Graham
Revitalization Economic
Action Team
Minutes
Location:
Fontana Village Resort, Carolina Room
Sponsors:
Fontana Village
Call Meeting to Order: Rick
Davis, G.R.E.A.T. Director, called the meeting to order at 12:00 PM.
Mr. Davis welcomed and thanked everyone for attending and participating
in the meeting and then recognized Claudie Burchfield, President of G.R.E.A.T.
to facilitate the meeting.
Claudie Burchfield recognized
the sponsor representatives and thanked them for the wonderful meal and for
sponsoring the meeting. Jeanie
Stewart with Fontana Village welcomed everyone to the Village and showed her
delight in being able to host the meeting at Fontana to show the importance of
local involvement and team work. Mrs.
Stewart gave a briefing of the Village and how it has change and improved over
the last five years.
Randy Everhart with Stanley
Furniture welcomed the thank you and gave a brief summary of the growth and
future of Stanley Furniture. Mr.
Everhart stated that in the past two years more than 200 jobs have been added to
Stanley’s workforce in Robbinsville for a total of 525 employees to date.
Approval of Minutes of Previous
Meeting: The
minutes from the January 21, 2010 annual meeting were approved with a motion by
Lynn Shields and a second by Beverly Whitehead.
Approval of the Agenda:
The agenda was approved on a motion by
Yvette Carringer and second by Lynn Shields.
Reports/Discussion
Items
A.
Committee Reports
Ø
Economic
Development, Business and Industry – Claudie Burchfield
The
Economic Development Committee met on March 10th at Stecoah Valley
Center. The meeting included
discussion on tourism initiatives, broadband, and entrepreneurships.
The committee has plans to implement a survey in the summer of 2010 to
find out from tourist within the county about their experience travelling in the
county and give them an opportunity to offer recommendations.
Another initiative of the committee is to update county resources.
Ø
Education
and Workforce Development –Rhonda Anderson
The
Education and Workforce Development committee met on March 9th.
Discussion included funding possibilities for the Dolly Parton Library
Program. A representative will be
available at the Fun Fest during the Ramp Festival in April for registration for
the program. Jim Mize gave a
brief report on the progress and registration of the Dolly Parton Library
Program. Mrs. Anderson discussed
the progress of the schools building project reporting that the trusses had been
placed. The committee is presenting
a grant to Alcoa on March 31 for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and
Math) program.
Ø
Tourism
and Mountain Culture – Lynn Shields
The
Tourism and Mountain Culture committee met on March 8th with three
major issues discussed. The first
was to work in collaboration with Cheri Brantley, Graham County Tourism
Director, in expanding from the 2004 Heritage Plan in developing a comprehensive
tourism plan for the county. The
new plan would include all forms of tourism in the county.
The committee hosted a Regional Tourism Partnership forum including five
Chamber of Commerce representatives.
Ø
Revitalization
and Infrastructure – Rick Davis
The
main focus for the committee is bringing more internet access to the county.
They are working on a proposal to use Federal Stimulus Funds for the
placement of wireless towers to supply internet to county residents.
Brenda Artiss presented on the progress of the Rural Center Proposal
submitted in February for funding a part of the revitalization of Robbinsville.
Mrs. Artiss stated that the proposal had made it through the first round
and that Art Jackson with the Rural Center would be in the area today for a
tour.
Ø
Recreation,
Natural Resources and Water Quality- Michael Wiggins
Laura
Stull with Federal Forest Service talked about a conservation program called Conservation Begins Here (See attached Flyer).
The program will allow the local Forestry office to hire ten college or
graduating seniors to do trail work for May – September in the area.
They would get $290 per week allowance and an opportunity to apply for a
$1,300 scholarship if they are enrolled in an academic program.
Joe
Bonnette presented on the Partners of Joyce Kilmer Slickrock Wilderness. Mr. Bonnette stated they are working toward a 501(c)(3)
approval. The next meeting is
scheduled for April 21 at 1:00 PM at the Forest Service building on Massey
Branch.
Arlene
Higgins stated that the third Clean Sweep is set for April 17th from
9-12. In each of the last Clean
Sweeps, 30 individuals volunteered picking up an average of 80 bags of trash.
Ø
Leadership
and Government – Mike Harwood
Lynn
Shields presented for Teresa Garland on the 4-H program.
The local 4-H clubs are working in conjunction with the North Carolina
Association of County Commissioners to involve youth in identifying issues that
youth are facing in today’s society. The
local group will be presenting to the North Carolina Association of County
Commissioners in August on the findings.
Mike
Harwood will now be chairing this committee and gave a statement concerning
Phillips and Jordan and indicated they have copying and banner services
available to individuals when needed.
Rick
Davis recognized Teresa Garland for her hard work and dedication to the
G.R.E.A.T. committee since the start. Mr.
Davis then stated that the G.R.E.A.T. committee will be co-hosting with the
Graham Star two political forums on April 22 and 29.
This will include an invitation to all 15 candidates for commissioner.
Questions will need to be submitted to the Graham Star prior to the
forums. The questions will need to be a group question and not an
individual approach. This is part
of the supportive nature of G.R.E.A.T. in relation to political structure.
Ø
Health
and Social – Alicia Parham
Alicia
Parham gave an update on the School Based Health Center funding. The Year 3
HealthNet Allocations has agreed to fund the center for $60,000, Glaxo Smith
Klien (Ribbon of Hope) has invited Alicia to attend a luncheon for their
program. The Ribbon of Hope grant
is for $25,000 to support expansion of Mental Health into the Elementary School.
Additional grants are pending with Janirve Foundation for $25,000 for
Mental Health and with Golden Leaf for $46,000 for Medical.
If each of these grants is awarded, funding will be secure for the next
two years for the Robbinsville School Based Health Center. Yea
Access
to Care has been given a verbal approval by the Appalachian Regional Commission
(ARC) for 52,000 for first year expenses in operation of a free clinic at the
Graham County Public Health Facility. Additional
funds of $7,500 each have been committed by Graham County and The Town of
Robbinsville. Matching funds are
also committed to by the Year 3 HealthNet Allocation of $50,000. This will secure funding to operate a Free Clinic (Hilltop
Health Care) for the first year for one half day a week.
Another
project that is in the works is to contract with the North Carolina Baptist
Men’s Association Dental Bus. The bus would serve the area for two days
offering free dental services. Carol
Millsaps and Ruth King have volunteered to direct this initiative with the
volunteer dental services of Dr. Rory Fredrick and Dr. Patrick Kelley.
B.
G.R.E.A.T. Financial Report – Lynn Shields
Lynn
Shields presented the financial report (See Report).
Ending balance of the checking account as of February 28, 2010, was
$3,152.38. Ending balance of the
Money Market Account as of February 28, 2010, was $60,248.60.
C.
Regional Updates
Ø
Robert
Hawk, Community Development and Natural Resources
Mr.
Hawk gave an update on the services and training they offer including a training
session on Building Stronger Communities
through Effective Leadership on April 28th and 29th in
Waynesville (See Flyer). He also
made reference to Grant Writing workshops and Conservation Projects.
Ø
Tom
Fleckenstein, Business Counselor WCU SBTDC
Tom
Fleckenstein assisted in the Strategic Plan for G.R.E.A.T.
SBTDC latest program is BIZZ BOOST- Each year North Carolina gets money
for workforce Development. This
year the Governor dedicated part of the money to asking companies what they need
including training needs. The work
will be with small businesses to obtain data as to where a business is at now
and where they are in six months then to bring them to the next level with SBTDC
help and services. They are looking
for small business in the area that qualifies.
With the expanded services, Patricia Costello, a new counselor has been
hired for Western North Carolina.
Ø
Sandy
Zimmerman, Representative Congressman Shuler’s Office
Sandy
Zimmerman gave a report for Congressman Shuler’s office stating that the work
on the Health Care is taking most of the time.
Congressman Shuler is working on small businesses and the HIRE act along
with many other issues.
D.
Senior Olympic Games
Jim
Bent presented on a Cherokee County Senior Games.
This includes Graham and Clay counties.
This organization is 1 or 54 in the state.
They host Senior Games in Cherokee County winners can then go to Raleigh
for state competition. Twenty went
last year and brought back nine metals. The
program is about health aging.
E.
Handmade in America
Beverly
Hurst, Director of Development presented on Handmade in America. She stated that Robbinsville was one of six towns involved in
the ’97 Handmade Projects. One of
the projects is Appalachian Women Entrepreneurship
Program involving eleven women that meet monthly.
They will be hosting a Craft and Architecture Fair at the North Carolina
Arboritum for two days at the end of June.
F.
Director’s Report
Rick
Davis reminded all in attendance how comprehensive the G.R.E.A.T. committee is
and recognized first time participants. He
will be representing G.R.E.A.T. next week at the Z. Smith Reynolds Leadership
Training. He indicated how people
all over North Carolina make reference to the accomplishments and work of the
G.R.E.A.T. committees and Graham County due to these activities.
He informed the group of a grant that was submitted in collaboration with
G.R.E.A.T., Graham County Schools and Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana for Cultural
Arts Exchange: Innovative Model for Arts Integration in Rural Communities. The program will offer an innovative model of using ‘the arts of
cultural heritage new to rural students’ to integrate high-quality arts
education into the school curriculum with dance, music, and visual arts,
including local folk arts.
The
next meeting is scheduled for May 20th at the Stecoah Valley Center.
Sponsors will be the Office of Economic Opportunity and the Stecoah
Valley Center.