WEDC focused on partnerships, strategies

According to Lynn Moomaw, who has been an advisory council and Board member of the Wayne Economic Development Council (WEDC), “Many people when they think of economic development, they think first of manufacturing.

“But here in Wayne County,” Moomaw continued, “it’s an agriculture, food processing, health care and manufacturing balance. I think it’s because of that balance that we’ve thrived for years.”

The community likely has many preconceptions about what economic development is. Chances are, economic development is more collaborative and requires more long-term planning than most realize.

For this reason, Maribeth Burns, WEDC President, has spent 2023 reinvesting in relationships. Burns has already met with 90 Wayne County-based businesses and organizations to listen and learn, and to share about WEDC’s newly launched strategic plan.

“It’s been a great learning experience and an opportunity to sit down and ask, what issues have you been having and how can we help? For instance, with staffing issues, can we help them market open positions?” Burns said.

“It’s a really a good opportunity to meet people and see in person what our diversified economy looks like,” she added. “We’ve met with a lot of businesses who didn’t know what we do.”

Burns and WEDC’s Marketing and Development Coordinator, Traci Carmony, work together to provide resources to businesses. While these resources are customized to unique business needs, they do see some common issues. For instance, when one company does something unique to attract employees, they can share those successes. They often help with wage or benefits comparison information.

Plus, Burns and Carmony will identify trends and use them to inform a future business roundtable designed to help solve problems. And they can help businesses think about longer-term planning as well as incentives for expansion.

“One thing that always sticks in my mind is how long-term investment and long-term planning is so important,” said Moomaw, who also serves as Director of Operations at the Wayne County Schools Career Center. “I remember being at a WEDC planning meeting when we got the news that Rubbermaid was leaving. And now all these years later because of the partnerships in Wayne County, Gojo has filled that space. That long-term commitment is important.”

Burns is also acutely aware that WEDC needs to focus on issues like quality of life and housing for businesses to retain their workforce.

One of the key strategies in the updated WEDC strategic plan is to advance a focused set of key issues that drive Wayne County’s competitiveness. A top issue in this strategy is access to housing.

“We plan to complete a county-wide housing assessment. We know there are pockets of Wayne County that are more urgent. With changing demographics, we need a comprehensive assessment,” said Burns.

Further, the timing is right to collaborate with partners across Wayne County to develop a long-term strategy for future growth in the county. While it is true that land purchases are voluntary, market-based transactions, it is also true that county, municipal, and township partners have some control over where new development occurs. WEDC will continue to get input on long-term goals for future growth, complete a county-wide inventory of brownfields, identify areas in need of redevelopment, and market existing sites.

Past WEDC Board Chair Adam Briggs believes that WEDC truly fills a niche in the way that they are able to collaborate, facilitate, and unify across organizations and jurisdictions.

“Through my experience over the years, I’ve watched WEDC bring parties together to accomplish a common goal and be the entity that crosses multiple sectors- multiple cities, counties, townships, and state government,” said Briggs.

“Maribeth has brought a high level of leadership experience and she’s done an outstanding job.”

Looking forward

WEDC continues to support community projects like the Shreve Community Reinvestment Area (CRA).

“When the Shreve Community Development Corporation looked at incentives for business and home development in our area, the WEDC helped us identify the use of a CRA,” said Chuck Visocky, a Shreve business owner who is also involved in Shreve’s development corporation. “A CRA allows investment into homes and businesses minimizing tax impact on the improvement for a period of time. Creating an easier path to invest in Shreve is one strategy that we are using to refresh our quaint community.”

“The legislation to establish the CRA was approved by Village Council in late November. The application was sent to the State of Ohio and should receive final approval by the end of April – depending on their review timing,” said Carmony.

With 66% of WEDC investors with the private sector and 33% of the budget coming from public dollars, more work is needed to reach the campaign target of $3.7 million to be able to fund crucial economic development programs for Wayne County for the next 4 years. Check out its website if you would like to contact the WEDC team with questions at https://waynecountyedc.com/.