By Dave Evensen, The Republic Reporter
NASHVILLE — Howard Hughes remembers that years ago, the only manufacturer in Brown County was Column Broom Factory in Helmsburg.
The factory employed three people.
County business has progressed since then, but not enough, according to county economic development officials. Too many kids, they said, still vanish from the area after school.
Even tourism, the county’s backbone, can no longer be taken for granted, officials said, with the advent of other day attractions such as a planned casino in Orange County providing a new option for travelers.
Unease with the area’s economic future has led to action. The county recently approved spending $26,000 in 2005 to hire Jeanne Robinson as director of Brown County Economic Development Commission.
The EDC has existed since 1990, but this is the first time the director has been paid.
Robinson, a Brown County resident, has handled similar duties. She’s directed Greater Greenwood Chamber of Commerce, Bedford Chamber of Commerce and Bedford Urban Enterprise Zone.
After 15 years, said Hughes, president of the EDC, the organization needed a new direction.
“The feeling is you’ve got to have somebody paid (as director),” he said. “This volunteerism doesn’t get anything done.”
Other events moved the decision along. Hughes, appointed by the Nashville Town Council, sold his car washes in Columbus and had more time on his hands. Blake Wolpert, board member and county commissioner, asked for money from the county, and got it.
Lincoln Bank in Nashville donated office space and furniture.
The EDC’s goal is to produce well-paying jobs within Brown County, but such efforts are particularly complicated in this rural area west of Columbus. Economic development, nature and the arts can be a volatile mix.
Progress, after all, sometimes comes in the form of smokestacks and nose-curling smells.
“We want to continue to grow, but not obviously,” Robinson said.
Paul Schulteis, interim executive director of Brown County Chamber of Commerce, which works with the commission, put the popular sentiment another way.
“We don’t want to see it, smell it or hear it,” he said, of any new economic development. “When you think about Brown County, it’s pretty obvious.”
Wayne Waldron, owner of The Waldron Gallery and chairman of the Brown County Arts and Cultural Commission, pointed out that Brown County is approaching its 100th year as an art colony.
As new businesses are being lured, the local arts industry, comprised of an estimated 300 art studios, is trying to increase its presence.
“The economy is based on tourism,” Waldron said. “Our destination brand is the art colony.”
Economic development officials such as Robinson, then, have the task of balancing the new and old priorities. They said both can be satisfied.
“We don’t really want to change the fundamental nature of the county,” Hughes said. “We would like to have industry and business that give people quality jobs and have low impact.”
They’re confronted by hard numbers, however. Tourism jobs, while widespread in Brown County, typically pay less than the county’s average per capita income of $28,068 (in 2003), Schultheis said, as many people commute to Bloomington, Columbus and the Indianapolis area for work.
“Long term, we need a better base,” Hughes said. “Where your children can come back here after college. A lot of people want to come back, but can’t.”
Economic plans
According to the Plan Commission, only a few plots of land in Brown County have been zoned industrial. They include an auto parts business in Gnaw Bone, an excavating business off Indiana 46, gas tanks off Indiana 135, and a sawmill in Helmsburg.
The vast majority of county land is zoned residential, according to the commission. Economic incentives such as tax abatements for new companies have not been used.
Economic development officials want to tip the scales a little bit. One plan, Schultheis said, calls for the creation of a small “employer park” — they want to avoid the term “industrial park” — in the county for low-impact businesses.
The idea came from discussions between the Strategic Development Group in Bloomington and the chamber, Schultheis said. They have begun scouting for land.
“It would not be a project that would initially create a big number of jobs, but it would help with taxes,” he said. “It would be a start.”
The Chamber and EDC said desirable, low-impact businesses would include software companies and other high-tech, low-profile endeavors.
Both also agreed that the arts should be further pursued as an economic opportunity. Officials have conducted feasibility studies for a new arts and cultural center that might host classes and seminars.
“There’s a lot of people here interested in seeing (development of the arts) come about, and not just in the arts sector,” Waldron said.
The balance is clear to Robinson. She said she’s met no reluctance from the community in her efforts to draw new business, but she knows Brown County’s heritage is still held dear by the area’s residents.
“I think (the attitude toward her new role) is, ‘Wait and see,’” she said.