HomeMy WebLinkAboutMay 13, 2025 Minutes Approved ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY BOARD
May 13, 2025
Whitted Building —Room #230
300 West Tryon
Hillsborough, NC 27278
Minutes
Members Present: Joy Mercer, Elise Tyler, Lisa Kaylie, Estella Johnson, Tom Proctor, Kristen Young,
Emilee Collins
Members Not Present: Hasan Abdullah, John Kim, Jane Saiers
Orange County Staff: Steve Brantley, Amanda Garner, Lindsey Hirni
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Kristen Young at 11:45 a.m.
Approval of Minutes
A motion was made by Elise Tyler and seconded by Estella Johnson to approve the Minutes from the
March 11,2025 meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
Old Business
Kristen Young prompted the board members to review the 5 new applicants for the 3 vacancies on the
Economic Development Advisory Board. The board members briefly spoke about a couple of the
applicants and were instructed to write their votes down for who they would like to nominate. The votes
were tallied at the end of the meeting and a motion was made by Emilee Collins and seconded by Joy
Mercer to recommend Dr. Ivy Taylor(UNC position), and Camila Hargett and Sharon Hill for the 2 Core
Business Community positions to the Board of County Commissioners. The motion passed unanimously.
New Business
The board held Elections for a new Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary. A motion was made by Elise Tyler
and was seconded by Kristen Young to nominate Emilee Collins for the Chair position. The motion
passed unanimously. Elise agreed to remain as the Vice Chair and Joy Mercer volunteered for the
Secretary position.
Steve Brantley mentioned that we would like to extend an invitation to our members coming off the board
to attend the July 81" meeting since Crystal Morphis will be presenting the draft of our Economic
Development Department's Strategic Plan.
Steve presented the current grant activity for FY24-25 and informed the board that the County Manager
has approved the start-up grant to be removed from the program moving forward. The board spoke
about the guidelines and made some recommendations about how to focus on helping small businesses
in Orange County with the grant program. Steve invited any board members interested in joining the
grant subcommittee to let us know since both Kristen and Tom are coming off at the end of their term.
Lisa Kaylie volunteered to serve on the grant subcommittee.
Director's Report:
Steve provided an update on the commercial and industrial projects in Orange County.
Adjournment
Kristen Young adjourned the meeting at 1:05 PM