ReportCard! – Economic Development

School’s out but SouthsideCentral is still filling out ReportCards. Today, we’re grading economic development efforts around the region.

All righty, let’s pull out the big chalkboard and get it ready to hand out grades…

Simple yet effective. Let’s get started. And because I’m a rebel, I’m going to do them from the bottom of the board to the top. Heh.

Rockingham County: Boom. They got Ruger Firearms to build a new plant in the western part of the county 16 months ago. That’s 450 jobs and there’s no chance it will become a Job Bust. It’s been quiet for Rockingham County since then, but you can’t expect back-to-back homeruns every year. If we were doing this ReportCard one year ago, they’d get an A+. Rockingham County is still hanging on to a solid B.

Henry County: At the rate of their expansions, Monogram Foods could be the sole answer to Henry County’s employment problems. In December, they announced another expansion that will add 200 jobs. The thing that I like about Martinsville/Henry County’s strategy is that they have an excellent program around to start and grow small businesses. They’ve got a big industrial park ready to go for their next big hit. They have almost finished the transition away from textiles and furniture. The only problem they’ve got to overcome now is rebuilding the workforce capacity. I like what they’re doing, so they’re getting an A- grade today.

Halifax County: We talked about a job announcement potential in the last OddsMakers. The boat company prospect that they’re working on is a good one. However, if they complete the deal, it’s only going to make up for the last three years of nothing. The pressure’s still on and it may come down to the future of the old Daystrom building that the IDA has been putting their efforts into rebuilding. Halifax County has gone out on a limb with their narrowly focused furniture coatings initiative. It’s a perfect idea, but it’s only for a small target of companies. If they get one bite from that C-CARE initiative, other companies are sure to follow. The Riverstone Industrial Park is now called the Southern Virginia Technology Park. It’s got pad-ready sites and will soon have the electrical capacity to house data centers. Data Centers are huge investments but aren’t 300+ jobs. Halifax County will win big if an industry takes the Daystrom property and a data center takes the industrial park. That’s a big “if” when they’re staring down the barrel of three years of nothing. If Halifax County hadn’t gone all in on this strategy, they would get an F for floundering all over the place. If this strategy works, Matt Leonard and his team will get an A+. Since they seem to be moving all-in with the three-pronged approach of furniture coatings, data centers and the Daystrom property, I’m giving them a barely passing grade of D.

Pittsylvania County: They eliminated their own economic development office for the sake of political payback. Stupid Decision #1 They then put their development efforts into the assistant county administrator who already has a more than full time job. Stupid Decision #2. The Board of Supervisors finally realized that they were making very Stupid Decisions and started working together to bring the EconDev department back to life. That plan fell apart at the Board of Supervisors level recently. Seriously. Stupid Decision #3. All of that dysfunctional activity and they’re still in the running for a jackpot project in the northern end of the county? Seriously. Or so they say. That potential is the only thing that is preventing me from flunking Pittsylvania County completely out of school. They’re getting a D-. They had better be pleased with that, then get out of my classroom.

Danville: I’m not faulting semi-new Economic Development Director Telly Tucker for the sins of his predecessors. He deserves a grading session that’s free from all of Danville’s Job Busts that happened before he stepped foot in City Hall. His department is already on the board with the steal of Sky Valley Foods from Yanceyville to the Airside Industrial Park. I’m also liking the department’s push for small businesses. I’m not liking that help showing mainly in the downtown River District area as there’s other areas in the city that small businesses can locate. I really like Danville’s Industrial Development Authority buying buildings then leasing them at affordable rates to businesses. Danville has a way to go to completely erase the Job Bust stigma, but Telly Tucker and his team are well on the path to doing that. They’re getting a B on this card.

Whew. This ReportCard is done. Let’s take a look at it.

Everybody is passing, but some improvement is needed quickly for Pittsylvania and Halifax Counties.

We’ve got more coming up on SouthsideCentral!