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3 <br />Letter from the EDC Chair <br />At its annual board retreat in October 2002, the Orange County Economic Development Commission <br />(EDC) resolved to complete a new strategic plan to guide the organization. A subcommittee formed to <br />work with staff on development of the planning process. The group engaged Leslie Scott Stewart of the <br />UNC- Chapel Hill Office of Economic Development to assist in the effort. <br />In the period since the last economic development strategic plan was adopted in 1996, several plans and <br />studies were completed within the towns of Orange County and the surrounding region. The EDC <br />decided to build directly on that work to help frame the issues for the county's current planning process. <br />The EDC also decided to undertake a web -based survey on broad questions related to the Orange County <br />economy. <br />The EDC used the summary and the survey results as background information for an Economic <br />Development Summit for Orange County, held on January 7, 2004 at the Friday Center and attended by <br />120 people. Following a keynote speech by Mary Jo Waits, Associate Director of the Morrison Institute <br />for Public Policy at Arizona State University, participants broke into four groups to prioritize and develop <br />5 -year strategies. <br />Based on the small group work, four key areas emerged: <br />• Business Climate <br />• Infrastructure <br />• Workforce Development <br />• Quality of Place <br />After lunch, participants attended an initial work group session (based on individual interest) in the four <br />issue areas. <br />The four work groups continued to meet during the months of February through June, with each group <br />meeting at least six times. In addition, the co- chairs of the work groups have met three times to consider <br />the overall strategy, and the Directors of the EDC have devoted substantial portions of thirteen meetings <br />over the past two years. Conservatively, we estimate the number of volunteer hours involved in the <br />strategic planning effort to date to exceed 1,300. <br />We are pleased to present the draft plan, and encourage you to help us refine and further strengthen the <br />economic development five -year plan for Orange County. Please forward any comments or suggestions <br />to the Orange County Economic Development Commission via email (edcmai1(ii,)co.oran2e.nc.us) or <br />telephone the office at 919 - 245 -2325. You may also submit comments to: <br />Economic Development Commission <br />P.O. Box 1177 <br />Hillsborough, NC 27278 <br />We look forward to hearing from you and working together to attain our goal of creating 5,000 new <br />private sector jobs and $125,000,000 in new commercial tax base by June 2009. <br />ep,q , 1-��,,. <br />Ruffin Slater <br />Chair, Economic Development Commission <br />August 2004 <br />2 <br />