The members of the Anson Economic Development Corporation spent most of their monthly meeting on Thursday reviewing the Fall Economic Summit, which was held the previous day, and discussing various economic development issues facing the county.

AEDC chairman Chuck Horne said he was particularly impressed with the afternoon portion of the meeting, which included Dan Parks of N.C. State University speaking on “Assets to Action” (see related story in Sept. 23 issue).

Fred Sparger said he thought the summit was “well done,” and commended organizers, South Piedmont Community College president Dr. Stan Sidor and Jennifer Joyner-Talbot.

Sparger also said he was impressed that Rep. Mark Brody drove down from budget talks in Raleigh, just for the summit, and drove back to Raleigh afterwards. “He seems to be bending over backwards to help us and that is commendable,” Sparger said.

The AEDC agreed to draft a letter of appreciation and send it to Rep. Brody.

While speaking of the newly approved state budget, Horne said he had received a bulleted list from the Southeast Regional Partnership, detailing some of the plans for economic development incentives. Horne said he understood that that Tier 1 counties like Anson may get double the match for economic incentives from the state.

Neva Helms, Rep. Brody’s assistant and daughter, was at the AEDC meeting and said that Brody was in the process of combing through the budget and had found numerous items of interest for Tier 1 counties. “He’s finding more and more things to benefit Anson County,” Helms said. “There are some things that only Tier 1 counties can get.”

Helms said she will get in touch with Horne and pass along any pertinent information.

In other business, AEDC vice chairman Don Scarborough said he felt that the public and the press should be questioning why Anson County has not had a county manager since Lawrence Gatewood retired in December.

“This public-private [economic development] partnership we’ve talked about,” he said, “How do we do that without two key people? We don’t have a county manager or an economic development director.”

Cooperative Extension director Janine Rywak said that the process is winding down and there are some viable candidates for the county manager position, but she was unsure how long the hiring process would take.

The AEDC also discussed moving the public-private partnership forward, and stressed the importance of identifying certified sites on which businesses could locate. TDA chairman Jeff Boothby has volunteered to work on a map, showing sites with access to water, sewer and natural gas in the county.

Wadesboro Town Manager Alex Sewell said he had some of that information, and would share it with the group, if needed.

The AEDC went into closed session, and will meet again on Nov. 19 at 7:30 a.m. at the Anson County Chamber of Commerce.

By Abby Cavenaugh

acavenaugh@civitasmedia.com

Editor Abby Cavenaugh may be reached at 704-694-2161, ext. 2301 or on Twitter @TheAnsonRecord.