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APPROVED 1/24/2Q05 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION NOVEMBER 22, 2Q04 5:30 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a work session with the Economic Development Commission an Monday, November 22, 2004 at 5:30 p.m. at the Government Services Center in Hillsborough, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs and Commissioners Moses Carey, Jr. and Alice M. Gordon COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Stephen Halkiotis and Margaret Brown COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill and S. Sean Borhanian COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey and Deputy Clerk to the Board David Hunt {All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Ruffin Slater, Vice Chair Susan Lombardo, and members Bob Ward, Alois Callemyn, Keith Cook, and Russ Seibert ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MEMBERS ABSENT: Anne Loeb ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION STRATEGIC PLAN VOLUNTEER CO- CHAIRS PRESENT; Margaret Connell, Paul Snow, Teresa Derrick, and John DelConte ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION STAFF PRESENT: Director Dianne Reid and Jason Jolley NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. Chair Jacobs called the meeting to order at 5:50 p.m. 1. Openina Remarks- BOCC Chair Barrv Jacobs and EDC Chair Ruffin Slater Chair Jacobs said that the County Commissioners try to set aside a few dinner meetings each year to meet with advisory boards. He said that it has been just over two years since the retreat where the County Commissioners first started talking about a strategic Economic Development Plan. The EDC has put in a lot of work. He thanked everyone for attending. The members introduced themselves. 2. Planning Process Overview- Dianne Reid Dianne Reid spoke about the history of economic development in Orange County since the 1990's. She said that staff looked at the existing plans and started with those. They did a summary of all of the plans, which is available an the website and is part of an Economic Development Summit that was held in January 2004. They also did an online survey, and about 50 individuals responded as to what they saw as important for economic development. The summit was attended by approximately 120 people and was held at the Friday Center. There were four issues that emerged from the summit -Business Climate, Infrastructure, Workforce Development, and Quality of Place. After the summit, four work groups formed and have continued to meet. Each work group has met at least seven times. They have estimated that volunteers have put in over 1,300 hours to put together this plan.