Jay County hanging tough

Despite a tough economic climate across the state and nation, local efforts in economic and community development have allowed Jay County to hold its own.

Members of the board of directors of Jay County Development Corporation and guests at the group’s annual meeting Tuesday got a look back at the past year and a look ahead from JCDC staff and the board president.

“JCDC did see another successful year ... both in terms of economic development and community development,” JCDC board president Chuck Huffman said during his remarks at the meeting, held in the library at Jay County High School.

Also providing a summary of activities and plans were JCDC executive director Robert Quadrozzi and Jay County community developer Wayne Bailey. The community development position was added four years ago and is under the umbrella of JCDC.

Quadrozzi, who has served as executive director of JCDC for almost 13 years, said several expansions and smaller-scale projects made the past fiscal year a decent one in terms of economic development in Jay County.

And he also highlighted efforts to make the future even better — including an update of the organization’s strategic development plan which is currently under way.

Among the major “traditional” success stories are an ongoing expansion at FCC (Indiana) along with several other new or expansions of small manufacturers across the county.

While stressing the importance of developing the county’s traditional manufacturing base, Quadrozzi also pointed out a need to think “outside of the box” for economic development.

Local efforts along those lines in the past year included assistance in plans for an extreme sports facility in the Portland Industrial Park and construction of a building for Gym City gymnastics.

Bailey, who is the first and only community developer in Jay County, gave an outline of recent and planned activities. The position of community developer, which was initially proposed as a countywide chamber of commerce, has evolved largely into a grant writer.

The majority of Bailey’s time and efforts have been spent in seeking grant funding for community projects.

“We didn’t expect (grants) to be as big a chunk (of the job) as it has — especially in the last year and a half,” Bailey said.

Since he began work, a total of $1.6 million in grants have been awarded for projects in Jay County, and another $2 million in requests is pending.

Having a community developer available as a resource has helped all local communities — but especially the towns (Redkey, Pennville, Bryant and Salamonia) — plan ahead and do projects that might have been delayed without that assistance.

Bailey praised the level of involvement by members of local communities, and thanked local officials and JCDC board members for their support in the past year.

“Myself and (wife) Melinda thank you for the opportunity ... to raise our kids in Jay County,” Bailey said.

The nature of the American work force has changed dramatically in the past 30 to 40 years, Quadrozzi said during his report, with 40 to 50 percent of the jobs nationwide now related to providing some type of information, 30 to 40 percent in service, 5 to 8 percent in manufacturing, and 2 percent in feeding the U.S. population.

“If 40 to 50 percent of the jobs are in information ..., how does Jay County get those jobs?” Quadrozzi asked.

He said efforts are continuing through a JCDC committee to attract a provider of high-speed Internet service on a countywide level.

Among the challenges facing the county in the coming and future years, Quadrozzi said, is improving efforts at developing a hard-working, well-trained work force — an effort that should include a focus on the area’s growing Hispanic population.

A meeting to provide input on the strategic development plan update will be held Thursday, Oct. 7, from 6 to 9 p.m. in the cafeteria at East Jay Middle School, Quadrozzi said Tuesday.[[In-content Ad]]