Industrial Development Board close to naming director
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The board has narrowed down the original field of 13 applicants to one name, and members voted to make him an offer at their regular monthly meeting Friday. Though this applicant has indicated he may want to schedule further meetings with the IDB, board members plan to ask him to make a decision within a week of being made an offer, allowing them to move on to other qualified applicants should he choose not to take the job.
“It’s not been easy,” IDB chairman Joe Hamby said of the long process. “Especially since we’ve had, I think, some good, quality applicants.”
The board is withholding the name of the applicant pending notification and final negotiations.
The IDB has achieved another objective with the city of McMinnville’s appointment of Mark Brown as its 10th member. The appointment brings equity of county and city representation on the board with five appointees from each governmental body.
Brown comes to the board from a well-known local business, Bob’s Central Air Conditioning, where he currently serves as president. Though not a Warren County native, he has lived here since 1969, attended school here and graduated from the local high school, so he is well-settled.
Brown accepted the appointment with the intention of using the skills he has learned in business to make a difference in the county.
“Well, I think obviously the goal of the Industrial Development Board is to increase the number of jobs in the county, to encourage economic development in this county. Whatever I can do to help that or offer my services, I’m willing to do,” Brown said.
Brown feels the gloves have come off as far as bringing in industry to the region, necessitating some possibly radical measures in order to attract industry.
“Industrial recruitment has become much more competitive over the past few years,” he said. “Surrounding counties are much more competitive than they used to be, and the county has got to do what it takes to keep up.”
He says one of the most important things in doing that is self-promotion.
“Some way we have to get the message out to prospective employers that Warren County is a good place to locate a business,” he said. “We do have a workforce that could be a benefit to them, and like I said, we’ve got to make competitive offers to encourage them to locate in Warren County.”
Brown also says he is not a proponent of the current economic perceptions being touted by some of the media, and feels the economy is basically healthy.
“The economy, from my perspective, is still a very good economy,” he said. “It’s a little bit slower than we’ve seen over the past two or three years, but certainly it’s not the doom and gloom that we often see from the national media. I think a lot of the problems with the economy are more just attitude and perception rather than any fundamental problems.”