say, "Oh,
that's a great piece of property. Okay,

471
00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:38,160
buy that property or you give it to me
and I'll I'll set my place up here."

472
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:41,839
That doesn't work anymore. They're
looking for site ready things. In

473
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:47,760
Virginia, we have this Virginia business
ready site program and it has a tiered

474
00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:51,599
system by readiness. So one is just a
piece of land, a green piece of land

475
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:57,280
normally that's controlled by who? A
public entity usually with number five.

476
00:38:55,599 --> 00:39:03,359
It's got all the infrastructure in it.
It's got I mean you can have a company

477
00:38:59,359 --> 00:39:07,680
up and running in 12 to 14 months
essentially a construction you know

478
00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:11,599
construction cycle. So it is ready to
go. So there's a lot of emphasis on

479
00:39:10,079 --> 00:39:18,640
trying to move these up and that that
that chain that re that that uh tier

480
00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:24,079
one, two, three, four, and five is a
great strategy or a road map for you to

481
00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:29,920
make each progress until you get to
number five. Um health care, you know,

482
00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:36,480
again, it's kind of like the uh child
care side of things. You've got to have

483
00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:40,960
good health care. Um and u you know,
that could that can be many things. That

484
00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:45,760
can be local clinics. That can be ready
access to a major hospital. It can be a

485
00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:50,800
lot of things. But Liz and I just
started a project over in the coal

486
00:39:47,599 --> 00:39:54,720
fields of of West Virginia.
And I never thought in a country that's,

487
00:39:52,960 --> 00:39:58,960
you know, as rich as we are that you'd
have counties that don't even have a

488
00:39:56,880 --> 00:40:03,520
doctor's office. They don't have a
dentist's office. They don't have eye

489
00:40:01,040 --> 00:40:07,040
specialists. They don't have anybody. So
if they want if they get sick and have

490
00:40:05,359 --> 00:40:10,480
anything or even routine stuff, they
have to get in a car and drive an hour

491
00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:16,800
and a half to Bluefield.
So you having some type of access

492
00:40:14,079 --> 00:40:22,240
is a minimum. Having good health care is
really essential. And then federal and

493
00:40:19,359 --> 00:40:26,320
state policies. So you know, I'm not
going to get into federal and state

494
00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:30,000
policies too much. You know, like now
they're all around energy. They're

495
00:40:27,839 --> 00:40:35,440
around tariffs. It's it's all the stuff
that affects how we are able to develop

496
00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:39,520
things and how we're able to attract
businesses. So that's the importance of

497
00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:43,200
it and that used to not really come in
at all. And then I've mentioned energy

498
00:40:41,200 --> 00:40:47,760
and there's just this whole issue about
energy about supply but also about

499
00:40:45,599 --> 00:40:52,160
turnaround times and getting substations
in all that stuff. So energy and then

500
00:40:50,480 --> 00:40:56,960
you know your mix of energy and is it
reliable or not. So these are all things

501
00:40:54,880 --> 00:41:01,599
that are are new that have to be
considered. Um, and things that aren't

502
00:41:00,319 --> 00:41:05,520
going to go away, they're going to
continue. The the list here may change

503
00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:09,760
over the next five years where other
things are emphasized and some things

504
00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:15,520
are less emphasized. But still, the
bottom line is that

505
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:22,319
that it's ever changing
and just to be aware of what the changes

506
00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:26,960
are will help a lot, I think, uh, as you
move forward.

507
00:41:24,319 --> 00:41:34,800
Um, without a lot of commentary, there's
still f four fundamentals of economic

508
00:41:29,839 --> 00:41:39,280
development. And, uh, at the top of this
is the sexy one.

509
00:41:37,359 --> 00:41:43,440
You know, everybody wants that big
announcement to have the governor come

510
00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:46,880
down and do all that stuff. So, it's
business attraction. That's where you're

511
00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:50,560
trying to bring new companies into the
area.

512
00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:55,040
Second was grow your own. That's more
the entrepreneurial side of things.

513
00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:59,760
Um,
and we talked a little bit about that

514
00:41:57,520 --> 00:42:03,680
business expansion. And this one is is
extremely important. It goes back to

515
00:42:02,240 --> 00:42:08,000
what I talked about earlier, being a
good partner and understanding your

516
00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:11,119
local companies that exist and having a
good relationship with them and being

517
00:42:09,599 --> 00:42:16,400
supportive.
There was a stat statistic in economic

518
00:42:13,359 --> 00:42:24,640
developers have used for decades that
used to be that the the number was 80%

519
00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:33,000
75% of your new new business your your
jobs and investment

520
00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:33,000
comes from u 20% of the businesses

521
00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:41,599
and now it's 80 you know it's 8020 now
we're 7525 so the majority of new

522
00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:47,359
business new jobs and investment come
from existing business, but it's not as

523
00:42:43,839 --> 00:42:50,480
sexy. The good news is it's a low it's a
lower cost. It's it's lower cost because

524
00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:55,760
essentially at the end of the day, it's
about time. It's having someone go out

525
00:42:53,440 --> 00:43:00,240
and sit down with companies and do
things for companies and have events for

526
00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:05,040
companies and all those things to build
that relationship and to help them if

527
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:09,839
they're having issues, try to help them
with those issues or to learn that, you

528
00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:14,000
know, maybe they've got a supplier who
is not in your in this area. Well, why

529
00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:18,880
don't we talk about trying to attract
your supplier here to supply you, get a

530
00:43:16,079 --> 00:43:22,640
little closer, you both win with that.
So that's extremely important part of

531
00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:29,200
this and that's why it's bigger part of
the pyramid. And then the last part is

532
00:43:25,359 --> 00:43:34,480
placemaking and tal for talent.
And more and more um whether it's

533
00:43:32,720 --> 00:43:39,920
entrepreneurial or whether it's a higher
tech business whatever it might be the

534
00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:44,880
new workers the generational workers
having a great place lots of different

535
00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:50,960
amenities and activities and fun whether
it be outdoor stuff whether that be uh

536
00:43:48,800 --> 00:43:56,560
you know
events that they go to. That's it's

537
00:43:53,359 --> 00:44:00,160
important to have a place that your
workers who want might want to come in

538
00:43:58,240 --> 00:44:04,319
and work say, "Hey, this is a great
place to live. So, I won't commute 60

539
00:44:02,079 --> 00:44:08,000
miles or an hour or whatever to this. I
I'll go ahead and move there." And oh,

540
00:44:06,319 --> 00:44:12,160
by the way, they they have affordable
housing, so I can buy a house now. So,

541
00:44:10,079 --> 00:44:18,160
it's all interrelated.
Uh and just in kind of put this in

542
00:44:15,520 --> 00:44:23,920
perspective about cost and efforts. a
business attraction has the most time

543
00:44:20,800 --> 00:44:28,319
involved, the most cost involved, but
you usually get the biggest bang for

544
00:44:25,520 --> 00:44:32,880
your buck. You know, you you'll get more
attention and that helps attract other

545
00:44:30,079 --> 00:44:38,800
companies in. Also, grow your own. It
takes a lot of of handholding and stuff

546
00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:41,920
and sometimes uh unfortunately if if
those companies can make it two years,

547
00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:45,440
they're usually going to be okay and
then they can grow from there. It's that

548
00:44:43,520 --> 00:44:49,520
first two years which are are difficult
and they need a lot of support. So you

549
00:44:47,680 --> 00:44:55,280
may have support organizations like the
small business development center uh

550
00:44:52,319 --> 00:44:58,640
rise uh might be another one but and
then expansion the business expansion

551
00:44:56,960 --> 00:45:03,040
we've talked about that that's mainly a
time issue but less cost but you get a

552
00:45:01,599 --> 00:45:06,960
really big bang for your buck if you can
keep your companies happy and keep them

553
00:45:04,400 --> 00:45:10,480
growing and then placemaking for talent
that really is a shared thing with your

554
00:45:08,720 --> 00:45:17,040
chamber of commerce with your parks and
reccks uh with all kinds of different

555
00:45:13,359 --> 00:45:22,680
partners on that u and it just takes um
and it takes a little bit of money to

556
00:45:18,640 --> 00:45:22,680
get that moving forward.

557
00:45:24,880 --> 00:45:34,240
You know, I talked about um a little bit
about placemaking and talent attraction.

558
00:45:30,720 --> 00:45:39,200
Uh it fuels the econ's health. Uh it's
live here and work here, work there. It

559
00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:42,880
it allows you to live here and work
here. You can if you can attract and

560
00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:48,240
make your place making your talent
attractive. Um,

561
00:45:45,599 --> 00:45:53,200
and then I got some there's some uh
links on here and I'm just going to talk

562
00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:57,599
about get to Rono, the one at the
bottom,

563
00:45:54,720 --> 00:46:02,560
because I think Rono is an extremely
good example of how this can work. You

564
00:46:00,319 --> 00:46:07,119
know, Ron, Virginia was a railroad town.
That's why it was founded all actually

565
00:46:05,040 --> 00:46:11,440
was big at one point, but then the
railroad came in. So the railroad built

566
00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:16,000
it
and but then the railroad started

567
00:46:13,599 --> 00:46:20,880
pulling out and things didn't look that
great. Their manufacturing base was

568
00:46:17,760 --> 00:46:25,440
okay, but it wasn't that great.
They made a decision that they wanted to

569
00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:30,160
really emphasize their outdoor amenities
as a place.

570
00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:34,480
And um so they've got the river there,
they've got the mountains and they they

571
00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:38,480
started consciously that was their
vision. that consciously said, "Okay,

572
00:46:36,079 --> 00:46:43,520
we're going to start pushing ourselves
as a great place to come and live to

573
00:46:41,359 --> 00:46:47,760
attract the talent and also at the same
time we're working to bring new

574
00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:52,760
businesses in." So, this is a website
that they've created and

575
00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:58,800
essentially it, if you get a chance,
write this down, write that down and try

576
00:46:57,119 --> 00:47:02,880
to go look at it because it it's a
pretty amazing thing. They talk about I

577
00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:06,800
mean it's they've got lots of different
things on there, but they've got a site

578
00:47:04,720 --> 00:47:12,720
and explains why somebody should want to
live there. They've got tools for

579
00:47:09,200 --> 00:47:17,359
housing to find housing. They've got job
announcements from the area, you know,

580
00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:22,480
who's hiring, what kind of jobs are on
there. They show all the recreational

581
00:47:20,319 --> 00:47:27,359
activities and amenities around the
place, around the the the county and the

582
00:47:25,040 --> 00:47:34,400
town. They show all the cultural and
community events, etc., etc., et, etc.

583
00:47:30,480 --> 00:47:40,000
They really lay out why Rono is such a
great place for you to come in and work.

584
00:47:38,319 --> 00:47:45,040
And it is it has really turned that
place around. You go there now and it it

585
00:47:41,920 --> 00:47:49,280
it has a whole different feel to it uh
than when I used to visit my

586
00:47:46,800 --> 00:47:54,400
grandfather. He was a machinist at uh
Schaer's Crossing for 45 years on the

587
00:47:51,760 --> 00:48:00,480
North and Western and it has changed so
much since those days. So it's just an

588
00:47:57,359 --> 00:48:05,839
idea of that you can take for the future
is to really try to develop that place

589
00:48:03,839 --> 00:48:10,160
uh because it is important as you're
trying to attract the quality and the

590
00:48:08,319 --> 00:48:14,319
quantity of workforce as well as growing
your own. Another thing on the

591
00:48:12,720 --> 00:48:18,400
placemaking side and I'll just give you
a little bit of side. These are some are

592
00:48:16,079 --> 00:48:22,079
some localities rural localities have
really taken this to heart and been

593
00:48:20,319 --> 00:48:28,319
successful with it. And I'm familiar
with the Crooked Road because I lived in

594
00:48:24,960 --> 00:48:33,599
Southwest Virginia for 22 years and uh
work worked with some folks on Crooked

595
00:48:30,400 --> 00:48:39,280
Road stuff along with some uh tourism
related to the wilderness road.

596
00:48:37,520 --> 00:48:44,720
But what I don't how many people have
ever heard of the Cricut Road or been on

597
00:48:41,280 --> 00:48:50,400
the Cricut Road? Anybody? Okay. We had
all of these little towns and rural

598
00:48:47,599 --> 00:48:56,319
areas starting in Rocky Mount, Virginia,
and going up to Dickinson County to

599
00:48:53,040 --> 00:49:03,520
Chipwood, not Clintwood.
Um, Clintwood is the home of um, oh

600
00:49:01,280 --> 00:49:08,079
gosh, and it just lo just lost one of
the big blueg grass stars. He been

601
00:49:05,119 --> 00:49:12,400
around forever, but he's dead now. I'll
remember it at the end and I'll I'll

602
00:49:09,520 --> 00:49:17,599
tell you Ralph Stanley. Thank you. Thank
you. it just went away. But Reverend

603
00:49:15,520 --> 00:49:22,559
Reverend Stanley was uh was from that
area. But along the way, you had Floyd,

604
00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:27,200
you know, Floyd is known for its music
and it's got venues there for uh like

605
00:49:25,359 --> 00:49:31,440
Floyd Country Store every Friday night.
Go down downtown Floyd and it's it's

606
00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:35,920
amazing. Rocky Mount, you got the
Harvester, you know, the Harvester. I

607
00:49:33,599 --> 00:49:38,960
was Rocky Mount was one of my clients
when I was working for an engineering

608
00:49:37,280 --> 00:49:43,280
firm and I was there when they developed
the harvester. It's a phenomenal place

609
00:49:41,280 --> 00:49:47,599
to go to hear music. And there's all
kinds of bluegrass and country music and

610
00:49:45,280 --> 00:49:51,200
everything going along around town. So,
somebody had the idea, why don't we link

611
00:49:49,359 --> 00:49:56,319
up all of these different little towns
along this route and it goes up Route 8

612
00:49:54,400 --> 00:50:02,160
and then I think it goes up 58. But
anyway, it goes from Rocky Mount to

613
00:49:58,160 --> 00:50:07,680
Clintwood and they have uh all the music
venues, they have events going on, they

614
00:50:05,040 --> 00:50:11,680
have museums, they have just a lot of
different arts and crafts and they built

615
00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:16,640
everything, branded it around this
Cricut Road concept and what it's done

616
00:50:14,079 --> 00:50:21,119
for the lo localities that the that the
Crooked Road passes through is

617
00:50:18,160 --> 00:50:25,040
phenomenal. No, it's not, you know,
millions of dollars of investment or

618
00:50:23,040 --> 00:50:28,720
anything like that, but it gets tourists
coming through the area spending their

619
00:50:26,720 --> 00:50:33,760
money.
Who knows? You might have somebody who

620
00:50:30,960 --> 00:50:37,119
is a a bluegrass fan who owns a company
in the Northeast and is tired of the

621
00:50:35,760 --> 00:50:42,559
Northeast and they like what they see.
That happened in Radford, Virginia, many

622
00:50:39,680 --> 00:50:45,760
years ago. Um, you had somebody coming
down the interstate and he liked Radford

623
00:50:44,240 --> 00:50:49,680
when he stopped to have lunch, so he put
his factory there. it. So these things

624
00:50:48,240 --> 00:50:53,599
do work and you're familiar with
Virginia Civil War trails because I

625
00:50:51,200 --> 00:50:57,119
think the trails come through here. So I
can't really speak about how successful

626
00:50:55,119 --> 00:51:01,359
that's been from an economic standpoint.
Fields of Gold is another one though.

627
00:50:58,720 --> 00:51:05,760
It's it's in the Shannro Valley thing
and what they decided to do was they had

628
00:51:03,520 --> 00:51:11,280
all these small farms and big farms and
farm stands and ice cream dairies and

629
00:51:09,280 --> 00:51:16,240
all this stuff. So they put together
this this uh

630
00:51:14,160 --> 00:51:21,280
this organization called Fields of Gold
and it essentially is agurism

631
00:51:19,040 --> 00:51:26,720
and it's been and they've got websites
they got materials they things going on

632
00:51:24,640 --> 00:51:30,640
they've got members who join who are
farmers and and dairymen and that type

633
00:51:29,359 --> 00:51:35,200
of thing. And it's been extremely
successful in attracting

634
00:51:33,359 --> 00:51:38,559
tourists to the area who do nothing but
come just to go around to these

635
00:51:36,960 --> 00:51:43,920
different places and get homemade ice
cream and, you know,

636
00:51:40,800 --> 00:51:48,800
buy stuff. And so it's it's that type of
thing that really anybody can do as long

637
00:51:46,960 --> 00:51:53,839
as you got an idea, but it takes some
time to organize. But at the end of the

638
00:51:50,800 --> 00:51:58,319
day, it's all about trying to attract.
Number one is to help develop rural

639
00:51:56,079 --> 00:52:02,880
entrepreneurs who can be on these
trails. uh and supply different things,

640
00:52:01,280 --> 00:52:10,079
but it's also about trying to get
tourism into your area to build your

641
00:52:06,240 --> 00:52:13,839
local economies. Um
talked about business retention and

642
00:52:11,839 --> 00:52:17,359
expansion.
This is the high percentage of new jobs

643
00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:24,400
and capital investments come from
existing business. Um this is really the

644
00:52:21,119 --> 00:52:29,520
responsibility of the local government.
Uh the Commonwealth Virginia does

645
00:52:26,319 --> 00:52:34,800
actually have a a essentially a VR
program and they have regional folks who

646
00:52:32,319 --> 00:52:39,119
come down working with localities to go
visit companies. So it is a partnership

647
00:52:36,880 --> 00:52:42,880
between the state Virginia Economic
Development Partnership and the local

648
00:52:40,880 --> 00:52:48,800
but really the the owners is really on
the local folks because you know your

649
00:52:45,200 --> 00:52:54,079
businesses better than anybody else. And
um

650
00:52:51,680 --> 00:52:58,000
and as you can see it's there's some
things the retention of capital base

651
00:52:55,680 --> 00:53:01,920
secures your tax revenue.
The outreach is costefficient

652
00:53:00,000 --> 00:53:04,400
essentially. You just go put on a
schedule. You go out and sit down with

653
00:53:03,119 --> 00:53:07,599
somebody or you take them to lunch and
have a discussion about their business.

654
00:53:05,839 --> 00:53:12,960
You do that on a quarterly basis or
every six months whatever the frequency

655
00:53:10,319 --> 00:53:16,960
is. And it's really the opportunity to
identify problems before they come

656
00:53:14,640 --> 00:53:20,640
unsolvable. The last thing you want is
just to wake up one day and your local

657
00:53:19,119 --> 00:53:24,160
local factory, your local business has
said, "Well, we're shutting down

658
00:53:21,680 --> 00:53:27,200
tomorrow." When they may have had a
problem for a while and if you knew

659
00:53:25,680 --> 00:53:32,880
about the problem, you might be able to
reach out to some other partners and and

660
00:53:29,200 --> 00:53:36,400
get some help for them. Um,
gives you the opportunity to validate

661
00:53:34,480 --> 00:53:40,160
the fact that you, hey, I believe our
business climate is great. We're doing

662
00:53:38,400 --> 00:53:44,240
great here. We're not really supportive.
Well, they may tell you, well, yeah, in

663
00:53:42,559 --> 00:53:48,640
most areas you are, but maybe you need
to work on this particular area in

664
00:53:45,920 --> 00:53:52,400
particular. So, that's very important.
Uh,

665
00:53:50,240 --> 00:53:57,520
and they create business champions. I
think this is a is one of the premier

666
00:53:55,920 --> 00:54:03,200
reasons that you should be out working
with your businesses because businesses

667
00:53:59,599 --> 00:54:07,440
can not only support things that happen
in your community if they're happy with

668
00:54:05,040 --> 00:54:12,480
the community and become your champions,
but also when a company comes and looks,

669
00:54:10,880 --> 00:54:17,359
they're going to pay attention to what
the local business owners have to say.

670
00:54:15,200 --> 00:54:24,240
And if you got a good business champion
for your locality, that is golden on a

671
00:54:20,480 --> 00:54:28,079
uh on a prospect visit.
And um you can create a professional

672
00:54:26,400 --> 00:54:33,280
service team that is creative and
customer focused. Uh and that could be,

673
00:54:30,559 --> 00:54:37,280
you know, architects, engineers,
whatever your needs may be. If they're

674
00:54:35,040 --> 00:54:41,520
in the area, you can, you know, you need
somebody to come out and and do survey

675
00:54:39,200 --> 00:54:44,720
or to do design and they're you've got a
good relationship with them. That's one

676
00:54:43,200 --> 00:54:48,200
reason to go out and talk to those types
of folks. Also,

677
00:54:49,200 --> 00:54:55,040
and this is just an example. If you get
a chance sometime, take a look at

678
00:54:53,200 --> 00:54:59,839
Frederick Frederick County. That's up in
the upper Shannidora Valley. I guess

679
00:54:57,200 --> 00:55:04,640
that would be down the valley because
it's north, but they call it down the

680
00:55:02,079 --> 00:55:08,400
valley. But they made a decision that
they were not going to focus on business

681
00:55:06,559 --> 00:55:11,920
attraction because they had a really
good

682
00:55:10,160 --> 00:55:17,119
factoring base already. They were going
to just focus on call teams to visit

683
00:55:14,960 --> 00:55:21,920
local businesses and communicate
training resources, expansion assistant

684
00:55:19,440 --> 00:55:28,240
opportunities, problem solving, all
those types of things. And it's really

685
00:55:23,680 --> 00:55:31,280
been amazingly successful for them. Um,
they've got a track record of

686
00:55:29,440 --> 00:55:35,280
facilitating financial and workforce
training assistance and expanding their

687
00:55:33,520 --> 00:55:39,760
companies. And those are all the figures
that they use, you know, the capex uh

688
00:55:37,839 --> 00:55:46,319
for expansion of businesses and that
type of thing.

689
00:55:41,200 --> 00:55:50,799
Um so it's been very successful. It's u
you know again you have to kind of put

690
00:55:47,839 --> 00:55:55,920
that this is just an example but it is a
I say a supercharged example it because

691
00:55:53,119 --> 00:55:59,280
they do have such a broad manufacturing
base. If you don't have that much

692
00:55:57,920 --> 00:56:02,480
manufacturing base, you're not going to
achieve those types. But you are going

693
00:56:00,880 --> 00:56:06,880
to keep your companies and you keep
expanding your companies in place, which

694
00:56:04,559 --> 00:56:13,119
is really a goal. And it's something
that can be done with not a lot of

695
00:56:09,280 --> 00:56:16,880
money, but with some effort.
Of course, we talked a little bit about

696
00:56:14,799 --> 00:56:22,880
the econ the entrepreneurial side of
things. Um, and again, that's long-term,

697
00:56:19,599 --> 00:56:26,640
but it can create businesses. Um, it's
got to be systematic, have a systematic

698
00:56:24,880 --> 00:56:32,319
approach to this.
that uses not just your resources. Most

699
00:56:29,119 --> 00:56:36,240
of the resources to help support these
early uh early businesses and

700
00:56:34,400 --> 00:56:41,359
entrepreneurs come from the region or
from the state. They might come from a

701
00:56:38,079 --> 00:56:47,040
university. They may come college, small
business development center, uh like I

702
00:56:43,760 --> 00:56:52,880
say, rise, those types of of uh business
support organizations or SCORE, who is a

703
00:56:50,000 --> 00:56:58,319
organization of retired executives and
that can always be a good resource to to

704
00:56:56,000 --> 00:57:03,440
help with that. Um and you're part of
the rise region uh rise region in

705
00:57:01,119 --> 00:57:08,160
southern Virginia, I believe. So do have
that program available. It's a really

706
00:57:06,240 --> 00:57:12,160
good ecosystem that's coordinated
through Southern Virginia Innovation

707
00:57:10,640 --> 00:57:16,559
Center and it's it's supported by
Mid-Atlantic Broadband staff. So, they

708
00:57:14,160 --> 00:57:19,839
have some staffing to help out too. And
they use fund they've got funding from

709
00:57:18,160 --> 00:57:26,720
Go Virginia and some other federal
partners that keeps them clicking along.

710
00:57:24,559 --> 00:57:31,119
I think the important thing is to to get
those resources to the entrepreneur and

711
00:57:29,040 --> 00:57:34,319
don't ask the entrepreneur to drive 45
minutes or an hour to go because you

712
00:57:32,960 --> 00:57:38,400
they're trying to build their business.
That's that's the goal is to get them to

713
00:57:35,920 --> 00:57:44,880
build and sustain their business. So if
you can get those support to them,

714
00:57:40,640 --> 00:57:47,200
that's that's golden. Uh do everything
you can. It's kind of like with the

715
00:57:46,079 --> 00:57:51,599
bigger business, do everything you can
to help them grow, help them sustain.

716
00:57:50,079 --> 00:57:56,640
The challenges are, you know, they are
going to be influenced by the quality of

717
00:57:53,760 --> 00:58:00,240
place. Uh you know, it's it's that's
kind of it kind of makes me laugh. You

718
00:57:58,880 --> 00:58:03,119
know, we went through this phase where
every town wanted to have a coffee shop

719
00:58:01,920 --> 00:58:09,599
because that's what all these
millennials they want a coffee shop. So

720
00:58:06,000 --> 00:58:14,799
there's that then in a micro brewery.
>> You got those two, you got it made. Uh

721
00:58:12,720 --> 00:58:18,720
entrepreneurials are typically require
really expensive

722
00:58:16,799 --> 00:58:23,839
support networks and that's where those
agencies and organizations I just

723
00:58:20,720 --> 00:58:28,400
mentioned come in into play. Um, again,
if you can get them past the first two

724
00:58:25,520 --> 00:58:31,520
years, they be they're going to be
golden. They they've got a good idea.

725
00:58:30,160 --> 00:58:34,640
They've got a good business model.
Things are working and they can grow

726
00:58:32,960 --> 00:58:38,799
from there. But it's that first two
years, which is really tough. And you

727
00:58:37,200 --> 00:58:43,599
just have to have significant
significant staff uh is necessary and

728
00:58:41,760 --> 00:58:48,480
sometime with limited rewards. It takes
some patience, too. But I do go back and

729
00:58:46,480 --> 00:58:54,640
and here's some examples of some of the
entrepreneurial stuff.

730
00:58:51,200 --> 00:58:59,520
One of my gigs in projects was I was
hired to be the executive director under

731
00:58:57,599 --> 00:59:05,119
contract with the Greater Williamsburg
Partnership and that was uh James City

732
00:59:03,280 --> 00:59:10,480
County, York County and City of
Williamsburg and they had a facility and

733
00:59:08,079 --> 00:59:16,240
a program called Launchpad
and Launchpad uh gave is and it's still

734
00:59:14,319 --> 00:59:18,880
in existence but they've expanded some
they're now down they've got an

735
00:59:17,520 --> 00:59:22,720
operation down in Hampton Road
somewhere.

736
00:59:19,839 --> 00:59:28,240
But they give work fa workspace
u guidance mentoring those types of

737
00:59:25,119 --> 00:59:33,040
things. Um they have partners that they
uh hook companies up who are in

738
00:59:30,160 --> 00:59:36,559
launchpad that could be SCORE. Hampton
Roads has a group and William and Mary

739
00:59:35,040 --> 00:59:41,520
because they're located in next to
William and Mary. They have guest

740
00:59:38,319 --> 00:59:46,240
speakers, memberships, seed funds.
But what what really was encouraging for

741
00:59:43,839 --> 00:59:49,119
me when I worked there for I was with
them for about two and a half three

742
00:59:47,520 --> 00:59:52,799
years.
There were two guys who came into

743
00:59:50,640 --> 00:59:58,079
Launchpad and paid their their money to
have a little office space there. They

744
00:59:54,880 --> 01:00:02,559
were called SBT Robotics
and they started out with two people and

745
00:59:59,760 --> 01:00:07,520
they they now are worldwide and this has
been only in eight years but they

746
01:00:05,760 --> 01:00:11,359
started out there. They got support.
They got what they needed. They got seed

747
01:00:09,359 --> 01:00:15,040
money. They got connections. They got
all of those things. And what they do is

748
01:00:13,119 --> 01:00:19,440
they do robotic integration. So if you
got a factory that's got 10 different

749
01:00:17,200 --> 01:00:23,520
brands of robots in it and they all have
to talk a different language, they've

750
01:00:21,520 --> 01:00:27,760
created a way that all these robots can
work as a unit. They they understand

751
01:00:25,280 --> 01:00:32,799
each other through through these SD
robotic systems. And it's phenomenal.

752
01:00:30,160 --> 01:00:38,319
They just announced that they have a
worldwide uh contract with DHL, which is

753
01:00:36,480 --> 01:00:42,720
the big international freight carrier
because they use, you know, robots

754
01:00:39,920 --> 01:00:48,079
everywhere. And this shows you what can
happen if you give people and

755
01:00:45,680 --> 01:00:52,480
entrepreneurs with a good idea, the
right kind of support,

756
01:00:50,480 --> 01:00:56,000
this is what can happen. And so they
employ, you know, hundreds of people

757
01:00:53,839 --> 01:01:00,319
now. And they're global. when they
started out as a twoperson firm eight

758
01:00:57,839 --> 01:01:05,319
years ago in Launchpad. So, it's a great
success story, I think, and a good

759
01:01:02,319 --> 01:01:05,319
model.

760
01:01:06,079 --> 01:01:11,920
Business attraction,
this again is the one that gets the most

761
01:01:10,400 --> 01:01:17,839
attention. The press and the governor
and everybody else gets so excited about

762
01:01:14,160 --> 01:01:21,359
it. Um, it does increase the size of the
local economy. That's a benefit. It

763
01:01:19,280 --> 01:01:27,520
diversifies the tax base and employment
base. And there's another county uh

764
01:01:24,400 --> 01:01:31,280
actually within in the new region u and
I'm not going to mention names because I

765
01:01:28,880 --> 01:01:40,400
probably shouldn't but it's Paul public.
They their tax uh tax uh uh mix was

766
01:01:36,000 --> 01:01:45,200
really offkilter. Uh they were 75%
residential

767
01:01:42,160 --> 01:01:49,280
and about 25% commercial. Well 20%
commercial 5% industrial.

768
01:01:47,760 --> 01:01:55,680
And they knew they couldn't keep doing
that. And so this is where the board of

769
01:01:52,480 --> 01:01:59,040
supervisors worked with the EDA and
board of supervisors said, "We want the

770
01:01:57,200 --> 01:02:03,920
mix to change." And no, we can't do it
overnight, but we want to change it so

771
01:02:01,760 --> 01:02:08,640
that we've got a higher amount of
industrial and and commercial than we

772
01:02:06,000 --> 01:02:13,839
have now, less in our tax revenue coming
from residential. So they put everything

773
01:02:11,680 --> 01:02:17,200
in motion around that concept for the
next three to five years. This is our

774
01:02:15,520 --> 01:02:21,599
goal. They've got percentages, but I
don't even remember what the percentages

775
01:02:19,200 --> 01:02:27,680
were. But that's what the
diversification of the of the base does.

776
01:02:24,000 --> 01:02:33,359
It it helps uh helps increase uh your
tax revenues in certain areas and still

777
01:02:31,200 --> 01:02:37,040
uh being so you're able to provide the
services that need it. And it's the most

778
01:02:35,280 --> 01:02:42,240
visible result of economic development.
Like I said, it's when the governor gets

779
01:02:38,880 --> 01:02:47,119
on the, you know, on comes down and
everybody gets very excited and all the

780
01:02:44,720 --> 01:02:52,559
local officials get excited and EDA gets
excited and everybody gets excited.

781
01:02:50,880 --> 01:02:56,960
The challenge is though it is the most
competitive. I think there's something

782
01:02:53,839 --> 01:03:01,760
like trying to remember 11,000 economic
development organization organizations

783
01:02:58,960 --> 01:03:05,520
in the US alone.
And when we're talking about attraction,

784
01:03:03,280 --> 01:03:10,400
we're not talking about just the US.
your competition is global. And you look

785
01:03:08,559 --> 01:03:15,280
at all of the countries around the world
that have strong economic development uh

786
01:03:13,680 --> 01:03:21,200
programs, they're trying to get that
company to move here to England or

787
01:03:18,799 --> 01:03:25,920
wherever instead of coming to Amelia
County. So it's extremely competitive

788
01:03:23,839 --> 01:03:31,520
and it's it you really have to think
about how do you position yourself

789
01:03:28,640 --> 01:03:36,720
not only with uh what you talk about in
your assets but what are your goals

790
01:03:33,680 --> 01:03:41,119
because you know back in the old day
well when Amazon announced that they

791
01:03:38,480 --> 01:03:47,920
were going to have this competition. I
was in Richmond with the uh at a we were

792
01:03:45,119 --> 01:03:50,960
in up in DC and I was on a mission with
Virginia Economic Development

793
01:03:49,440 --> 01:03:56,880
Partnership
and the the manager I was with got

794
01:03:54,319 --> 01:04:02,160
called back to Richmond
because I Amazon had just announced that

795
01:03:59,039 --> 01:04:06,480
they wanted to have an that HQ2
competition

796
01:04:03,680 --> 01:04:10,799
» and all of a sudden every locality in
Virginia

797
01:04:08,559 --> 01:04:15,920
» was sending fruit baskets was you doing
this and I I told the president or the

798
01:04:13,119 --> 01:04:21,039
CEO of BDP said you really need to put
the lid on this and expectations not

799
01:04:18,559 --> 01:04:24,640
every local very few of these localities
are going to get anywhere and they're

800
01:04:22,400 --> 01:04:27,599
get so worked up and their boards are
getting worked up and they're telling

801
01:04:25,839 --> 01:04:34,319
the economic developers you you got to
go get this and it's not going to

802
01:04:29,200 --> 01:04:39,119
happen. So it's it's it's about being
intentional about who you go after and

803
01:04:36,480 --> 01:04:43,760
making sure that it fits your community.
Uh it is generally an expensive

804
01:04:41,440 --> 01:04:47,839
strategy. Uh you know you you're already
witnessing that with trying to develop

805
01:04:45,280 --> 01:04:53,359
your product, your site, your your your
your your

806
01:04:50,240 --> 01:04:59,039
park. Um and you got to have a lot of
elements in place to reduce the risk for

807
01:04:56,160 --> 01:05:03,599
the business client. Um, and there's
just a bunch of different criteria that

808
01:05:01,920 --> 01:05:08,640
are are some of those things that need
to be in place in order to get to be a

809
01:05:06,400 --> 01:05:13,680
tier five ready for business type of
company. So, it takes a lot of work. It

810
01:05:11,280 --> 01:05:18,720
doesn't mean you can't have success
somewhere along that path. But if you

811
01:05:16,559 --> 01:05:24,880
want to be top in class and you want to
get the most attention, got a lot of

812
01:05:21,359 --> 01:05:30,720
things to put in place or to uh explain
as an asset that you have or one that

813
01:05:27,119 --> 01:05:35,280
needs to be developed further.
Really partnerships are key and I think

814
01:05:33,520 --> 01:05:40,640
about anything that you do. It's hard to
be the lone wolf and go your own.

815
01:05:38,400 --> 01:05:44,480
uh and economic development is extremely
important because business is the center

816
01:05:42,880 --> 01:05:49,280
cog that makes the world go around in
our in economic development but you've

817
01:05:47,440 --> 01:05:53,520
got a state you've got regional you got
locality you got nonprofits and you got

818
01:05:51,520 --> 01:05:58,559
the fed all of those have a role to play
and all those influence

819
01:05:55,839 --> 01:06:05,599
uh how things work no single entity can
do it by itself and always remember the

820
01:06:01,599 --> 01:06:09,760
business is the center of everything
I want to we're getting close to

821
01:06:07,039 --> 01:06:13,520
wrapping here. Um, but I think it is
important to understand the Virginia way

822
01:06:11,520 --> 01:06:20,319
because we are unique in how we do
economic development in Virginia. Um,

823
01:06:17,680 --> 01:06:27,440
we're very much based on a state to
region to locality model. So,

824
01:06:23,599 --> 01:06:31,520
Commonwealth Virginia uh
they u

825
01:06:30,400 --> 01:06:35,839
they they go out and market for the
world. They they market and say,

826
01:06:33,440 --> 01:06:39,520
"Listen, Virginia is the top place to
be. this is where you want to create

827
01:06:38,160 --> 01:06:43,119
your your opportunities, your
sustainabilities, and they they talk

828
01:06:41,359 --> 01:06:48,160
about all of our assets and they talk
about talk about the the business

829
01:06:44,880 --> 01:06:52,000
climate and all those types of things.
But what happens if they get a prospect

830
01:06:50,079 --> 01:06:56,960
in they get a company says, you know,
well, we're interested interested in

831
01:06:54,079 --> 01:07:00,960
Virginia and we need, you know, certain
size site and we eventually want this

832
01:06:59,039 --> 01:07:04,960
size building and we need this kind of
workforce and we need they have a whole

833
01:07:02,480 --> 01:07:08,960
criter list of criteria.
They reach out through the regional

834
01:07:06,640 --> 01:07:12,960
groups and there I think now with the
addition of the gap alliance I think

835
01:07:10,960 --> 01:07:18,400
there are 19 economic development
regions in Virginia and these are all

836
01:07:16,160 --> 01:07:22,480
organizations that come together for a
variety of different reasons.

837
01:07:20,880 --> 01:07:27,119
Sometimes it's because they have a
common culture sometimes it's because of

838
01:07:24,160 --> 01:07:31,839
geography. Sometimes because of both. So
there's lots of different reg reasons

839
01:07:28,799 --> 01:07:35,359
for doing that. But the but this the
Commonwealth once they get that lead and

840
01:07:33,839 --> 01:07:39,280
they may vetted it a little bit and say,
"Well, we think that the GAP Alliance is

841
01:07:37,200 --> 01:07:42,960
a good regional bridge, they'll come to
the GAP Alliance and say, "We've got

842
01:07:41,280 --> 01:07:47,839
this prospect that this is what they're
interested in." And then it's our job to

843
01:07:46,000 --> 01:07:53,760
funnel that down to our local members
and work with our local members in a

844
01:07:49,839 --> 01:07:58,559
support uh staff in a support situation.
And if the local member has got

845
01:07:56,240 --> 01:08:02,079
everything that's needed,
we work with them to get that back up to

846
01:08:00,400 --> 01:08:05,520
the state and then presents that to the
prospect. And eventually the goal is to

847
01:08:03,839 --> 01:08:09,680
try to get them interested enough to
come the company interested enough to

848
01:08:07,039 --> 01:08:13,680
come and visit. And that's when the hard
work starts.

849
01:08:11,920 --> 01:08:17,600
The rest of the work with the the
preliminary work on the regional basis

850
01:08:15,760 --> 01:08:21,199
and on the local basis to make sure you
got all your data in line that you got a

851
01:08:19,520 --> 01:08:25,920
good team together. you kind of got a
philosophy or a strategy of how you

852
01:08:22,960 --> 01:08:29,520
would handle a prospect visit. Who needs
to be at those visits? What do you want

853
01:08:27,920 --> 01:08:32,880
to show them while you're here? How do
you highlight and hit all the things

854
01:08:31,440 --> 01:08:38,960
that are really important to them like
workforce, like housed, like sites and

855
01:08:35,600 --> 01:08:42,560
buildings, all those things.
So, it is really a team sport. if you

856
01:08:41,040 --> 01:08:47,759
and I, you know, I live in North
Carolina and North Carolina is not like

857
01:08:45,520 --> 01:08:52,400
this and no other states are like this
because North Carolina did used to have

858
01:08:50,080 --> 01:08:57,040
regional groups and they were actually
funded by the state, but they did away

859
01:08:54,799 --> 01:09:02,799
with those. Shoot, I came on board with
Sanford. This was my first project with

860
01:08:59,359 --> 01:09:07,679
Sanford Holtzhouser was uh advantage
west which was a bunch of counties in

861
01:09:05,520 --> 01:09:13,199
and the city of Asheville out the
western part and they brought me on to

862
01:09:11,679 --> 01:09:15,759
help them understand how they could fund
raise because they were going to lose

863
01:09:14,319 --> 01:09:19,679
all their state funding. So the state
does not fund regional groups anymore.

864
01:09:18,239 --> 01:09:22,480
They're coming back kind of like
Virginia is because we're all

865
01:09:20,880 --> 01:09:26,319
self-funded. The regional groups are all
self-funded. They're not funded by the

866
01:09:24,000 --> 01:09:30,239
state.
But u you know they just have a

867
01:09:28,799 --> 01:09:33,679
different model. Georgia has a different
model. They all do. But we've worked

868
01:09:32,000 --> 01:09:38,400
this way and it's worked very well for
us. But it's all about having strategic

869
01:09:36,000 --> 01:09:42,880
vision and action plan attraction new
business existing business retention

870
01:09:40,480 --> 01:09:48,319
expansion marketing and promotion the
product development business formation

871
01:09:46,319 --> 01:09:53,839
tourism workforce all the other things
that we've talked about within that

872
01:09:50,799 --> 01:09:57,520
Virginia way. We cover all those bases
in lots of different ways.

873
01:10:00,560 --> 01:10:08,400
And this slide is generally the primary
roles and responsibilities for each of

874
01:10:05,600 --> 01:10:13,280
those uh those uh levels that I just
mentioned in the Virginia waste system.

875
01:10:11,120 --> 01:10:17,760
Um
and it really a lot of it depends on

876
01:10:15,440 --> 01:10:21,199
really solid communication settlement as
you'll see

877
01:10:19,679 --> 01:10:25,280
you're let's start on the right hand
side with the state. The state as I said

878
01:10:22,800 --> 01:10:29,199
there's marketing responsible for
business climate the state business

879
01:10:27,040 --> 01:10:34,000
climate strategies to focus like
workforce broadband transportation big

880
01:10:31,679 --> 01:10:38,320
one research
supply chains making sure that we got a

881
01:10:36,400 --> 01:10:42,960
good supply chain for a lot of different
types of businesses and then helping to

882
01:10:41,199 --> 01:10:47,679
create funding sources like the go
Virginia program or the tobacco

883
01:10:44,719 --> 01:10:51,520
commission those types of things and
then on the regional as we talked about

884
01:10:49,840 --> 01:10:56,400
it's about trying to put together work
force story. So it's not about an

885
01:10:53,679 --> 01:11:00,080
individual locality member telling a
workforce story is trying to find the

886
01:10:58,080 --> 01:11:04,880
consolidation of the three members in
our new gap alliance. How does that work

887
01:11:03,040 --> 01:11:08,560
story look? Because you know to be
honest with you most companies don't

888
01:11:06,239 --> 01:11:11,760
start out looking at a locality. They
start out looking at a state and then

889
01:11:10,080 --> 01:11:15,600
they look at a region and region is
where you can begin to make a good

890
01:11:13,360 --> 01:11:22,080
regional pitch that gets their
attention. Uh we the region focuses on

891
01:11:19,600 --> 01:11:26,960
higher education infrastructure etc etc
etc and on the local level it's all

892
01:11:24,239 --> 01:11:32,960
about real estate your infrastructure
especially the broadband early education

893
01:11:29,760 --> 01:11:37,120
K through 12 the local tax policy
quality of life is a big one we talked a

894
01:11:34,880 --> 01:11:42,400
lot about that the existing businesses
you know you got a good business uh

895
01:11:39,199 --> 01:11:45,920
ecosystem where where in your locality
and do you have good relationships with

896
01:11:44,000 --> 01:11:50,640
them and then stakeholders and champions
ions. That could be your your local

897
01:11:48,480 --> 01:11:57,440
bank. That could be uh business
champions who who tout doing business

898
01:11:53,040 --> 01:12:00,880
here. That could be the church uh
religious structure. It could be a lot

899
01:11:59,040 --> 01:12:05,159
of different folks or stakeholders and
champions for your locality.

900
01:12:08,480 --> 01:12:17,600
And you can only have success in
economic development if you have a

901
01:12:11,760 --> 01:12:22,560
shared vision at the local level. Um,
and you you can read these, you know, it

902
01:12:19,520 --> 01:12:28,320
really is about sharing,
flexible long-term strategies,

903
01:12:26,000 --> 01:12:33,600
being committed to confidentiality.
That's a big deal with companies uh and

904
01:12:30,719 --> 01:12:38,400
actually with the state too.
Company are you you get an opportunity.

905
01:12:36,400 --> 01:12:41,440
It's it's always good to keep that to
yourselves until something really

906
01:12:40,239 --> 01:12:46,159
happens because you don't want to have
the egg on your face

907
01:12:43,760 --> 01:12:50,000
uh if if things don't work out or the
company finds out that something that

908
01:12:47,679 --> 01:12:54,239
should be confidential is widely known.
They will turn around and run the other

909
01:12:51,600 --> 01:12:58,800
way. Got to have good communication
strategies in place between your

910
01:12:55,840 --> 01:13:03,120
partnership and partners. Uh
stakeholders have to be engaged and you

911
01:13:01,120 --> 01:13:08,320
have to commit resources which are staff
and funding uh to make that happen.

912
01:13:06,400 --> 01:13:13,199
I think that really the shared
leadership and shared vision or

913
01:13:10,640 --> 01:13:17,920
leadership and vision
in a fundamental way comes down to two

914
01:13:15,280 --> 01:13:22,800
entities. That's your elected officials
and your EDNA.

915
01:13:20,640 --> 01:13:28,000
You need to be on the same page. You
need to have regular communication.

916
01:13:25,280 --> 01:13:31,520
Share ideas. may not always agree 100%
on everything, but have that dialogue

917
01:13:29,920 --> 01:13:36,880
and be able to communicate with each
other and come to a shared vision and

918
01:13:34,560 --> 01:13:40,400
move forward together. Everywhere you
look, they have that good line of

919
01:13:38,719 --> 01:13:44,880
communication, that good partnership,
that shared vision that's successful.

920
01:13:42,960 --> 01:13:50,320
And believe me, I we see plenty of
places that where that does not happen

921
01:13:46,800 --> 01:13:54,560
and they are suffering. So
sometimes we have to park we have to

922
01:13:52,480 --> 01:14:00,080
park ourselves at the curb, our egos at
the curb and bite a little humble pie,

923
01:13:56,960 --> 01:14:05,040
but it's it it it helps it helps a lot
to have that single vision and that

924
01:14:01,840 --> 01:14:09,520
single effort together to move forward.
Um things like having meetings on a

925
01:14:07,360 --> 01:14:13,760
regular basis with your counterparts or
joint planning. I don't know if you guys

926
01:14:11,440 --> 01:14:17,600
do workshops, especially when the
budget's coming up and stuff. if you

927
01:14:15,280 --> 01:14:22,239
have workshops or planning sessions or
anything like that, but that's also a

928
01:14:19,199 --> 01:14:28,960
really good way to try to come to the
single vision and share the load.

929
01:14:26,880 --> 01:14:33,440
I'm not going to read this. I mean, it's
it's stating it's stating the obvious. I

930
01:14:31,199 --> 01:14:37,600
think that it's important that the board
of supervisors has a role and as I said,

931
01:14:35,440 --> 01:14:41,120
it's analogous to me to an architect.
They're designing, they're putting

932
01:14:39,120 --> 01:14:49,440
specifications.
EDA has uh the hammer and the nails and

933
01:14:45,360 --> 01:14:53,679
the power equipment to build it. And
you can't have a great building if you

934
01:14:51,360 --> 01:14:59,040
don't have both of those. And they've
got to have a shared vision of what that

935
01:14:55,199 --> 01:15:03,199
building's going to look like. Um
you know, again, you've got a lot of

936
01:15:00,800 --> 01:15:08,480
powers with the statutes that you have
for setting this up.

937
01:15:05,920 --> 01:15:13,199
It's again ensure alignment with the
county and communicate communicate

938
01:15:10,159 --> 01:15:16,880
communicate and serve as the integrator
of stakeholder views and that's not only

939
01:15:15,199 --> 01:15:20,480
just government but it's also your
business community you're the ones who

940
01:15:18,719 --> 01:15:25,760
can kind of bring all the conversations
together into into a vision and

941
01:15:22,960 --> 01:15:31,840
collaboration partnerships
and I believe

942
01:15:28,800 --> 01:15:37,840
that is it so I know that was a lot to
cover

943
01:15:33,920 --> 01:15:42,159
I think if I To sum it up, it's this. It
there's some fundamental things that

944
01:15:39,440 --> 01:15:46,960
will be here forever. There's some new
things that are influencing how we do

945
01:15:44,480 --> 01:15:51,440
economic development.
It's all about having partners and and

946
01:15:49,600 --> 01:15:54,719
having good relationship, having common
visions. And it's also about just

947
01:15:53,199 --> 01:15:59,280
rolling your sleeves up. And it's it's
also about asking for help. If if you

948
01:15:56,640 --> 01:16:03,199
think you can't solve a problem on your
own, reach out. You know, reach out.

949
01:16:01,920 --> 01:16:08,960
There's plenty of partners around the
Commonwealth. there's partners in in uh

950
01:16:06,080 --> 01:16:13,120
in your region who are willing to help
because we're all in the same same boat.

951
01:16:11,440 --> 01:16:18,400
You know, we all want success. We all
want to want to help our citizens. We al

952
01:16:15,199 --> 01:16:23,040
all want to have a long sustainable
uh place for our kids to grow up and our

953
01:16:20,080 --> 01:16:27,280
grandkids to grow up. So, I'll take any
questions if you have any right now. And

954
01:16:25,120 --> 01:16:33,920
I think I did okay on time. I don't
know.

955
01:16:29,360 --> 01:16:40,640
» That was a lot of information. the uh
I'm aware of we're at a tier three now.

956
01:16:37,440 --> 01:16:46,800
We get these uh wells in, maybe we can
move up to a tier four.

957
01:16:43,520 --> 01:16:49,679
We're going in the right direction.
It's it's frustrating when it takes so

958
01:16:48,800 --> 01:16:52,679
long.
>> Yes.

959
01:16:52,800 --> 01:17:04,159
I was blown away when I found out how
many people the the Commonwealth of

960
01:16:59,040 --> 01:17:10,400
Virginia has that uh dedicated to
international business. How many people

961
01:17:07,840 --> 01:17:16,360
they have dedicated to to visiting and
trying to draw international business is

962
01:17:13,120 --> 01:17:16,360
really key.

963
01:17:16,400 --> 01:17:26,800
Yeah, they have they have offices
with both

964
01:17:23,360 --> 01:17:30,840
represent agenda.
>> I think they count those general

965
01:17:30,960 --> 01:17:41,360
» but it actually goes two ways. They're
they're there to help sell these brands

966
01:17:37,920 --> 01:17:48,080
and also I've done this in Europe. I'll
go over

967
01:17:44,000 --> 01:17:54,880
people point that hold my hand all those
types of things help on the outside for

968
01:17:50,320 --> 01:18:02,480
us to market ourselves.
>> Well, I think the gap alliance is going

969
01:17:57,840 --> 01:18:09,600
to help us. Uh, we've got uh Anthony
Carver is a real estate developer

970
01:18:06,320 --> 01:18:16,159
and uh when he went down to the meeting
in Virginia State, he sat at your table

971
01:18:12,239 --> 01:18:20,400
and he got to meet Nora and and Roxan
and

972
01:18:17,760 --> 01:18:25,360
he's already politic with him and says,
you know, if you get a a an inquiry that

973
01:18:23,040 --> 01:18:31,600
you can't handle, let me know about it.
Maybe maybe Amelia can do it, you know.

974
01:18:27,360 --> 01:18:35,920
So, uh, Ameilia is of the three, we're
we don't have anything going on like

975
01:18:33,600 --> 01:18:42,960
they do. They've got a lot of stuff
going on. So, but there all three of the

976
01:18:40,080 --> 01:18:46,960
both the directors are uh aware of that
and aware of our Commerce Park over

977
01:18:44,880 --> 01:18:50,960
here. They've already we've already had
some inquiries.

978
01:18:48,960 --> 01:18:54,960
Well, that was one thing Liz and I we
before we approached the subject about

979
01:18:52,800 --> 01:18:59,600
the regional thing, we looked at a lot
of detail about what are the common

980
01:18:56,640 --> 01:19:05,360
things, what are the uncommon things,
but also what are some some synergies

981
01:19:02,560 --> 01:19:11,120
and I think from a product standpoint,
site standpoint, the three are great

982
01:19:07,600 --> 01:19:15,600
because Gland is probably more advanced
when it comes to sites.

983
01:19:13,360 --> 01:19:20,080
Palotan is trying to get there and you
guys have got a nice piece of property

984
01:19:17,679 --> 01:19:24,960
but you can attract different
>> different sectors and different types of

985
01:19:22,239 --> 01:19:28,000
companies that maybe don't want to be in
a power tanner because there's no sites

986
01:19:27,199 --> 01:19:29,600
for
>> that size.

987
01:19:28,800 --> 01:19:33,679
» Yes.
>> But maybe hey here you go. Plus we look

988
01:19:31,840 --> 01:19:37,120
at it I thought about this the other
day. I was talking to Liz about it. You

989
01:19:35,920 --> 01:19:41,280
think about this for a minute. You're
kind of a gateway to the Richmond

990
01:19:39,360 --> 01:19:46,960
Petersburg metro area, but you're also
gateway the middle part of Parksville,

991
01:19:45,199 --> 01:19:52,159
Lynchburg, those types of places. So,
you've got opportunity to attract

992
01:19:49,040 --> 01:19:57,199
» both ways more both ways. Yeah. Well, I
keep having it in the back of my mind

993
01:19:53,520 --> 01:20:02,960
that when they uh do the 288 extension
and business parks going to come out

994
01:19:59,440 --> 01:20:09,600
there and they're going to have um no
telling what, but uh maybe we would fit

995
01:20:06,239 --> 01:20:16,960
in for some uh ancillary business, you
know, but we support them and it's what

996
01:20:12,800 --> 01:20:21,120
10 minutes away. Yeah,
it's a ways away, but

997
01:20:19,520 --> 01:20:25,360
got to have a vision, I guess. Have you
seen any uh these developments that that

998
01:20:23,520 --> 01:20:29,520
kind of located or center around
agriculture? I look at what Ameilia

999
01:20:27,600 --> 01:20:34,560
brings. You know, we're an agricultural
community. That's our basis. A lot of

1000
01:20:31,600 --> 01:20:38,800
emphasis now, you know, on food, less
processed,

1001
01:20:36,159 --> 01:20:43,440
um improving the quality of really food
being less processed. And what we offer

1002
01:20:40,480 --> 01:20:48,480
is access here of food is from right
here. So, for example, meat processor,

1003
01:20:46,640 --> 01:20:54,239
you know, there's demand for locally
processed meat. Um, and I didn't know if

1004
01:20:51,440 --> 01:20:57,840
you had any examples of Nelson with the
151's kind of in that way. They could

1005
01:20:55,600 --> 01:21:03,360
use local wheat, but that you're
actually seeing a decrease in drinking

1006
01:20:59,840 --> 01:21:06,400
and the the Z's and and millennials. So,
that to me, that's kind of something

1007
01:21:04,640 --> 01:21:10,560
like the beer train was good 15 years
ago, but it's y'all food thing is hot

1008
01:21:08,960 --> 01:21:14,640
now. I got a 27 year old,
>> she doesn't she makes her own food, no

1009
01:21:12,239 --> 01:21:19,760
process, and she lives in on Monument
Avenue. Friends are the same way.

1010
01:21:16,400 --> 01:21:22,880
» Yeah. So I I kind of see like that's the
attractiveness of millia like you said

1011
01:21:21,280 --> 01:21:26,800
we're the more agricultural of the
three. So we literally could be the

1012
01:21:25,280 --> 01:21:31,679
place that starts to generate that. You
see a lot of interest in power farm to

1013
01:21:28,480 --> 01:21:35,440
tableland also higher income areas
whether if you had any examples of where

1014
01:21:33,840 --> 01:21:40,000
that could be leveraged.
>> Yeah. Well a couple things

1015
01:21:38,080 --> 01:21:45,199
and this is interesting.
My last executive director position with

1016
01:21:43,280 --> 01:21:51,280
the regional group was Virginia's growth
alliance and in the last year before

1017
01:21:47,920 --> 01:21:55,040
that closed down I left I think we had
three or four processing plants. Now

1018
01:21:53,520 --> 01:22:00,159
these weren't big operations but they
were big processing small processing

1019
01:21:57,280 --> 01:22:06,159
plants and
a lot of those come down. Um but as far

1020
01:22:03,120 --> 01:22:09,199
as food hubs is another thing. It's food
hubs and I don't know if you're familiar

1021
01:22:07,760 --> 01:22:14,080
with a food hub or not, but it's they've
been around for a while, but they're

1022
01:22:10,480 --> 01:22:18,880
kind of go on steroids now where
they'll have a facility and it's it can

1023
01:22:17,280 --> 01:22:23,760
serve like four or five different
purposes. Number one, you can have

1024
01:22:21,280 --> 01:22:29,040
somebody who does nothing but packaging
for you know for crops. So they package

1025
01:22:26,239 --> 01:22:32,800
it up, process that type of thing. It's
a pleasure to farmers to bring it's

1026
01:22:30,880 --> 01:22:37,360
almost like a co-op bring our stuff
there. consolidate it will you know go

1027
01:22:34,880 --> 01:22:42,880
off and sell it somewhere. It can also
be for small food production. It can be

1028
01:22:40,880 --> 01:22:47,600
for labeling and marketing. You have a
market and a lot of that is going on

1029
01:22:45,120 --> 01:22:53,280
right now city and you know you're
right. A lot of it can be just organic

1030
01:22:50,719 --> 01:22:59,440
or minimally processed foods that type
of the other thing that

1031
01:22:56,639 --> 01:23:03,600
I almost hate to mention it because it's
a great idea. There's a lot of interest

1032
01:23:02,159 --> 01:23:07,600
in it. There have been some big
companies set up but I think you can

1033
01:23:05,760 --> 01:23:11,120
also do it on a smaller scale. That's
indoor growing.

1034
01:23:09,679 --> 01:23:14,880
that's control environmental
agriculture. People think, you know,

1035
01:23:12,400 --> 01:23:19,440
it's got to be this huge building,
really tall, but you they're modular

1036
01:23:17,199 --> 01:23:25,360
units. They're people who are doing Cay
within containers, shipping containers.

1037
01:23:23,280 --> 01:23:29,280
They they just instrument, put lights in
them, and do things they grow crops in.

1038
01:23:27,280 --> 01:23:33,600
So, there's a lot of stuff like that.
And there are programs for that like the

1039
01:23:30,480 --> 01:23:39,120
high tunnel operations through the
extension service which is something if

1040
01:23:36,080 --> 01:23:43,360
we can line those entities up EDA
agriculture the programs that exist and

1041
01:23:41,920 --> 01:23:46,719
then because people looked at the thing
with Taylor Farms

1042
01:23:44,639 --> 01:23:51,040
» I mean my wife stopped buying vegetables
our our grocery bill went down but we

1043
01:23:49,120 --> 01:23:54,320
didn't buy any kind of stuff like you
know berries all sorts of things because

1044
01:23:52,880 --> 01:23:59,360
people were scared to buy anything.
>> Yeah. You know, nobody wants to sell

1045
01:23:56,719 --> 01:24:04,239
explosive problems.
So, but it does show people all of a

1046
01:24:01,920 --> 01:24:07,760
sudden I watched the Pan farmers market
which was they had moved it and the

1047
01:24:06,080 --> 01:24:11,920
tenants was dropping off and then about
a month ago exploded people going there

1048
01:24:10,400 --> 01:24:16,080
and the farmers markets we've tried in
this area. I don't think they're nearly

1049
01:24:13,920 --> 01:24:21,280
a answer, but the process and being able
to get into being able to encourage that

1050
01:24:18,800 --> 01:24:24,639
and leverage what we do well already
instead of like you mentioned

1051
01:24:22,400 --> 01:24:28,159
necessarily depending on
>> a method where we're trying to put

1052
01:24:26,080 --> 01:24:31,280
different businesses in the site. What
if we took advantage of what we had

1053
01:24:29,679 --> 01:24:34,480
locally and kind of funneled through
that because I don't think the

1054
01:24:32,320 --> 01:24:37,280
importance on food is going to go down.
>> If anything in the US is going to go up

1055
01:24:36,000 --> 01:24:40,719
because we're starting to outsource more
of our agriculture now we're getting

1056
01:24:38,960 --> 01:24:44,480
contamination water stuff is coming
back. a screw worm. I mean, there's all

1057
01:24:43,280 --> 01:24:49,360
sorts of people worrying about where
their food's coming from. So, if you

1058
01:24:46,400 --> 01:24:54,239
kind of get ahead of that and then
that's what we do well already.

1059
01:24:51,199 --> 01:24:58,719
» Do do you have a cooperative where you
you bulk your product and

1060
01:24:57,040 --> 01:25:02,719
» I'm completely ignorant on that. That's
what I was asking. I I still just do we

1061
01:25:00,880 --> 01:25:07,360
just mostly production something you
know I say guys that grow beef here

1062
01:25:04,800 --> 01:25:10,880
mostly sell some sell direct but still
the bulk sell it through the auction

1063
01:25:08,800 --> 01:25:15,199
system. So, but if you had a system you
sell here and you have, you know, Amelia

1064
01:25:12,480 --> 01:25:18,960
brand beef and I think people would
snatch snatch that up, you know, it it

1065
01:25:17,760 --> 01:25:21,520
be something they know where it came
from and when they see the stuff on the

1066
01:25:20,159 --> 01:25:24,320
news, they're not worried about it
because their beef came from, you know,

1067
01:25:23,600 --> 01:25:28,800
153.
>> Okay. Rather than coming from some other

1068
01:25:27,199 --> 01:25:32,639
place and worried about what's in it and
who did what.

1069
01:25:30,400 --> 01:25:39,520
» Well, there reason I mentioned co I
think it's great a great concept. You're

1070
01:25:35,520 --> 01:25:44,639
great practice. I was uh in my youth in
high school. I was trying to make some

1071
01:25:42,000 --> 01:25:51,520
money for college and president I was
working as a dishwasher and

1072
01:25:49,199 --> 01:25:58,480
president inherited he was from
Wisconsin. He inherited three cherry

1073
01:25:54,080 --> 01:26:03,360
farms in door town just here's Wisconsin
here door county is up here lake

1074
01:26:00,400 --> 01:26:08,400
Michigan bay it's all up there. So he
hired a bunch of local kids to go out

1075
01:26:05,679 --> 01:26:13,600
pick cherries and I remember going out
there summer it was great. First of all

1076
01:26:11,280 --> 01:26:19,920
it was Swedish area tradition Swedish
area. So they bring all these very young

1077
01:26:15,760 --> 01:26:23,679
teenage waitresses over every year and
work in the pancake house. But the

1078
01:26:21,360 --> 01:26:29,199
bottom line was this. I just remember
they didn't sell his he didn't sell his

1079
01:26:25,440 --> 01:26:33,600
cherries direct. He he they had a co-op
drive the truck down tank on the back

1080
01:26:31,440 --> 01:26:37,040
dump the load in there. All these
farmers you remember consolidating and

1081
01:26:35,520 --> 01:26:42,480
they were responsible marketing could
sell it to do it. They split it and it

1082
01:26:38,960 --> 01:26:48,320
was just it was just a good model and I
know there are other places that have

1083
01:26:43,920 --> 01:26:52,639
co-ops that specific jobs and co-ops
that

1084
01:26:50,080 --> 01:26:55,920
but having a facility like I mentioned
where you bring all these spare ones

1085
01:26:54,400 --> 01:27:00,080
together
process do some other things they can't

1086
01:26:57,840 --> 01:27:06,000
just do on their own might be a good
model for you that I'll try to send you

1087
01:27:03,040 --> 01:27:11,760
some
up in the valley. Yeah.

1088
01:27:09,840 --> 01:27:18,120
» And see that that thing up in the valley
I showed was more about I don't think

1089
01:27:14,719 --> 01:27:18,120
they have a

1090
01:27:18,480 --> 01:27:26,719
fields of gold. That's not a co-op type
thing. They're mainly marketing in terms

1091
01:27:22,880 --> 01:27:32,679
of for both the locals the local crops
individually local farm stands that

1092
01:27:29,679 --> 01:27:32,679
type.

1093
01:27:35,600 --> 01:27:39,280
Dave, we want to thank you for coming
in. I think

1094
01:27:37,760 --> 01:27:44,800
» I hope this provided a lot of
information here and I think it's good

1095
01:27:42,159 --> 01:27:49,199
that we captured on the on the video so
we we want to find out go back and

1096
01:27:47,440 --> 01:27:54,000
refresh our memory. We can do that.
>> Well, if you got my card got any

1097
01:27:51,440 --> 01:27:58,239
questions at all, reach out to me. Happy
to answer reach out to Liz. She's the

1098
01:27:56,639 --> 01:28:04,719
much better looking part of our
partnership. So, reach out to her and

1099
01:28:01,280 --> 01:28:09,840
all have it done. And again, thank you
for being a member of of GA.

1100
01:28:08,719 --> 01:28:14,000
Best days are ahead.
>> Yeah.

1101
01:28:11,520 --> 01:28:17,560
» What time do you have to be in Richmond?
>> Our meeting thought

1102
01:28:18,000 --> 01:28:28,000
» and we go to lunch.
>> All right. How about uh entertain a

1103
01:28:22,800 --> 01:28:31,239
motion to adjourn? So move. Second.
>> Thank you.