I attended a seminar put on by IEDC (Indiana Economic Development Corporation) in Indianapolis last week. I was fortunate that it was in the morning before an ABC State Board meeting in the afternoon, allowing me to combine the trip to Indy. It still made a ridiculously long day since I had to hit the road before 6:00 to be at the seminar at 9:00, driving between the two in lieu of eating lunch and then leaving the ABC meeting I didn’t get home until about 7:30.
I attended as Chairman of MCEDC (Marshall County Economic Development Corporation) along with MCEDC staff, Jennifer Laurent and Derek Spier. I was pleased that Grant Munroe, Ralph Winters and and Rick Tompos attended on behalf of the Culver Redevelopment Commission and that Mayor Mark Senter and City Attorney Sean Surrisi attended on behalf of the City of Plymouth. It was unfortunate that there weren’t others from Marshall County able to attend.
The program centered around creative ways communities and economic development corporations were encouraging growth through the use of TIF Districts, shell buildings and virtual computer presentations. Several different EDC’s presented on their use of these tools to attract development.
Both Culver and Plymouth have TIF Districts in Marshall County and both have used them successfully. Plymouth has been more creative than Culver, but nowhere near as creative as some of the presentations that were made last week! In a nutshell, money taken in by the TIF Districts must be spent on capital projects to benefit the TIF District, which allows quite a bit of leeway in interpretation. One interesting use involved the coordination of a single county wide TIF District coordinating two City Redevelopment Commissions in conjunction with a County Redevelopment Commission. Can you imagine if Marshall County communities could foster that kind of cooperation!?! I think it generated quite a few new ideas in the attendees.
The use of shell buildings was discussed. Plymouth had been considering contracting for a shell building on PIDCO property on the northwest side of the City. I’m sure hearing the success of other communities with these ventures helped spur the signing of a letter of intent with Garmong Construction this past Tuesday night. (WTCA story here.) This will result in a new, 45,000 sf (expandable to 135,000 sf) tilt-up concrete building being constructed west of Pioneer Seed on Commerce Drive. In our just-in-time delivery society, it’s common that we’re passed over by site selectors when we don’t have a building that fits their needs ready to go. The anecdotal evidence presented suggested that having the building there got prospects to the community. Even when the building didn’t fit their exact requirements, it often got them there to consider other available sites.
During MCEDC’s discussions with Ady-Voltedge, our marketing consultant, we often heard the benefits of virtual site build-outs. It was presented that by showing what a building looked like on the site, a prospect would find it easier to make the jump to visualizing THEIR building on the site. An example of this was shown where an existing, dilapidated, empty building was shown with a virtual facelift, new landscaping and cars in the parking lot. They were able to sell the client on this vision before ever taking them to see the existing building.
I hope the other attendees came back with the new enthusiasm I gained from these presentations. Indiana should be poised for a leap forward in economic prosperity. Indiana is a business tax friendly, Right-To-Work State at the crossroads of America. Marshall County needs to take every opportunity to be part of the leap in renewed growth Indiana is about to experience.
Washington, D.C. – Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) issued the following statement after the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today overturned a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) “ambush” elections rule because it was adopted without the statutorily required quorum of NLRB members.
“This is a great victory for the merit shop construction industry, and employers and employees across the country,” said ABC Vice President of Federal Affairs Geoffrey Burr. “The new procedures, which went into effect April 30, made it more difficult for employees to make a fully informed decision concerning union representation.
“We said all along that the “ambush” elections rule was made in haste without regard or consideration to the proper procedures, and that the rule would have a negative impact on the nation’s small businesses,” Burr said.
The rule was challenged by the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
To view this news release on ABC’s website, click here.
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Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is a national association with 74 chapters representing 22,000 merit shop construction and construction-related firms. Visit us at www.abc.org.
I attended an Energizing Indiana Seminar on Tuesday in South Bend presented by the Indiana Energy Association. In our area, the partners that we work with are NIPSCO and AEP. (Marshall County REMC has programs as well, but opted out of IURC (Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission) due to what they felt were onerous reporting and oversight requirements and the associated costs.) There are quite a few incentive programs available to businesses and residential customers as well. Unlike some of the tax incentive programs such as EPAct, these programs provide checks directly from the Utility Companies which means municipalities and other tax exempt entities should be able to take advantage of them as well.
Many of these programs encourage renovations that will pay savings dividends on their own. (Green That Saves Green!) The incentives are there to give the extra kick to encourage implementing them now. I am planning on researching this further and I will include details here, but if you’re interested in pursuing this, please contact us and we can look into your specific situation now!
Just a reminder to GET OUT AND VOTE!!! I was to my polling place just before noon and if the number of signatures I saw in the book are any indication, the turnout is going to be light. It’s a sad commentary when the news polls show Congress and the President with approval ratings in the basement, but then when citizens have a chance for input in the elections they can’t be bothered. The majority of seats up for consideration in this primary election are for State and Local positions. Not as controversial, but still important. I told you why I was supporting Francis Ellert previously here. There are many other important candidates to support on the ballot as well.
As a closing note, please make your vote an informed vote. Even at this late hour it’s not too late to find out about the candidates and vote responsibly. If you’re not going to do that, then I retract my opening request. I should have said, Get out and Vote… RESPONSIBLY!