Almost six months on the job, Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation CEO Peggy Friday told the county commissioners Tuesday it’s been a whirlwind.
As part of a brief KEDCO update, she also told them, “We have had two major site visits from companies that are interested in investing in our community. Just those two projects alone will bring 1,850 jobs to the county. We’re under NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) for these, but we’re hoping to make a major announcement or two after the first of the year.”
No other information on the companies or jobs was provided.
Friday said KEDCO also has been involved in the abatement process that the county has updated and adopted.
“Real proud of their work on the real estate tax abatements and worked with Project Racer in their site visit,” she said. “Our board has gone through training. We’ve brought in a facilitator and we talked about what the roles of an economic development board are.”
Shortly after that, Friday said they hosted a community conversation.
“Very thrilled to say that 10 of the 11 communities that we serve in Kosciusko County were there. They were able to share their wants, things that they didn’t want in their communities. We have a running list now, and after the first of the year we’ll be working with (Kosciusko County Community Coordinator) Amy Roe in working with these communities and setting up task forces to kind of grab the low-hanging fruit and see how we can assist these communities with growth,” she said.
KEDCO has had increased interactions with OrthoWorx, the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC).
“We are going to be making a major announcement. We have created with Purdue MEP (Manufacturing Extension Partnership) a grant discovery program that helps businesses locate local, state and federal grant opportunities and then help in the process of filing for those,” Friday said.
Additionally, she said she’s had countless meetings and plant tours at every level, focusing on business retention.
“I’m really excited about the growth of the staff. I challenged them when I came six months ago to find their passion as it relates to economic development, so now we’re doing housing, we’re doing strategic staff development, we’re working on projects,” she said. “We are working with Club 720 in attainable housing opportunities throughout the county. We literally have eight communities that have approached us and said, ‘Hey, help us identify sites and let’s tackle this attainable housing problem.’”
She concluded her update on KEDCO by thanking the commissioners for being so supportive of the organization. Commissioner Brad Jackson served on the board this past year and Commissioner Cary Groninger will serve on the board in 2025.
Friday then got to a request of $75,000 of the remaining $137,779 that is in the commissioners’ special projects fund set aside for KEDCO. Of the $75,000, a portion will be used for dues to the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership. The remainder will be used for a sponsorship level at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Indianapolis in 2025, hosted by the IEDC.
“And then, our goal for 2025 with our special projects opportunities with you, would be to see how we can partner with attainable housing,” Friday said. “... So we’ll be asking in 2025 to come to the commissioners and the council for possibly some support in helping our smaller communities with this pre-development work in attainable housing.”
Groninger made a motion to approve the $75,000, with Jackson seconding the motion and it was approved 3-0.
Jackson thanked Friday for all the work she and her staff have done.
“You guys have worked really hard, and I think we’re starting to see some fruit from that work pretty quickly. Normally, it takes a while to get the ground work laid and then you do the work and the fruit comes. But, it’s happening quick,” he said.
Friday said she was in a meeting Monday with one of the larger orthopedic officials and, “He said, ‘I am so glad to hear you say that KEDCO is getting back to economic development services. And I hear that constantly, and I think that the timing of everything is aligning and we’re just a piece of that puzzle. I’m just really proud to be a team player, so thank you.”