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<br />Paris Economic Development Corporation <br />Board Meeting Minutes <br />October 9, 2007 <br /> <br />Board Members <br />Present: John Wright <br />Dick Severson <br />Chad Brown <br />Glen Bawcum <br />Dan Smith <br /> <br />Staff Present: Pete Kampfer <br />Rachel Schory <br /> <br />Ex Officio Members <br />Present: Kent McIlyar <br />Jesse Freelen <br /> <br />Guest Present: Laurin Prather <br /> <br />Dan Smith called the meeting to order at 4: 10 p.m. <br /> <br />Minutes from the September 20,2007 meeting were approved unanimously on a motion made by <br />John Wright seconded by Chad Brown. <br /> <br />Financial reports from the month of September have not been prepared by the City yet; they will <br />be distributed and acted on at the next Board meeting. <br /> <br />Pete Kampfer reported that he is currently implementing the recruiting phase of the strategic plan <br />by attending trade shows and recruitment visits in the next month. Mr. Kampfer advised that he presented <br />a quarterly report Monday night to the City Council. Jesse Freelen, mayor, verified that there were no <br />questions that arose as the result of the report. Mr. Kampfer also advised there was a retail development <br />presentation held at the Chamber on Monday afternoon. The presentation was not for the purpose of <br />discussing 4A or 4B sales tax issues. It was simply for a retail development consultant from Buxton to <br />present his services and how they could work for Paris. <br /> <br />Laurin Prather presented the findings of his completed target market assessment for Paris. A copy <br />of the report was presented to all board members. Points of concern that Mr. Prather pointed out as <br />needing attention were as follows: <br />Trained workforce-community education and labor force availability information needs to be updated <br />for the area. These figures will include true unemployment rate. <br />Primal)' targets-Mr. Prather introduced food manufacturing and plastics and rubber manufacturing as <br />primal)' targets of interest. These were recommended because of the availability of water in Paris and the <br />fact that Paris is an air attainment area at least until 20 10. <br />Marketing plan-ideas mentioned included Industrial Park fountain, constructing a spec building, and <br />maintaining regional/state group affiliations for marketing purposes. <br /> <br />Following Mr. Prather's presentation, the board discussed options for improving the city <br />aesthetically, such as tearing down the old building adjacent to the industrial park, as well as ways that the <br />board can become more involved in EDC operations (e.g. retention visits). It was decided that a <br />workshop for brainstorming and prioritizing would be held the first part of November. <br /> <br />With no further business to come before the board, the meeting was adjourned by Dan Smith at <br />5:55 p.m. on a motion by Glen Bawcum seconded by John Wright. <br /> <br />Respectfully submitted, <br />Rachel Schol)' <br />Administrative Assistant <br /> <br />< T T"'<<<1r .- <br />