DeKalb County, Illinois

Minutes of the
Economic Development Committee

May 9, 2012

DRAFT

Economic Development Committee

Minutes

May 9, 2012

            The DeKalb County Economic Development Committee met on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 @ 7:00p.m., in the Legislative Center’s Freedom Room.  Chairman Pat Vary called the meeting to order.  Members present were Bob Brown, Julia Fauci, Jeff Metzger, Sr., Riley Oncken and Jeff Whelan.  Others present were Maura Metzger, Jim Teckenbrock, Paul Borek,

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

            Moved by Mr. Metzger, Sr., seconded by Mr. Whelan, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from April 11, 2012.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

            Moved by Mr. Oncken, seconded by Mr. Brown, to approve the agenda.

CHAIR’S COMMENTS

Chairman Vary said that at the last Economic Development Corporation’s meeting she went on a tour of the Sauter Processing facility.  This company prepares and packages food items.  It is a family owned company. She mentioned that Sauter does have Kishwaukee College teach certain classes to their employees on site, for example, computer classes. 

Chairman Vary also said that she would be cancelling the committee’s August 2012 committee meeting.

CITY OF SANDWICH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, MR. JIM TECKENBROCK.

Mr. Teckenbrock said that the Sandwich Fair is celebrating their 125^th Anniversary this year.  He mentioned that antiquing is a big part of the town of Sandwich.  He said that there is a cancer center going up in Sandwich.  They do have a hotel and convention center now and that he did not know what would happen with the water park. 

Mr. Metzger said that he felt that there was a lack of promotion for antiques in Sandwich.  He also said that Sandwich City Council meetings are now on television.  There are some new smaller businesses that have opened recently like a new bakery.

Mr. Teckenbrock said that there has been a significant drop in funding from the City of Sandwich and that they are trying to stay open with a full-time person being employed.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION UPDATE – MR. PAUL BOREK

Mr. Borek said that SK Hand Tool Building in Sycamore Prairie Business Park that was completed last year by Ideal Industries and constructed by Krezyncki Construction was recognized by the Chicago Building Congress and nominated for an award.

The DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation Round Table’s next meeting will be held on May 31, 2012.  The topic will be “Green Initiatives, Making Green Pay.”  It will be held from 11:00a.m. to 1:00p.m. There will be discussion on LEED development and construction and Waste Management, Inc.’s recycling program.

He said that they revised their Industrial Growth Initiative that they began putting together last year.  They worked with NIU.  They are focusing on cataloging and identifying all of the shovel-ready industrial sites and making those sites available for web access for all of those developers.  They are also calculating the potential value of those sites.  They are also determining the economic impact of industrial development including construction expenditures, purchases, job creation, wages and salaries, property tax revenue, sales tax revenues, etc. for DeKalb Couty and for individual communities.

Mr. Borek then spoke about their draft email marketing campaign.  They will be emailing a marketing campaign that will include testimonials from successful developers and businesses in DeKalb County.  There will be information on different advantages and resources in communities in DeKalb County.  They will be sending those emails out to site selectors, business partners, etc.

The committee thanked Mr. Borek for his very informative report.

Updated Cost Savings Report for 2012

Ms. Mary Supple, County Coordinator, passed out the 2012 Cost Savings and Go Green Report to the committee. She mentioned that the total amount of savings realized from the reporting county departments totaled $239,129.00.  In total over the past two and a half years the total amount of savings since 2009 equals $388,129.00.  She pointed out that the numbers in this report, in some instances, do reflect the first quarter of 2012.  Most of the numbers are from fiscal year 2011.  Ms. Supple encouraged the committee to review the report and that it would be posted on the County’s website so that taxpayers could see the real savings.  There will be a press release issued soon on the report, too. 

ADJOURNMENT

            Moved by Mr. Oncken, seconded by Ms. Fauci, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

___________________________________

                                                                        Patricia Vary, Chairman

RO:mcs

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