HomeMy WebLinkAboutSeptember 9, 2025 Minutes Approved 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.
Crystal reminded the board that this plan would not be an easy and she suggests the we hire additional
support for our staff. Amanda asked if anyone had perspective from other boards or groups that they sit
on. Dr. Ivy Taylor asked about commercial use in the EDD and Crystal said that designated area is meant
for Industrial use. Crystal also pointed out that our County is the only one in North Carolina that has the
cent sales tax so we are in a unique position with this funding.
New Business
Amanda Garner informed the board members about our updated Grant Guidelines and the new
application schedule would be three times a year with the deadlines being October 31, February 28 and
June 30. She mentioned that we still had one vacant position on the grant committee to see if anyone
would like to volunteer for that role. Sharon Hill agreed to be on the grant review committee.
Adjournment
Emilee Collins adjourned the meeting at 12:58 PM