WAEDC Director visits NB-NK Rotary Club
Mr. Greg Myers, Executive Director of the Wapakoneta Area
Economic Development Council (WAEDC) visited the New Bremen - New Knoxville
Rotary Club and gave an interesting report on the economic development efforts
in
Auglaize
County
, most specifically in the Wapakoneta area.
WAEDC serves Wapakoneta primarily but, also helps to support and
develop industry all over
Auglaize
County
. The council is made up of
economic directors and village administrators from all over
Auglaize
County
. “2009 was a very challenging
year for everyone, including those of us in economic development in
Auglaize
County
. Unemployment was around 4% just
18 months ago and now we see it hovering around 10.6% here in
Auglaize
County
.” Myers went on to say that,
“this has had a significant impact on income tax revenues in each of the
communities in
Auglaize
County
. In Wapakoneta, we’ve been
somewhat insulated from the drop in tax revenue, thanks to the large school
construction project bringing so many workers into the community over the past
year, and the construction of the new fresh water treatment plant.”
Mr. Myers explained his role as
Executive Director at WAEDC as somewhat “transparent when people want to
know what it is we’re doing here with WAEDC.
My job is really two fold: first
we work very hard to support our local industrial firms in their efforts to
continue to be successful. We
assist by connecting them with other local and regional companies in an effort
to help them market themselves and build lasting, profitable relationships.
We also help to advocate for local businesses with local, county,
state, and federal governments, in an effort to help them sort through the
various issues that confront businesses today.”
Myers continued with an interesting statistic, “85% of economic
growth comes directly from local business investment and expansion of key
companies already in our community, while the remaining 15% of the growth
comes from bringing in new companies and capital investment.”
“The second focus of our office is to work to bring new capital
investment and new companies into the Wapakoneta area,” said Myers.
Site Selection Magazine continues to rate
Auglaize
County
among the ”Top 20 Micropolitans (population centers < 50,000 people) in
the
US
for economic growth and development. In
fact, we ranked 9th in 2009 and we’ve been in the top 20 for the
past four years. The State of
Ohio
continues to rank #1.” Mr. Myers
went on to explain that, “over the past few years we’ve gone from no
foreign investment in our community to having firms from
Japan
and
France
doing business in Wapakoneta. This
growth in foreign investment has really helped us be recognized nationally and
worldwide as an excellent place to locate an industrial business.”
“Wapakoneta
developed one of the State of
Ohio
’s
first JRS (Job Ready Sites), a 470 acre parcel located on CR 25A at the
intersection of US 33 and I-75. We’ve
built the infrastructure and we’re ready to go,” said Myers, referring to
the streets, electrical, water, sewer, and rail services that now exist
on-site. Mr. Myers went on to say
“we’re in the middle of an ongoing creative marketing campaign that is
targeting 261 site consulting firms that may be looking to help locate an
industrial operation in the area. We
want them to remember us so we’ve been very creative with our marketing
pieces in an effort to get noticed. So
far we’ve had some positive feedback from the firms we’ve contacted, so we
know we’re getting noticed.” The
470 acre Job Ready Site is just a portion of the 760+ acre
West
Central
Ohio
Industrial
Center
and is ready for development. “We’ve
got plenty of dirt to sell,” joked Myers as he closed his presentation.
If you’d like to learn more about WAEDC and the various efforts being
made to support local industry and attract new industry to our area, visit www.whywapakoneta.com
Hosting Rotarian: Dave Jarvis
