Minutes 10/23/1997 - Laserfiche WebLink

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1997 A special and duly-called meeting of the Council of the City of Martinsville, Virginia, with Mayor George B. Adams, Jr. presiding, was held Thursday, October 23, 1997, in the Circuit Court Courtroom, City Hall, beginning at 5:00 P.M. The purpose of the meeting was a Special Joint Meeting with the Henry County Board of Supervisors. All members of Council were present: George B. Adams, Jr., Mayor; Dr. Mark A. Crabtree, Vice-Mayor; Bruce H. T. Dallas; Elizabeth H. Haskell; and M. Gene Teague. All members of the Henry County Board of Supervisors were present as well: Chairman Jack E. Dalton; R. E. Seidle; Paula M. BurneRe; Debra Buchanan; H. G. Vaughn; and Samuel J. Pilson The first item on the agenda was a briefing by Ms. Sherry Ramsey, Executive Director of the Patrick Henry Development Council, on the organization' s Business Recruitment and Retention efforts during the period ' 1997/1998. Ms. Ramsey first distributed a written report. With regard to new business recruitment, Ms. Ramsey stated that the key targeted industries for the area were electronics, plastics, and back office industry. She went on to describe how and why these industries had been chosen, the specific marketing approaches being used to solicit each, and the inventory of land and buildings available to support the needs of such operations. Ms. Ramsey then proceeded to describe the efforts being taken to encourage existing industry expansion, citing Drake Extrusion, Amfibe, American Fiber Industries, Nationwide Homes, American of Martinsville, and Bassett Walker as examples of success in this area of effort. Next, Ms. Ramsey discussed the critical issues identified for future economic success and growth in the area. These were stated as needed improvements in local labor sldlls, Transportation capability, and Communications. She stated that education, transportation, and infrastructure would be the real keys to our success. Ms. Ramsey closed by stating that the PHDC' s primary objective is to effectively market the community for economic growth, and emphasized that our successes have been as a result of excellent team efforts. Chairman Jack Dalton then began general discussion by stating that the PHDC has done a good job, and that the impact of recent job losses in the community would have been much greater had it not been for the PHDC's efforts. Councilmember Teague then asked how the Council and Board could further help to assist the PHDC's efforts, to which Ms. Ramsey