By BETTINA PUCKETT, Shelbyville News
The executive director of the Shelby County Development Corp. defended his organization Tuesday, after the Shelby County Board of Commissioners voted Monday to cut the county’s contribution to the group from $50,000 down to a $3,500 corporate membership fee in calendar year 2006.
The money was cut from Shelby County’s 2006 Economic Development Income Tax plan, which has not yet been finalized.
Dan Theobald, who did not attend the Monday night meeting of the commissioners, disagreed with remarks made by Yale Schalk, a citizen activist, who said that other nearby counties have been disbanding their local economic development organizations in favor of joining regional or state groups.
“I’ve had many phone calls today from many people who are disgusted with the comments that were made,” Theobald said.
The goal of the SCDC is to not only bring jobs and industry to Shelby County but also to serve as “the middle man between the state and local businesses,” he said. The SCDC also works to bring training funds and applicable grants to Shelby County, so that local companies can stay vibrant, he said.
“We are the only economic development agency our county has,” Theobald said.
Rather than breaking up local economic development groups, a number of counties are investing more in those groups, he said. For instance, Rush County gives $100,000 to its economic development association. “They have boosted their (donation),” he said.
He described county economic development groups as active and strong.
And a spokesman for the Indiana Economic Development Corp. seemed to agree. “We are working on a state strategic economic plan,” Weston Sedgwick said from his Indianapolis office. “That will involve bringing the different regional groups together in a consolidated effort to promote state economic development.”
That plan should be completed by the beginning of 2006, he said.
“But as far as local and county economic development groups go, those are integral and important partners in a statewide development effort,” Sedgwick said.
Sedgwick described the Indiana Economic Development Corp. as “the premier agency for economic development.” The quasi public-private partnership was developed out of the former Indiana Department of Commerce.
Theobald said the SCDC works with the Indiana Economic Development Corp., as well as the Indy Partnership, which involves the economic development of Marion County and surrounding “doughnut” counties.
Much of the backlash against the SCDC stems from the organization buying advertisements that supported Tillison Farms, a controversial two-county development that was turned down last summer by the county commissioners.
But Theobald defended the nonprofit group buying the ads. “We’re a marketing group,” he said. “That’s what we do. We market the community.”
Theobald said the SCDC placed the ads so the group could present its point of view in the wake of printed comments from the opposing side that he said were not factual. He said the anti-Tillison Farms group was “getting the ink” and the SCDC wasn’t.
“That’s why we contracted with The Shelbyville News to do these ads,” he said. “We wanted to show the real truth.”
In the minutes of an Aug. 18 SCDC meeting, member Larry Martin gave a financial report and informed the board that the only matter of concern was that money from Shelby County had not yet been received. “Larry stated that as long as the money is received from the county, SCDC will be in good shape.”
At Monday’s meeting of the commissioners, Theobald is scheduled to make a presentation about the SCDC and how it is utilizing taxpayers’ money. The three county commissioners emphasized that they expect all groups that receive EDIT money to make at least an annual financial report.
“We’re going to lay it out,” Theobald said of the upcoming presentation. “It will be a lengthy presentation.”
Part of the presentation will feature the SCDC’s accomplishments, including its efforts to bring a new biodiesel plant to Morristown, Theobald said.
Doug Warnecke, president of the commissioners, said Tuesday that he expects a very detailed presentation from the SCDC on what the organization does, how it is funded, its accomplishments and what its goals are.
“The SCDC still has a role and a function, and we should not feel free to discard that,” Warnecke said. “There is no reason to kill the organization.”
In the past, the Shelby County Council has always supported the commissioners’ plan for EDIT money, Warnecke said. But the council — not the board of commissioners — is the body that actually “writes the checks,” he said.
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