September 9, 2025 Minutes Approved

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY BOARD September 9, 2025 Bonnie B Davis Center 1020 US-70 W Hillsborough, NC 27278 Minutes Members Present: Emilee Collins, Elise Tyler, Dave Gephart, Sharon Hill, Ivy Taylor, Lisa Kaylie Members Not Present: Joy Mercer, Estella Johnson, John Kim Orange County Staff: Steve Brantley, Amanda Garner, Lindsey Hirni Guest Speaker: Crystal Morphis Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Emilee Collins at 11:33 a.m. Approval of Minutes A motion was made by Dave Gephart and seconded by Sharon Hill to approve the Minutes from the July 28,2025 meeting. The motion passed unanimously. Old Business Crystal Morphis from Creative Economic Development Consulting presented the Draft Strategic Plan and mentioned that the goal is to get all final input from the board members so that her team can work on the final document and present this to ED department. She mentioned that anyone missing from today's meeting would have the opportunity to meet with her virtually to provide their feedback. Crystal asked our board members to think about a couple of questions — Is there something missing? Was there something that needs to be pulled out?Are there partners and allies that we need to call out in the plan? Are there ways the members can support the staff with the plan? The County Manager has asked that staff to intergrade the Strategic Plan over the next couple of months as we put together our FY26-27 budget requests and then staff will present the plan to BOCC in the new year. Crystal touched on the high points of the plan. She mentioned the department's new Vision & Mission. Crystal went over the six strategic plan goals and strategies as well as action steps for each of these goals. She spoke about the opportunities around collaborations with departments, partners and organizations. She highlighted the recommendations for our Grant Program and the Article 46 funds. Crystal went over the implementation guide for 1-3 years. She highlighted the metrics and provided examples as well as a recommended dashboard of program metrics for business investment,job creation/retention, space, marketing, etc. Crystal mentioned the work provided in the plan around the SWOT analysis summary and cluster& workforce & labor market analysis. She showed comparisons to surrounding counties. She briefly spoke with the group about demographics and population trends and the economic conditions and cost of living. Crystal also showed results from the business survey. A couple of the board members asked if our department would have the power to recommend how the Article 46 funds are used. Crystal mentioned that our Department could recommend an economic project and the County Manger would be the one to recommend that to the Board of County Commissioners.