EDAMinutes2022April7
MINUTES
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
| THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2022 |
A meeting of the Frederick County Economic Development Authority was held on
Thursday, April 7, 2022, at 8:00 A.M. in the County Administration Building, Board of
Supervisors Room, 107 North Kent Street, Winchester, Virginia.
PRESENT: Judy McCann-Slaughter, Doug Rinker, Susan Brooks, Heather McKay,
Stan Crockett, Rick Till, and Bryan Fairbanks.
STAFF: Patrick Barker, Wendy May, and Donna McIlwee, Frederick County Economic
Development Authority; Jay Tibbs, Deputy County Administrator; and Michael Bryan,
Attorney
MEETING CALLED TO ORDER: Chairman Rinker called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes from the March 10, 2022, meeting were presented.
On motion of Ms. McCann-Slaughter, seconded by Mr. Fairbanks, the minutes were approved
by the following recorded vote:
J. Stanley Crockett Aye
Susan Brooks Aye
Bryan Fairbanks Aye
Heather McKay Aye
Doug Rinker Aye
Judy McCann-Slaughter Aye
Rick Till Aye
TREASURER'S REPORTS
There was no Treasurer’s report due to the fact that the monthly statements had not been
received by the meeting date.
FREDCO EATS: RESTAURANT WEEK
Ms. May, EDA Marketing Manager, gave an overview of the inaugural event held January 31 to February
6, 2022. Fifteen County restaurants participated in the effort to cultivate and elevate the full scope of
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Frederick County EDA Meeting Minutes | April 7, 2022
Frederick County’s food economy. Participant survey results were shared, along with opportunities for
further development of Restaurant Week and FredCo Eats.
TARGET BUSINESS STUDY
Mr. Barker reported this month proceeds with steps 10 and 11 in the Target Industry Analysis
update and staff is providing the results for review and comment.
Step 10: Develop current product profile of the location:
A produce customer profile is an essential component of any target analysis. This step aids in
defining the target customer (i.e., business) for a product (i.e.,, Frederick County, VA). For the
purposes of the Target Industry Analysis, the economic development pitch points will serve in
this role. Summary details of the pitch points are provided:
• Frederick County, Virginia, welcomes new, quality companies and, more importantly,
provides continual resources and assistance (i.e., Widget Cup, Worlds of Work,
Manufacturing Week) to secure their future. We are a growing community of more
than 85,000 and the northernmost locality in Virginia, with a central East Coast location
only 90 minutes from Washington, D.C.
• Diversity within Frederick County’s business community includes expanding large-scale
and home-grown businesses, manufacturers, farms and agri-businesses, consumer
credit unions, retailers and back-end operations. With an award-winning healthcare
system and outstanding public education offerings, we are a community that residents
and businesses proudly call home.
• Frederick County’s robust workforce is drawn from a 45-minute drive time across
counties in Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia. Leading business development
programs, recognized higher-education institutions and organizational assistance make
us a top choice for companies looking to expand or relocate.
• More than $300 million has been invested in capital expenditure projects in Frederick
County in the past three years, and we continue to build and maintain partnerships with
our business and educational communities.
Step 11: Define most promising industry segments
In this step, we will select the industry sectors with the strongest likelihood of success for
Frederick County, VA. All of the previous steps have provided ample evidence to drive the
selection. The end goal throughout the process was to quantitively and qualitatively identify
Frederick County’s best fits relative to traded-sector industries, which are those industries that
would most benefit from Frederick County’s assets and would be willing to expand and/or
relocate to the area, as well as identifying those industries that bring value to Frederick County
in the form of investment, jobs, payroll and local purchasing.
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Frederick County EDA Meeting Minutes | April 7, 2022
Staff recommends advancing all sectors to value proposition development with some caveats.
Talent and sites/buildings were identified weaknesses for all sectors in the previous step.
Action plans with short-term solutions need to be developed and executed in earnest. The
talent action plan likely needs a deeper investigation to ensure proper career pathways for high
to moderate results with Potential Candidates per Opening for each sector.
Several caveats are worth mentioning for some sectors and understood as we progress into the
next step. Information Technology is recommended to focus on hyper-scale business activity.
Such development with multiple buildings is more likely to create an economic of scale to make
the cost of infrastructure (electric) and connectivity extensions feasible. For BioScience, some
effort will be needed to formulate a path to add volume to the number of related businesses.
Ms. McCann-Slaughter stated she felt it would be a good first step to incorporate Valley Health
and Shenandoah University into discussions about Bio-Science sector. Mr. Barker stated he
would like to talk to areas that have large clusters of Bio-Science to see what they did to attract
this sector.
Mr. Till inquired as to what is the benefit of having multiple like companies already here.
Mr. Crockett stated he feels a collaboration with Valley Health would be beneficial.
After discussion, the Board agreed to the three caveats shown on slides and gave their support
for what was presented in Steps 10 and 11.
JOINT MEETING WITH BOARD OF SUPERVISORS PREPARATION
Mr. Barker stated the annual joint meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 27, at 5:30 p.m.
and will focus on the current direction and activities of the EDA, as well as provide an
opportunity for the two Boards to discuss expectations for economic development.
The proposed agenda is:
• General overview of EDA’s mission
• Talent strategy implementation
• Targeted Business Analysis status update
• FredCo Eats – Inaugural Restaurant Week
• Grocery store attraction status update
• Update of planned activities from last year
Planned activities for the next 12 months include:
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Frederick County EDA Meeting Minutes | April 7, 2022
• Activity #1 | Partner with appropriate local and regional partners to create solutions for
current and projected workforce needs
• Activity #2| Encourage development of “ready to go” business properties
• Activity #3 | Engage in activities that support agribusiness entities
• Activity #4 | Continue collaborative marketing with Winchester Regional Airport
• Activity #5 | Complete an improvement plan for each target business sector
Mr. Barker stated staff is seeking EDA Board feedback regarding planned activities for the next
12 months.
Ms. McCann-Slaughter stated she feels a grocery store attraction update is important, as well
as addressing how to encourage development of “ready to go” business sites and how
important the educational system is to attracting businesses. Concerning sites and buildings,
what can the EDA do to facilitate what the sites need. Water and sewer seem to be a problem
and maybe grants for infrastructure needs could be applied for.
Mr. Till said the workforce initiative should be mentioned, i.e.,, Widget, WoW. He also
suggested a deeper partnership with schools---maybe a presentation to administrators and
others in the school system.
Ms. Brooks stated talent acquisition is important—how do we attract talent as well as keeping
them here versus commuting.
Mr. Crockett stated the talent potential in Frederick County is just as good as elsewhere, yet we
struggle to keep workers here---need to know what is drawing them out of the community.
CLOSED SESSION
Upon Motion duly made by Mr. Crockett, seconded by Ms. McCann-Slaughter, the Authority
unanimously RESOLVED to go into a closed meeting pursuant to Section 2.2-3711(A)(5) for the
discussion concerning a prospective business or industry where no previous announcement has
been made of the business or industry’s interest in locating or expanding its facilities in the
community.
RETURN TO OPEN MEETING
At the conclusion of the closed meeting concerning the discussion concerning a prospective
business or industry where no previous announcement has been made of the business or
industry’s interest in locating its facilities in the community, the following Resolution was
unanimously adopted upon roll call vote as set forth below:
WHEREAS, the Economic Development Authority of the County of Frederick, Virginia has
concluded its “closed meeting” at a meeting held on April 7, 2022, and desires return to an
“open meeting”; and
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Frederick County EDA Meeting Minutes | April 7, 2022
WHEREAS, the adoption of this Resolution is intended to serve as the “Certificate” described in
Section 2.2-3712(D) of the Code of Virginia (1950, as amended).
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Economic Development Authority of the County of
Frederick, Virginia does hereby reconvene in an “open meeting” at its meeting held on April 7,
2022; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that each and every Member of said Authority who votes in the
affirmative for this Resolution does thereby certify to the best of each Member’s knowledge
that only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements of the
Virginia Freedom of Information Act were heard, discussed or considered during the closed
meeting, and that only such public business matters as were identified in the Motion which
convened the closed meeting were heard, discussed or considered during the course of said
closed meeting by the Authority:
Roll Call Vote
J. Stanley Crockett Aye
Susan Brooks Aye
Bryan Fairbanks Aye
Heather McKay Aye
Doug Rinker Aye
Judy McCann-Slaughter Aye
Rick Till Aye
SUCH OTHER BUSINESS AS MAY COME BEFORE THIS AUTHORITY
Mr. Barker encouraged Board members to attend the Widget Cup today post 3 p.m.
ADJOURN
There being no further business to come before this Authority, the meeting was adjourned at
9:10 a.m.
________________________________ ____________________________
Doug Rinker Jay Tibbs
Chairman Secretary