Greetings and welcome to Friday! Also welcome to August!
Thanks to all who attended the Board of Directors meeting yesterday, and a super-thank you for being patient with the technology – it’s tricky doing a hybrid Zoom/In-Person meeting with a presentation shown both on a screen and via a Zoom screen share – and it looks like the Port’s RV-Park wifi got a little bogged down close to 5pm as folks started streaming their five-o’clock news – but we made it happen! Thanks so much!
Here’s our EDALC update for the week:
====
Enterprise Zone Re-Designation – Just a repeat of what I was jazzed about at the end of our meeting – just before I left for the Port, I received the official signed notification from the State of Oregon that our EZ is officially re-designated and active. Huzzah! Next week, I’ll begin work on a press release.
Regional Opportunity Initiative – On Monday we had a virtual meeting to discuss the Rural Opportunity Initiative program and how it might look here in Lincoln County. Melissa Murphy invited numerous county stakeholders to the table, and we had folks there from Lincoln City, Newport and Toledo. The program is a six year phased program to blend local dollars and Business Oregon dollars to the end of supporting Lincoln County entrepreneurs and shoring up and developing our local entrepreneurial ecosystem (which is one of our key priorities and also one of my passions). The municipalities on the call were very supportive and at times downright enthusiastic. We’ll be working with Melissa Murphy to draft a local application once the RFP drops (any day now). Currently, I’m working on thinking through the initial projects that could be part of the first two years in the program.
Draft EDALC Budget – Since so much is still in flux for our short-term funding, I’m operating as inexpensively as possible until things come into better focus and we can nail down an official budget. But as I said in our meeting last night, I’ve put together a pair of budgets – one is bare bones minimum and the other is “aspirational” (my hope would be that our budget looks like that in two to three years) – I’ve attached the PDF to this update so you can take a look. Hit me with any questions, comments or ideas.
Newport Airport Development – I met this week with Mark Watkins at our office. He just entered into a 30 year lease with the City of Newport to develop 10 across of flat, light-industrial property at the airport. The initial meeting was mostly me listening and working to understand his goals – we each came away with some to-dos and will be meeting again in about ten days to start formulating a battle plan going forward.
Mini Speaking Tour – This Thursday, I gave a presentation to the Newport Rotary club on economic development – it was a huge hit, and folks came away quite jazzed and excited about what we’re doing. Next week, I’ll be revisiting the same presentation at the Lincoln City Rotary Club – we’re getting the word out there!
Update to the County Board of Commissioners – Bob and I will be delivering an EDALC update to the County Board of Commissioners on Monday at 3pm. During our agenda slot, we’ll also discuss splitting off a chunk of the Community and Economic Development Grant funds to fund a single larger-scale project in addition to the traditional smaller projects.
As a reminder – your Board of Directors resource page is here:
Also, please don’t forget to Like our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/EconDevLincolnCounty
Thanks for ALL that you are doing out there! Please reach out to me if you need anything at all.
Cheers,
-Paul 🙂