25 S. Garden Street · PO Box 1289 · Marion, NC 28752
Phone [828] 652-9391 · Fax [828] 652-8775
Email: meda@mcdowell.main.nc.us

MEDA Quarterly News                 JUL-SEP 2001 / Vol. 4

McDowell Economic Development Association, Inc.

25 South Garden Street

P.O. Box 1289

Marion, NC 28752

MEDA NEWS & UPDATES

     The McDowell Economic Development Association has been involved in quite a number of activities over the past several months.  The following serves to summarize these activities.

     The first Industry Appreciation Event was held in June at Tom Johnson’s Camping Center and Rally Park.  Twenty local manufacturing companies participated with product display booths demonstrating a variety of products manufactured in this County.  The guest speaker for the event was the Manager of Industrial Recruitment for the North Carolina Department of Commerce, Mr. Bill J. Stephens.  The event was coordinated with the City of Marion and visiting Mayors from across the Country attended as guests.  The Baxter’s Bar-B-Que Team prepared the meal and a large number of volunteers assisted with the event.  It is estimated that over 300 people attended the Product Display.  We would like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation to Tom Johnson for making the facility available, to the Baxter’s BBQ team for the wonderful meal and to all of those that volunteered and supported the event.  It is our hope that an event of some type will be held annually to recognize the value of our existing companies to the community.

      The first meeting of the newly established “CEO Leadership Council” was held in early September to discuss the feasibility and the possible benefit of formally establishing a council in McDowell County.  Approximately eight companies attended the meeting as well as members of the “Industry Visitation Team”.  The speakers for the meeting were Barry Shope and Mike McManus with the Western North Carolina Manufacturing Association.  Mr. Shope reviewed the accomplishments of the Western NC Manufacturing Association and the advantages to establishing such an organization in McDowell County.  The consensus of those attending was that such an organization would be helpful as long as the agendas were specific and the meetings “business oriented”.  It was agreed that the Leadership Council would meet again on November 13th at noon with the location to be announced at a later date.

     MEDA and McDowell County recently announced an expansion by a local company that will construct a 7800 SF facility and employ 10 to 15 new employees.  The business is a sheet metal fabrication company that will locate on Barnes Road south of Marion.  ALL Mechanical & Construction Co., Inc. will begin construction of their facility in the fall of 2001.

     The Industry Visitation Program continues with a focus on two “theme areas” that have been identified.  Representatives from the HR Association are meeting and addressing issues related to the theme of “Workforce Development”.  It is hoped that the newly created CEO Leadership Council would handle the second theme of “Appreciating the Value of Industry”.

     A number of water and sewer projects are underway or are in the planning process.  The extension of water and sewer to Performance Rail on Hwy 221 South is complete and will include hook-ups to Haldex and Glenwood Elementary School.  The extension of sewer to Crane Resistoflex and the Pleasant Gardens Elementary School will be bid this month and the target date to initiate the project is December.  Discussions continue between the City of Marion and the Department of Transportation to provide for the extension of water on Shady Lane to the Ashworth Road interchange area.  McDowell County received a 3 million-dollar grant to extend sewer and water into the East Marion/Stumptown area.  The Town of Old Fort received a 3 million-dollar grant to upgrade their sewer infrastructure.  McDowell County is pursuing an assessment and feasibility study of a water filtration plant in the Nebo community. 

     A feasibility study of a 300-acre business/industrial park located at the Ashworth Road intersection on I-40 is taking place and will be complete within nine months.  The review team will include representatives from McDowell County, the City of Marion, AdvantageWest, Duke Power and the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

     The MEDA Board met on September 25, 2001 at McDowell Technical Community College to conduct their Annual Retreat/Planning workshop.  A document laying out the goals and objectives for the next year is being drafted and will be included in the next newsletter.

     Individuals may be interested in knowing that discussions are taking place to provide for the extension of Natural Gas service from the current location at Resolution Packaging in Marion to the YMCA site and the McDowell Hospital.  These discussions have included the City of Marion, McDowell County and the NC Department of Transportation and would take place in conjunction with the widening of Sugar Hill Road.  This widening project is scheduled to begin in August of 2002.

  McDowell County: A Product for Businesses

Raymond Burrows

NC Department of Commerce

     Editor’s Note: Information in this column is based upon the program, “Marketing for Economic Development Professionals,” conducted by Eric P. Canada for the American Economic Development Council.

     As in previous articles, the universality of consumer marketing experienced by all of us, will help us understand how businesses view a community when seeking new location or a need to expand.

     In the first article, “Marketing McDowell”, General Electric’s recognition in the early 50’s that a refrigerator, for example, does more than keep food fresh longer, was a marketing “epiphany”!  Color, capacity and accessories met intangible consumer desires which communicate a family’s tastes, lifestyle and image—creating added value and increasing purchasing demand.

     From this consumer change, by the early 1960’s, industry had its own “epiphany” and recognized that “WHAT PRODUCTS DO FOR A COMPANY’S PROCESS AND PROFIT” is more important than describing the product’s features such as power, strength, quality and similar attributes.  For example, when a company buys a drill bit it buys the ability to make holes.  Similarly, purchasing a nail or screw provides the ability to fasten things together.  This concept, for example, created the fastener industry with major manufacturers producing a wide range of products which now include nails, screws, nuts and bolts, staples, adhesives, and many other products that “fasten”. 

     Similarly, services for businesses, such as accounting, insurance and financing which (1) provide the ability to measure performance, (2) the ability to rebuild/ recover in case of fire or storm, theft or other disasters and (3) supply capital for growth are increasingly being consolidated as “one shop service companies”. This is particularly apparent in the field of consulting where the major consultants grew from accounting expertise to the largest management consulting companies.

     Businesses seeking a location for expansion or growth can be viewed similar to the purchase by a large corporation like GE, Boeing, General Motors and others of a multi-million dollar system.  There are specific technical aspects that the system must provide but there are intangibles such as reputation for service, follow-up after the sale, effective cooperation and communication during installation, which influence the decision.

     Perhaps as important as tangible specifics are the psychological aspects of large corporate purchases, which also exist for a site location selection team.  That is, no one wants to recommend a decision that widely differs from top management’s expectations.  That is the reason that often a high proportion of purchases by a business go to a proven vendor whose products and supporting services have been successful year after year.

     Based upon wide experience a list of expressed needs of businesses follows. Opposite each need are descriptive community characteristics, which a county and its communities must consider when, responding to a potential location client. 

     The list is not in order of importance or priorities because those attributes vary with each business.  The list, however, includes the most common community attributes, which a company will consider and evaluate.  It also illustrates the complexity of a community’s ability to sustain a healthy, growing economy for its citizens.

ADULT BASIC SKILLS

     The McDowell Technical Community College, through its partnership with the JobLink Career Center, offers to the people of McDowell County the Adult Basic Skills Program.

     Adult Basic Skills is designed to provide educational opportunities for adults, sixteen years of age and older, who are out of school, do not have a high school diploma or lack sufficient mastery of basic education skills required to function effectively and competitively in today’s society.  At the JobLink Career Center, the Adult Basic Skills Program offers instruction in three basic areas: Adult Basic Education (ABE), English as a Second Language (ESL), and General Educational Development (GED).

     Adults coming to Basic Skills for services are as varied as their reasons for coming.  The ABE component is designed to assist those students who function at less that a high school level.  Students enrolled are those seeking to strengthen their math, reading, writing, or computer skills.  These students will come in “to learn how to read” or “to learn how to do fractions” in order to help their children with homework.  They know the limitations that the lack of good math and reading/writing skills imposes upon their children’s futures.

     The influx of immigrant workers to McDowell County has brought many students to the ESL program.  These students also express a desire to help their children with school, get their driver’s license, get their U.S. Citizenship, and in order to do this they know that they must gain proficiency in English.

     Currently, GED students comprise the largest of the Adult Basic Skills population.  Some of these students must get their GED in order to enter college, while for some self-gratification is the motivating factor as recently exhibited by two of our 70 and 80 something-year-old graduates.  Minors who have dropped out of school may retain their driving privileges by enrolling in the GED program and meeting state requirements.

     These same Basic Skill services are also offered through McDowell Tech’s “Mom’s and More” mobile classroom.  Complete with computers, the Moms and More bus visits various sites throughout the county.  Through the generosity of St. John’s Episcopal Church and a state grant, Basic Skill’s conducts a Family Literacy program located in the church’s parish hall.  Students are not only able to study their basic skills or GED prep, but child care, early childhood education, and parenting groups and are all available to them.

     In common, all of these students have realized the importance of obtaining their GED’s, improving their math, reading, and writing skills in order to accomplish “employability” goals.  To this end, students are tested with a Workplace Appraisal, ESL Appraisal, or Life Skills Appraisal upon entry into the program in order to assess their needs.  Their course of study is then directed to the skills necessary for them to become competitive in the job market.

     The JobLink lens itself as an ideal setting for the Adult Basic Skills program.  All instructors and staff partnered at the JobLink, Shelba Murray, Director of Basic Skills and Jerry Broome, JobLink Coordinator have dedicated themselves to “partnering” with the students in helping them achieve their goals, whatever they may be.

            Classes at the JobLink are scheduled as follows:

                        Mondays through Thursdays from 8:00 AM to 8:30 PM and

                        Fridays from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

            For further information, please contact:

                        Shelba Murray, Director of Basic Skills (at McDowell Tech) 652-0657 or

                        Terry Andrews (at the JobLink) 659-6001.

ESC Report

Patin Howard

Employment Security Commission

     McDowell’s estimated Unemployment (UI) Rates for 2001 have been consistently higher than Estimated UI Rates for the years 1998 through 2000.  Estimated UI Rates have been above 7 percent from March through August with significant increases of 3 plus percentage points recorded for April, May, June and August of 2001.  While manufacturing sector lay offs continue to account for most of the change, service sector lay offs have increased in the recent months.

MEDA Membership

     We are still working on increasing the MEDA membership. The MEDA is the local agency responsible for the development and retention of existing industry and the recruitment of new companies that serve to diversify and improve the local economy.  Your membership funds are used for a variety of services directly related to providing support to our existing companies and to assist with the recruitment of new business and investment to our community.  If you have not returned your membership invoice, mailed with the last newsletter, we ask that you do so today.  If for some reason you did not receive one we will be glad to get on to you, just call Harriet Smith at 828-652-9391 and we will get one in the mail or faxed to you. We would like to thank you in advance for your support.

  Current MEDA Board Members

David Wooten, President
Kathy Rabb, Vice President
J.B. Bundy, Secretary/Treasurer
John R. Biddix
Joe Kaylor
Sarah Buchanan
Jim Kilbourne
Everette Clark
Ray Linder
William Dover
Dr. Virginia Mitchell
Larry “Butch” Hogan
Garland Norton
Adolph “Butch” Justice
Dennis Whitson

Ex-Officio Members

            Rod Birdsong
           Bob Boyette
           Rep. Mitch Gillespie
           Paul Hughes
           Dean Kanipe

MEDA Office Staff

             Executive Director    Charles R. Abernathy
            Office Manager      Harriet C. Smith