December 2008

Switzer land County Economic Development Corporat ion

P R O G R E S S R E P O R T F O R T H E S W I T Z E R L A N D

C O U N T Y E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T

S T R A T E G Y

TA B L E O F C ON T EN TS

Progress Report for the Switzer land County Economic Development Strategy Page 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

HISTORY & PROCESS

VISION STATEMENT—GOALS

ACTION STEPS

ADAPTING TO A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT

APPENDICES

AUTHORED BY ALEX BUSCHERMOHLE

CONTRIBUTORS: MIKE BUSCH

JON BOND

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BACK

December 2008Page 4

This document is a

progress report of

Switzerland County’s

2004 Economic

Development Strategy

This document is a pro-gress report of Switzer-land County’s 2004 Eco-nomic DevelopmentStrategy. Both the devel-opment and the imple-mentation of the strategyhave been historic for theCounty. In 2003, a groupof community leaderscame together to developthe community’s first eco-nomic development strat-egy. Their initial meetingwas the beginning of ayear-long process inwhich community leadersidentified the County’sgreatest opportunities tobring better jobs and abetter quality of life toth e i r f r i e n ds an dneighbors. Since thattime the community hasseen a great deal of pro-gress, both through thestrategy’s implementationand through developmentin the dynamic, growingregion that surroundsSwitzerland County. Thisprogress includes makinggreat strides in creatingnew infrastructure, utiliz-ing new resources to ad-vance the community,working with new part-ners with vested interestsin the County’s successand identifying new op-portunities that couldbring transformativechange to the local econ-omy. The document youare reading is written inthe form of a progressreport. It is written in asimilar format to the 2004Economic DevelopmentStrategy to allow for easycomparison in monitoringthe community’s pro-gress.

The heart of SwitzerlandCounty’s Economic De-velopment Strategy wasits 31 action steps.These served as step bystep guides to raise thecommunity’s economicdevelopment capacityand to prepare it to par-ticipate in the competitiveworld of business attrac-tion and expansion. Con-tained in this report is anupdate on each actionstep, as well as a reporton additional opportuni-ties and initiatives thathave arisen since thecreation of the strategy.Switzerland County hasused these action stepsas a guide for its activi-ties. The strategy docu-ment, as well as the vi-sion, goals and actionsteps contained within it,

serves as both a map anda marker for prioritizingeconomic developmentinitiatives. Many additionalopportunities have beenpresented to the commu-nity since 2004, includinggrant opportunities andnew infrastructure con-struction, as well as newand growing regional in-dustries. Updates on newinitiatives and needs arealso included in this report.Implementation of the Eco-nomic Development Strat-egy is an ongoing processand this report serves as asnapshot of the progressmade through 2008. Addi-tional progress will con-tinue throughout the yearculminating with the re-lease of an updated strat-egy.

IN T RODUC T I O N

Switzerland County’s Economic DevelopmentStrategy was released in the Fall of 2004.

Switzerland County lead-ers, hoping to leveragefuture resources into eco-nomic growth, created anEconomic DevelopmentCommission in 2002.This Commission’s firststep was to gather com-munity leaders togetherto create an economicdevelopment strategy forthe county. The commu-nity leaders knew that forany such strategy to besuccessful in SwitzerlandCounty it had to be bothcommunity-driven andspecific to the County.

It was first necessary totake a realistic look intothe County’s current eco-nomic development pic-ture. They also investi-gated efforts made byneighboring and similarlysituated communities.The purpose of the strat-egy was for the County tocreate an opportunity tocontrol its own future andto build the kind of com-munity in which all resi-dents of SwitzerlandCounty can take pride.By developing a plan forthe future that fit andcomplimented the com-munity, County leadersknew they could avoidhaving nearby metropoli-tan areas determine Swit-zerland County’s futurefor it.

The Economic Develop-ment Commission’s firststep was to create aStrategy Committee. Thecommission was carefulto select committee mem-bers who represented a

wide area of intereststhroughout the County.The first Strategy Com-mittee meeting was heldon September 18, 2003in Vevay, and StrategyCommittee memberswere introduced to sev-eral state officials whodeal with economic de-velopment issues. Addi-tional members of theeconomic developmentcommunity were intro-duced at subsequentmeetings. At the firstmeeting, the Committeebegan identifying the ele-ments of a long-rangevision for SwitzerlandCounty and began toidentify the County’s ad-vantages and weak-nesses from an economicdevelopment perspective.

At the second meeting,held on October 16,2003, a draft VisionStatement was devel-oped and the Committeecontinued with its eco-nomic assessment of theCounty. The assessmentincluded a quantitativecomponent in the form ofa printed “Factfinder,”and an assessment byCommittee members ofthe County’s economicdevelopment advantagesand weaknesses. Theassessment also includedopinions on potential op-portunities and dangersthat lie ahead. Once thisassessment was com-plete, the Committeeidentified and prioritizedthe most important goalsto be addressed at the

third meeting.

The Committee metagain on November 20,2003. At this meeting,specific goals were listedand prioritized. TheCommittee developedthirty one specific actionsteps to create a clearroad map for its Eco-nomic DevelopmentCommission. The goalswere left in draft form forthe Committee to con-sider before the nextmeeting on January 15,2004. At that meeting,the Committee gave itswork a final review andidentified the measuresthat would be used todetermine the long-rangesuccess of the strategy.With the main content ofthe strategy approved,the Economic Develop-ment Commission wasable to draft the remain-der of the Strategy. TheStrategy Committee gavefinal approval to the Strat-egy at their final meetingon April 28, 2004.

The new Strategy waspublicly unveiled in thefall of 2004 and is stillused at a guideline forthe County’s economicdevelopment programtoday.

The vision and goals ar-ticulated by the Strategyare included on the fol-lowing page.

Switzerland County

leaders wanted a plan

for the future that fit

and complemented the

community.

Page 5

H I S TORY & PROC ESS

Progress Report for the Switzer land County Economic Development Strategy

Page 6 December 2008

Page 7

A Vision Statement is

a means for the Strategy

Committee to describe,

in a broad sense, the

type of community they

would like themselves

and their children to call

home.

The Strategy Committee

identified five primary

economic development

goals.

V I S I O N STA T EM E NT—GOA L S

Our Vision

Switzerland County will be a community that has taken command of itsown future. It will retain and attract talented people by providing a highquality of life as well as growing social and economic opportunities.The community will be renowned throughout the tri-state region for:

Protecting a clean, safe, rural lifestyle while providing 21st cen-tury infrastructure, public, medical, and education services.

Being a home to a top quality workforce and to businesses thatnot only offer high-skill jobs opportunities but are also greatcommunity citizens.

Our Goals

Build the County’s capacity for aggressive economic develop-ment initiatives.

Retain and expand the Country’s existing business base.

Attract new businesses that provide high pay, high skill jobs tothe community.

Maintain and enhance a quality of life that will encourage youngworkers to remain in and return to the County.

Form a community-driven economic development approach withbuy-in from all community interests

Progress Report for the Switzer land County Economic Development Strategy

Page 8 December 2008

Switzerland County’seconomic developmentstrategy was organizedaccording to five impor-tant goals and 31 actionsteps.

Goal 1: Build theCounty’s capacity foraggressive economicdevelopment initiatives.

This goal was listed firstbecause it was the toppriority of the County’sEconomic Developmentstrategy. While othercommunities were spend-ing large sums of moneymarketing themselves topotential businessesSwitzerland County lead-ers knew that theyneeded to start by devel-oping their product. In2003, when the Strategywas developed, the com-munity lacked the capac-ity to accommodate anew industry or even tofacilitate a substantial

expansion of an existingbusiness. In addition, thecommunity lacked anadequate network to de-velop support services fornew and expanding busi-nesses and suffered fromthe lack of a comprehen-sive inventory availabledevelopment sites in thecommunity. These andother basic challengesraised “development ca-pacity” to the number oneconcern in advancing theeconomic well being ofSwitzerland County.Since the unveiling of thestrategy in 2004, the ma-jority of the community’seconomic developmentefforts have evolvedaround expanding thatcapacity.

Initiative 1: Establish andenable an economic de-velopment organization.

This was the first taskundertaken in the imple-mentation of the new

economic developmentplan. Members of theSwitzerland County Eco-nomic DevelopmentCommission, which over-saw the development ofthe economic develop-ment strategy, createdThe Switzerland Eco-nomic Development Cor-poration (SCEDC) in theFall of 2004. The Com-mission conducted exten-sive research into thestructure and funding ofeconomic developmento r g a n i z a t i o n s i nneighboring and compa-rable counties. TheCommission determinedthat a more agile organi-zation was needed tocoordinate economic de-velopment efforts amonga variety of state and lo-cal organizations. TheCommission also as-sessed staffing needs forthe new Corporation andrecruited a director tobegin serving in May of2005. In July of 2008,through grant funding, the

Switzerland County’s

first goal was to increase

its economic development

capacity.

Page 9

AC T IO N ST E P S

Progress Report for the Switzer land County Economic Development Strategy

The Switzerland County Economic Development Corporation was founded in the Fall of 2004.

Corporation was able tohire a second staff mem-ber. The SwitzerlandCounty 2004 EconomicDevelopment Strategyhas served as a guide forthe activities of theSCEDC.

Initiative 2: Identify andpursue a revenue streamfor economic develop-ment.

At the time that the origi-nal strategy was formedthe Switzerland CountyEconomic DevelopmentCommission adminis-tered an Economic De-velopment Fund that wassupported annually by theSwitzer land CountyCouncil. These dollarswere used to facilitate thestrategy process, providematching funds for grantsand to assist with specificprojects as needed.Since the creation of theSCEDC, this County Eco-nomic Development Fundhas remained intact andis still administered by theCommission. A list ofprojects funded throughthe Switzerland CountyEconomic DevelopmentFund is listed in AppendixE. Once the SCEDC wasformed, it entered into acontract for services withthe Switzerland CountyCouncil. This contractwas to provide economicdevelopment services tothe County includingplanning, infrastructureassessment, coordinationof strategy implementa-tion, prospect manage-ment and marketing.

In addition to the servicescontract with the Switzer-land County Council, theSCEDC has been fortu-

nate to receive severalgrants totaling over onemillion dollars in totalgrant funding since itscreation. These grantshave come from stateand federal governmentas well as local govern-ment in the non-profitsector.

Three noteworthy grantsinclude a CommunityC o m e b a c k G r a n tawarded by the IndianaOffice of Community andRural Affairs. The pur-pose of this grant was toenable the County to de-velop a modern, profes-sional economic develop-ment website. This web-site was unveiled in thespring of 2006 and is stillin use today. The USEconomic DevelopmentAdministration awardedanother planning grant forthe purpose of conduct-ing strategic planning forthe County’s new indus-trial park property. Themost recent grantawarded to the commu-nity was a grant for theEcO15 initiative, awardedto the Community Foun-dation of SwitzerlandCounty and to the south-east Indiana region bythe Lilly Endowment, Inc.This project is a boldworkforce developmentinitiative that will makethe County and its sur-rounding communitieshighly competitive in pro-viding skilled workers toregional and perspectivebusinesses. A full listingof grants awarded to thecommunity for economicdevelopment projects isincluded in Appendix E.

Initiative 3: Identify and

address immediate infra-structure limitations toeconomic development.

At the time of the Strat-egy’s creation Switzer-land County was suffer-ing from a number of in-frastructure limitationsthat made it very difficultfor any industry to locateor expand in the commu-nity. Some limitations stillexist but SwitzerlandCounty has made greatstrides in eliminatingsome of its most immedi-ate obstacles.

Water Service

At the top of the list ofinfrastructure challengesin 2003 was water ac-cess. The Patriot WaterCompany, which suppliedwater to over 75% of theCounty, was sufferingfrom major capacity limi-tations. A complete banon new water hook-upseffectively froze residen-tial, commercial, and in-dustrial expansion in Pa-triot’s service territory.The resolution of thischallenge has been agreat success story forthe town of Patriot. Thiscommunity of approxi-mately 200 people under-went a $6 million watersystem upgrade. Thisupgrade included theconstruction of a newwater tower, the drilling ofnew pumps, the additionor replacement of over 25miles of water line, themodernization of metersand many other signifi-cant changes to the en-tire system. With the ex-ception of a few smallisolated areas, the hook-up ban has been liftedacross the entire County.

Areas of the community

Page 10

Since 2004,

Switzerland County has

been awarded nearly one

million dollars in outside

grants for economic

development projects.

December 2008

A six million dollar

upgrade of the Patriot

Water Company has

served as a great

community success story.

targeted for industrialgrowth have seen capac-ity increases that aremore than adequate tosupport future economicactivity. The Patriot Wa-ter Company has beenworking closely with theSCEDC to identify areaswhere additional capacitymay be needed. Addi-tional substantial up-grades are plannedthrough to 2010.

Better Roads:

The quality of state andlocal roads was also acritical element ad-dressed in the strategy.One of the first actionsundertaken by the newly-created Economic Devel-opment Corporation wasto assess the state high-way construction priori-ties of local elected offi-cials and communicatethese to the Indiana De-partment of Transporta-tion. Creation of an up-dated survey and submis-sion to state leaders isplanned for early 2009.The community has alsomade aggressive andsubstantial improvementsto local roads. Theseincluded the replacementof bridges in high traffic

areas and the reconstruc-tion of roadways.

Sewer Extension:

Another high priority is-sue identified during theplanning process was thecoordination efforts oflocal sewer utilities. Al-though residential growthin the community hasoccurred on septic sys-tems, industrial and com-mercial growth requiresaccess to modern sewersystems. SCEDC heldconversations with cur-rent sewer utilities in theCounty to determine theircapacity, as well as theirlimitations, and to identifywhat would be needed inorder to extend their ser-vices to targeted areas.Sewer upgrades haveoccurred since the Strat-egy was created in 2003.Additional expansionsand modernizations arein the planning phases atthis time. Includedamong these new devel-opments is the creation ofa new conservancy dis-trict in the Benningtonand Moorefield areas.These areas are currentlyin the planning phases ofa modern, affordablesewer system that will be

a model for other commu-nities upon its comple-tion. Currently, every siteidentified by the Countyas suitable for industrialdevelopment is servicedby a sewer utility.

High-Speed Internet:

The Strategy Committeerecognized the impor-tance of high-speed Inter-net to the development ofbusinesses of all sizes inSwitzerland County. De-veloping a strategy todeploy high-speed Inter-net to the community wasamong the Strategy’s topinfrastructure goals. TheSwitzerland County Eco-nomic Development Cor-poration has worked ex-tensively to bring high-speed Internet accessinto Switzerland County.

In May of 2005 the Cor-poration created theBroadband AdvisoryGroup, a group of com-munity leaders that metto determine the currenthigh-speed Internet cov-erage areas in Switzer-land County, identify pos-sible solutions for Internetdeployment in unservedand underserved areas,and propose a plan toutilize all resources tomake high-speed Internetavailable in as much ofthe community as possi-ble. At the time the groupwas assembled, only23% of SwitzerlandCounty residents hadaccess to high speedinternet. Shortly after thegroup’s creation, a surveyof the entire communitywas undertaken to as-sess the demand in un-served areas of the com-munity. The responsewas overwhe lm ing.

Page 11Progress Report for the Switzer land County Economic Development Strategy

The Switzerland County Economic Development Cor-poration regularly communicates local infrastructurepriorities to state officials.

December 2008Page 12

By mid 2009, 75% of

Switzerland County

residents will have access

to high speed internet.

This strong response onlyreiterated the need formore and better Internetservice in SwitzerlandCounty. These resultswere shared with all ex-isting Internet providers inthe area. Since that time,existing providers haveincreased their servicedareas, and new providershave begun serving thecommunity.

To expand Internet ac-cess, Switzerland Countyused a unique ap-proached tailored specifi-cally to the community’sneeds. It was not in thecommunity’s interest tocreate a new Internet util-ity that would have to beserviced and continuallymaintained by theCounty. Instead, TheSwitzerland County Eco-nomic DevelopmentCommission and theBroadband AdvisoryGroup decided that thebest approach would beto coordinate efforts withexisting providers thatprovided service neartargeted regions of the

County to enable them toextend their services.

In November 2007 theSwitzerland County Eco-nomic DevelopmentCommission purchasedequipment to bring wire-less Internet into portionsof Switzerland County.Two new wireless inter-net towers were broughtonline in February 2008.Wireless Internet equip-ment was installed ontower space provided bythe Patriot Water Com-pany in Quercus Groveand WKID FM Radio inCenter Square. WirelessInternet service was pro-vided from these two lo-cations by Orvcomm, awireless internet providerowned by the City of Ris-ing Sun. To date, over200 new users in Switzer-land County have signedup for these services.The success rate in termsof the number of newcustomers who signed upfor these services in thefirst six months was morethan double the projectednumbers. Currently thecommunity has plans tobring high-speed Internetservice to three additionallocations in early 2009.This expansion is pro-jected to extend broad-band coverage to 75% ofSwitzerland County.

Goal 2: Retain and ex-pand the County’s ex-isting business base.

The County’s industrialbase is very small, so theplanning committee’s firstpriority was to maintainthe existing industrialbase while building thetools needed to assistexisting businesses when

they are ready to expand.

Initiative 4: Develop anongoing mechanism forassessing needs of exist-ing business.

Shortly after its creation,the SCEDC created adatabase of current busi-nesses in the community.This list is maintained atthe SCEDC offices. Thelong-term goal of thisprocess is to expand theamount of informationcompiled on communitybusinesses so thatshould the SCEDC be-come aware of marketand productivity opportu-nities, it can alert busi-nesses as appropriate.The SCEDC has also setup a regular meetingschedule for interestedbusinesses to keep theminformed of opportunitiesthat might become avail-able and to determine ifthe businesses have anyneeds with which thecommunity can help.Since the gathering of theinitial business database,several surveys havebeen conducted of countybusinesses covering top-ics including high-speedInternet and businesstraining needs.

Initiative 5: Create anEntrepreneurs’ SupportNetwork.

SCEDC, in co-operationwith the SwitzerlandCounty Tourism Board,has offered trainingcourses on a variety oftopics including NX Levelsmall business training,website development,accounting, and a varietyof other training programs

Wireless technology hasmade high speed internetavailable to more people inSwitzerland County.

Access to a skilled

workforce has quickly

become a top concern to

prospective businesses.

to assist small busi-nesses as they grow.SCEDC continues towork with local busi-nesses to determine ifany assistance is avail-able for their particularneeds. SCEDC hasworked closely with theSoutheast Indiana SmallBusiness DevelopmentCenter to assist smalland start up businesses.

The Corporation hasalso worked to developa local inventory of smallbusiness assistancetools. Over the courseof this work, it was dis-covered that severaluseful tools already ex-ist. The SCEDC’s goalis to serve as a clearing-house for these toolsand make interestedsmall businesses awareof them. SCEDC hopesto identify what pro-grams are needed at thelocal level to help start-up businesses get ontheir feet and to helpsmall businesses grow.SCEDC prepared a ros-ter of regional businessadvisors and routinely

offers referrals to theseadvisors for small busi-nesses. Services avail-able include market re-search, business plan-ning assistance, andefficiency assistance, aswell as product researchand development. AnInternet-based entrepre-neurial assistance ser-vice will be unveiled inearly 2009. This tool willhelp small businessesand those consideringstarting a business to doresearch and businessplanning on their owntime schedule.

Initiative 6: Assess andenhance the County’scurrent and future work-force.

Switzerland County hasparticipated in a numberof new and excitingworkforce opportunitiesthat have come to theRegion. SCEDC playedan active role in the re-organization of the Re-gion Nine WorkforceInvestment Board.Since the Board’s reor-ganization and restruc-turing, the Region has

participated in severalworkforce developmentinitiatives. Among thesewas the Strategic SkillsInitiative, which was be-gun by the Indiana De-partment of Workforceand Development tohelp employers addresscritical workforce short-ages. As part of theStrategic Skills Initiative,the Region underwentan assessment to deter-mine what workforceshortages it was cur-rently facing and whattraining would beneeded to address thoseshortages. The findingsof this research lead totargeted funds beingmade available for stra-tegic workforce training.This initiative is ongoingand will play a large rolein Switzerland County’sfuture workforce devel-opment projects.

Switzerland County hasalso participated in the“Dream it, Do it” initia-tive, a program adoptedby the Region NineWorkforce InvestmentBoard to help promotemath, science, and engi-neering careers to inter-ested students. Thismarketing campaign istargeted at junior highand high school stu-dents and is designed toshow them the range ofcareers available intechnical fields.

Finally, SwitzerlandCounty was selected toparticipate in the EcO15initiative. Funded by theLilly Endowment, Inc.,this project providesfunding to communitiesto develop educationand worker training op-

Page 13Progress Report for the Switzer land County Economic Development Strategy

SCEDC offers a wide variety of small business assistancetools including consulting and training.

Switzerland County’s

agri-business priorities

were included in the

regional and statewide

agriculture economic

development strategies.

portunities for their citi-zens. The project beganin 2008 and is expectedto continue through2012. The EcO15 projectis expected to bring re-sources to SwitzerlandCounty that will enablethe community to developa worker training systemthat meets the needs ofworkers as well as cur-rent and potential em-ployers. SwitzerlandCounty has maintainedan active role in the over-sight of the project. ThePresident of the Switzer-land County EconomicDevelopment Corporationwas chosen to be one ofthe original co-chairs ofthe EcO15 Steering Com-mittee.

Initiative 7: Leverage theCounty’s current agricul-tural base by providingspecialized agribusinessservices.

SCEDC formed an Agri-business Advisory Groupin June 2005. This advi-sory group was createdto determine what newagri-business opportuni-ties might exist for Swit-zerland County’s agricul-tural producers and alsoto explore new pathwaysto the marketplace thatmight enable producersof existing products toretain a greater share ofproduction revenue inSwitzerland County.

In the fall of 2006 theSwitzerland County agri-business advisory groupwas joined by a statewideeffort lead by the IndianaDepartment of Agricultureto create county agri-business strategies for allof Indiana. Representa-

tives of the Indiana De-partment of Agricultureand of the agri-businessadvisory group met lo-cally and at regionalmeetings to develop astrategy that met theneeds of the people ofSwitzerland County andalso fit into a broader re-gional and statewidestrategy. In the spring of2007 the SwitzerlandCounty agri-businessstrategy was released.The strategy was rolledinto the larger Indianaagriculture economic de-velopment strategy and isattached to this documentas Appendix F.

Switzerland County hasparticipated in additionalagri-business projectsincluding the Vision forSwitzerland County pro-ject which created localmarkets for home-basedagri-business producersto sell their products.This project is ongoingand is explained in moredetail on page 23. Other

services are currentlyunder development foragri-business producersincluding website assis-tance and commonbranding.

Goal 3: Attract newbusinesses that providehigh-pay, high-skill jobsto the community.

Initiative 8: PrepareCounty information toenable quick response topotential business inquir-ies.

SCEDC has compiledextensive data on specificsites in SwitzerlandCounty and on the com-munity and region overall.SCEDC has searchedcounty-wide to identifypotential developmentsites. This analysis in-cluded ascertaining thelocation of available, suit-able infrastructure, in-cluding quality highways,county roads and river

Page 14 December 2008

The Agri-business Advisory Group developed a strategy thatfocused on diversification and increased production.

The community knew

that attractive

development sites would

be needed to draw

business and job growth.

access. It also includedthe availability of utilitiesincluding sewer availabil-ity, adequately sized wa-ter line, natural gas, ade-quate electrical capacityand high-speed Internetaccess. As part of thisinformation gathering,SCEDC has successfullymapped the service terri-tories of most utilities inthe county. Currently, aneffort is underway to de-termine the feasibility ofadvanced computer geo-graphic information map-ping of these utilities in aformat that all utility pro-viders could use.

SCEDC has also com-piled extensive economic,demographic, and otherdata on the County andits surrounding region.The availability of goodeconomic data allowsthose considering locat-ing in Switzerland Countyto understand the com-munity’s demographicmake up, commuting pat-terns, available supplychains, and the size of itsregional workforce. It

also enables these busi-nesses to determine theskill level of the regionalworkforce and acceptablecommute times within theregion. One challengefor Switzerland County incompiling useful eco-nomic and demographicdata that it shares itsworkforce with bothnorthern Kentucky andsouthwest Ohio. Tosolve this problemSCEDC has created aneconomic developmentregional analysis for“Greater SwitzerlandCounty”. This analysisputs Switzerland Countyat the center of a fifteen-county region includingcounties in Indiana andKentucky, and a 25-county super region, in-cluding counties in Indi-ana, Kentucky, and Ohio.Maps of these regionsand regional data areincluded in Appendix H.Regional data snapshotssuch as this one providea potential business withmore accurate informa-tion on the community’sworkforce and demo-

graphics than data that islimited to one county.

Initiative 9: Increase theCounty’s appeal pros-pects by reducing thetime needed to develop asite.

SCEDC knew that for theCounty to be competitivein the challenging worldof business attraction, themost fundamental placefor them to start was byhaving and offering desir-able sites available fordevelopment. While itwas not necessary forthese sites to be Countyowned, it was criticallyimportant that a businessbe able to acquire theland quickly, obtain thenecessary permitting andzoning and know exactlywhat steps are needed todevelop the property incompliance with local,state and federal laws.

The SCEDC quickly dis-covered that there hasbeen very little industrialand commercial develop-ment in recent years inthe County, and no inven-tory of site characteristicshad been compiled. TheSCEDC set out to identifywhere in the communitysuitable infrastructurewas available includingwater, sewer, natural gas,adequate electrical infra-structure, and high-speedInternet. It was also im-portant that sites be ser-viced by good highways.In addition, the SCEDClooked carefully at whatmade sites desirable forbusinesses. The SCEDCdetermined that the mostimportant variable in de-termining the desirabilityof a site was the ability to

Page 15Progress Report for the Switzer land County Economic Development Strategy

Developing a “Greater Switzerland County Region”allowed SCEDC to present more realistic data on itsavailable workforce and regional economy.

Page 16

In February, 2007,

Switzerland County

became one of only

twenty Indiana counties

to have a certified Shovel

Ready site.

build on that site quickly.Fortunately, this was achallenge already identi-fied in the county’s eco-nomic development strat-egy and the corporationset out to have at leastone site in the communityshovel ready, (ready for adeveloper to come in andbuild in a short period oftime).

At the same time that theCorporation began work-ing to meet this chal-lenge, the State of Indi-ana unveiled a newShovel Ready Site Certifi-cation Program. Throughthis program, the Statewould review a site’scharacteristics and deter-mine whether or not itmet the criteria for ashovel ready site. If thesite met these criteria, thestate would certify it asshovel ready and list it onan inventory for shovelready sites that the Indi-ana Economic Develop-ment Corporation makesavailable to prospectivebusinesses. Attainingthe shovel ready certifica-tion was a cooperativeeffort between SCEDC,the Switzerland CountyEconomic DevelopmentCommission, the Switzer-land County Redevelop-ment Commission, localelected officials includingthe County Commission-ers and County Counciland a variety of importantutility partners.

Community leaders iden-tified one site that alreadyhad adequate infrastruc-ture nearby with ade-quate transit routes tosupport industrial traffic.Switzerland County sub-mitted this site for statereview, and the site was

one of the first 20 ap-proved in Indiana. Theshovel ready certificationwas formally awarded toSwitzerland County inMarch 2007. The site isstill under development,with the ultimate goal be-ing that lots within the sitewill be ready to buildwithin 30 days of a busi-ness’s decision to locatein the community.

A critical component ofreducing the time to buildfor a new developmentsite was examining localstate and federal permit-ting requirements in orderto determine what couldbe done at the local levelto make these require-ments more user-friendlyand to shorten the timeline for approval of build-ing permits.

SCEDC coordinated withthe Switzerland CountyPlanning Commission ona revision of the County’sComprehensive Plan.The new ComprehensivePlan has now been ap-proved by County lead-ers, and an updated setof ordinances are beingdrafted.

One item proposed in theplan is a fast track permit-ting process. This proc-ess could only be initiated

by a County EconomicDevelopment authority.Upon initiation, it wouldenable a shortened pe-riod for building permitapproval and adoption.This process could alsobe applied to the ap-proval of the planned unitdevelopments and othertools that were deter-mined by local leaders tobe of benefit to the com-munity. The public wouldstill have full review rightsafforded to it by state lawbut a quicker timetablewould be in place, allow-ing the business to movemore quickly in develop-ing its site and bringingjobs to the community.

Markland Business Park

Switzerland County’sEconomic Developmentstrategy also called forthe community to conducta preliminary feasibilitystudy on an industrialpark. Shortly after itscreation, SCEDC discov-ered that a feasibilitystudy for a business parknear the Markland Bridgehad been initiated elevenyears earlier, in 1994.

SEDC staff carefully re-viewed the original feasi-bility study and hired anexperienced consultant to

December 2008

A Shovel Ready certification by the State of Indianameans that a site qualifies for expedited permitting withstate regulatory agencies to allow quick investment andexpansion .

Switzerland County is

active in economic and

workforce development

initiatives at the regional

and statewide level.

update it. The findings ofthe feasibility study reportwere presented to com-munity leaders, and aplan for determining fur-ther action was put intoplace. The total projectrequired the approval ofseven local boards andcommissions. All ofthese bodies approvedtheir portion of the pro-ject. The property waspurchased in March 2007and is currently underdevelopment. Sites areexpected to be madeavailable in mid-2009.Changing factors in theregion will make this sitefar more competitive thanoriginally anticipated. Acomplete summary of theproject and its potentialimplications is includedon page 24 of this docu-ment.

Initiative 10: Promote lo-cal economic develop-

ment efforts throughoutthe region.

The Switzerland CountyEconomic DevelopmentCorporation promoted thecounty’s economic devel-opment efforts locally andthroughout the region byparticipating in an exten-sive number of local andregional boards. SCEDCstaff and board membersparticipated in multiplelocal and regional boardsincluding the Vevay-Switzer land CountyFoundation, the Switzer-land County United Fund,the Region 12 Area Plan-ning Commission, His-toric Hoosier Hills Inc.,the EcO15 Regional Ad-visory Board, the Switzer-land County KiwanisClub, the Southeast Indi-ana Economic Develop-ment Round Table, theIndiana Economic Devel-opment Association andthe International Eco-nomic Development

Council. The SCEDChas also worked toquickly gain credibility inthe economic develop-ment field. SCEDC isone of only two economicdevelopment groups inSoutheast Indiana tohave a certified economicdeveloper on staff.

SCEDC has also workedaggressively to developmarketing materials forthe community. Switzer-land County received aCommunity ComebackGrant from the IndianaDepartment of Com-merce to develop newmarketing materials in-cluding a web site.SCEDC immediatelywent to work on this pro-ject developing a logoand templates for thenewly created organiza-tion. The web site wasbegun shortly afterwardsand the finished site wasunveiled in April 2006.

Page 17Progress Report for the Switzer land County Economic Development Strategy

Switzerland County leaders began studying the feasibility of an Industrial Park near theMarkland Bridge in 1994, since that time, over 1000 manufacturing jobs have locatedwith a ten minute drive of the site.

Page 18

Switzerland County

received grant dollars to

establish a competitive

internet presence.

The website gave Swit-zerland County a topquality presence on theInternet and provided itwith a first line of elec-tronic marketing. Contentis routinely updated asnew information is devel-oped. Since the conclu-sion of the grant, addi-tional marketing materialhas also been developed,including regional artworkand several design tem-plates for print advertis-ing.

Tourism Coordination

The Switzerland CountyEconomic DevelopmentCorporation has coordi-nated many of its eco-nomic development, mar-keting, and other effortswith the SwitzerlandCounty Tourism Board.Cooperative projects be-tween SCEDC and theCounty Tourism Boardinclude NX Level trainingfor entrepreneurs andsmall businesses. Thistraining was completed in2005 and taught localentrepreneurs and smallbusinesses the basics of

owning and operatingtheir own business. TheVision for SwitzerlandCounty Project is anotherexample of a successfulcooperative project be-tween the County Tour-ism Board and the Eco-nomic DevelopmentCommission. More infor-mation on the Vision pro-ject is included in page23. The two groups havealso cooperated on otheractivities including com-bined survey efforts,other small businesstrainings, and bringingguest speakers to thecommunity.

Niche Marketing

Switzerland County Eco-nomic Development lead-ers have been working toidentify the best nichemarkets for SwitzerlandCounty to promote itselfto potential businesses.Changes in the regionhave created new oppor-tunities and warrant amore in-depth look atwhich niche marketswould create the bestopportunities for the

County. More informa-tion on changes withinthe region and new op-portunities can be foundon page 21.

Goal 4: Maintain andenhance a quality of lifethat will encourage ayounger workforce toremain in and return tothe county.

Initiative 11: IncreaseCounty residents’ accessto affordable housing.

The Switzerland CountyEconomic DevelopmentCorporation has part-nered with several differ-ent groups that havelooked at different as-pects of housing in Swit-zerland County. Housingneeds were studied dur-ing the update of Switzer-land County’s compre-hensive plan. SCEDCrepresentatives attendedthese meetings and par-ticipated in the PlanningCommission’s process ofinsuring that the new

December 2008

The Vision for Switzerland County Project included a county-wide signage program andfaçade improvements to businesses in Vevay’s Main Street area.

The county is well served

by volunteer groups

addressing a variety of

“quality of life” issues.

comprehensive plan fa-cilitated the growth ofneeded housing in thecommunity. The Region12 Area Planning Com-mission currently servesas Switzerland County’sCommunity Housing De-velopment Organization(CHODO). A SwitzerlandCounty Economic Devel-opment Corporation staffmember serves as aboard member on theArea 12 Regional Plan-ning Commission Board.SCEDC has also been inconversations with pri-vate developers aboutbringing affordable hous-ing to SwitzerlandCounty. Housing needsexamined range fromaffordable starter homesand mid-level rental prop-erties all the way up tohigher quality housing.SCEDC anticipates morehousing conversations as

new data about countyhousing dynamics andtheir implications be-comes available.

Initiative 12: Improve arts,amenities, recreation andcultural opportunitieswithin the County.

As the SCEDC began thetask of implementing theCounty’s economic devel-opment strategy it quicklybecame clear that manygroups already existedthat focused on specificelements of the commu-nity’s arts, amenities, rec-reation, and culturalneeds. Rather than com-pete with these groups,the SCEDC staff has at-tempted to work withthem and be of assis-tance wherever possible.Many great strides havebeen made in improvingthe cultural entertainment

availability in the commu-nity. Noteworthy amongthese is Vevay MainStreet, Inc. This groupswork includes not onlystreetscape developmentbut also entertainmentopportunities including aFirst Friday and SecondSaturday program thatgive members of thecommunity the opportu-nity to tour the historicdowntown area, visitingshops and local vendorsand enjoying entertain-ers. Through the Visionsfor Switzerland Countyproject and other arts andcultural enhancementprograms, new opportuni-ties have been madeavailable for residents toview local art and to beexposed to new art formsthrough classes, displays,and other forums. Thecommunity has alsobenefited from increased

Page 19Progress Report for the Switzer land County Economic Development Strategy

Improving access to quality affordable housing will continue to be an important priorityfor Switzerland County.

Page 20

Community leaders have

sought input and built

consensus around

economic development

projects.

recreation and amenitiesbecoming avai lablethroughout the region.More information onthese opportunities iscovered in the followingpages.

Initiative 13: Maintaincontact with SwitzerlandCounty’s younger popula-tion as they enter theirprofessional lives.

This initiative has provento be one of the mostchallenging in the entirestrategy. It is difficult totrack the county’syounger population asmany of them frequentlymove and contact is lost.SCEDC has attempted tocontact a limited numberof Switzerland CountyHigh School graduatesfor which it had mailinginformation. The Corpo-ration has also attemptedto build a database ofalumni of the communitywho currently live outsideof the County. It is hopedthat these efforts will bethe beginning of estab-lishing ongoing contactwith those who have lived

in Switzerland County andnow live elsewhere.

Goal 5: Form a commu-nity-driven economicdevelopment approachwith buy-in from all com-munity interests.

Initiative 14: Solicit com-munity input on economicdevelopment efforts.

SCEDC, the SwitzerlandCounty Economic Devel-opment Commission andthe Switzerland County Re-development Commissionhave all worked hard togather community input onvarious economic develop-ment initiatives. Participa-tion has been encouragedby making it easy to con-tact SCEDC through itsweb site, by email, by tele-phone or through morepublic means such as writ-ing a letter to the localnewspaper or attending apublic meeting. These areall efforts to gather com-munity input and the com-munity has had a greatdeal of input to offer.

There is a great deal ofinterest and there arestrong opinions on Swit-zerland County’s eco-nomic future and all opin-ions have been welcome.The Corporation useslocal news media outletsas its primary source inkeeping the communityposted on economic ac-tivity.

Much of SwitzerlandCounty’s economic devel-opment activity to datehas been the develop-ment of basic infrastruc-ture. These types of pro-jects typically involve alimited number of part-ners. Future projects arelikely to cover a broadersubject area and dealwith issues that affect thecomm uni t y overa l l .These types of projectswill, by their nature, bemore collaborative. Asnew programs develop,SCEDC plans more tar-geted communicationefforts with County resi-dents including mailings,targeted public eventsand email updates.

December 2008

Future economic development projects will likely involve more public events.

Page 21Progress Report for the Switzer land County Economic Development Strategy

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While Switzerland County has been aggressively implementing its economic develop-ment strategy, our community and region have been at the center of new and excitingopportunities. Below are the highlights of three major developments in the region.The following pages are summarize some exciting initiatives in which the communityis involved.

Highway ImprovementsThe State of Kentucky opened Highway 1039 in the fall of 2006, creating a historicopportunity for Switzerland County. The $16.9 million road connects the MarklandBridge directly to Interstate 71, placing the county five minutes away from an inter-state highway. The new interstate access brings the community closer to both theCincinnati and Louisville metropolitan regions. Via Kentucky 1039, SwitzerlandCounty is only a 35-minute drive from the Greater Cincinnati International Airport anda 50-minute drive from Louisville, Kentucky. The interstate exit is already attractingcommercial investment, and the region is likely to feel the effects of the new highwayaccess for years into the future. A reconstructed Indiana 129 has significantly im-proved safety and travel times across Switzerland County. The new highway sub-stantially reduces travel times to and from most destinations north of the county.

HondaIn June of 2006, Honda announced the construction of a new automotive plant on a1700 acre site in Greensburg Indiana. The facility is over one million square feet insize, cost over $550 million to build and is a 50-minute drive from Switzerland County.The first vehicle line to be manufactured at the facility is the fuel efficient Civic, withthe first car coming off the assembly line in early October 2008. This project will havea far-reaching impact in southeast Indiana for years to come as Honda continues togrow at the location and suppliers look to locate in the region.

Kentucky SpeedwayIn May 2008, Speedway Motorsports, Inc. announced plans to purchase the KentuckySpeedway, a 66,000 seat racetrack located just five minutes from Switzerland County.Shortly after the purchase, the company, which currently owns seven racetracks thathost NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events, announced their intention to bring a Sprintseries race to the facility. This development has generated a great deal of excitementin the region and will create new opportunities that will be explored in future economicdevelopment strategies.

New opportunities at the Kentucky Speedway have led togreat excitement in the region.

Our community has

been at the center of

many exciting changes.

Page 22

The ten-year Markland

Business Park Project

began in March 2007.

Markland Business Park

Since the completion of the 2004 Switzerland County Economic Strategy, the largest economicdevelopment project undertaken by the community has been development of the MarklandBusiness Park. The development is the product of extensive planning and a strategic invest-ment in the long term economic future of Switzerland County and its residents. The project’sten year development plan is based on the County’s economic development priorities as estab-lished in the 2004 strategy and specifically called for in Action Step 19, “have at least one sitecompletely serviced, ‘shovel ready’ and under county control so that it is immediately available.”The fundamentals of the Park’s development allow for maximum flexibility to keep the County’sbest competitive foot forward through a variety of challenging economic times.

Early Study

The original Study of the feasibility of an industrial park near the Markland Bridge was createdin 1993 and released to the public in 1994. The Study strongly recommended that the commu-nity proceed with the business park project. At that time, real estate in Switzerland County wasrelatively inexpensive and there was no pending development to drive that price upward. Utili-ties, on the other hand were lacking in the community and the cost of extending or creating theneeded physical infrastructure was high. County leaders agreed that the project was importantat that time but the dire financial situation of the community made funding such an initiative im-possible.

A Decade of Change

The decade following the initial feasibility study marked an era of rapid economic change forSwitzerland County and its surrounding region. In 1996 Randall Textron, one of SwitzerlandCounty’s largest manufacturers closed its doors in Vevay, Indiana. The community employ-ment situation was made far worse in 1999 when the US Shoe Corporation ceased operationsin Vevay as well. At their peak operations these two industries employed collectively over 600people in Switzerland County. Though these numbers had dwindled substantially by the time oftheir closing, the community had lost its two largest manufacturers and was left with little manu-facturing base.

The changing climate did not bring all bad news, though. North American Stainless opened afacility in 1996 in Ghent, Kentucky, less than two miles from Switzerland County and the pro-posed business park site. This facility employed over a 1000 workers and brought qualitymanufacturing jobs into the region. The opening was followed by the announcement of anothersteel facility, Gallatin Steel, which began operations in 1995 and employs approximately 450workers. Several additional manufacturers have located since that time along the Highway 42corridor in Northern Kentucky.

The best news for Switzerland County was yet to come. In 2000 Pinnacle Gaming wasawarded a license to operate a casino in Switzerland County. The Belterra Casino projectbroke ground in 2000 and was opened in 2001. It was an immediate success drawing vastbusiness from Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. In 2003, the Casino began construction of a sec-ond hotel tower adding over 300 rooms and making Belterra the second largest hotel in theState of Indiana. The project continues to be a great success even in challenging economicdevelopment times.

The location of the Belterra Casino was important to Switzerland County and the MarklandBusiness Park project, not only because it left the County with resources to apply to the devel-opment of a diversified industrial base but also because infrastructure that the community cre-ated to support the Casino’s operations was adequate to support industrial applications as well.The site of the Casino was within 2 miles of the planned industrial park site. In July of 2005 the

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December 2008

All pre-construction

planning and

permitting will be

completed before the site

is marketed.

newly created Switzerland County Economic Development Corporation began to assess theavailability of industrial sites in the community. Once a need was identified and options wereexplored the SCEDC reviewed the 1994 feasibility study and commissioned an update. Thenew feasibility study also firmly recommended that the project be pursued. It determined thatthe subject site was still the best place for an industrial development in Switzerland County, butit did identify several changes that would make it a different type of development project. Withnew water, sewer, natural gas, electrical and advance telecommunications infrastructure verynear the site, the development cost would be substantially decreased. However, the site’s loca-tion was much more attractive than it was 10 years before. It was now near the County’s largesttourist draw and land prices were going to be substantially higher for the project as a result.

A new highway project had also begun in the region that would substantially increase the appealof the site. In September 2004, The State of Kentucky began construction of KY 1039. This$16.8 million project linked the Markland Bridge directly to Interstate 71. While substantiallyreducing drive times to the Cincinnati, Louisville, and Lexington areas, the completed road alsocreated a commercial and industrial shipping route into Switzerland County and into the pro-posed business park.

Moving the Project Forward

The SCEDC moved quickly to secure the property and evaluate to project for county leaders.The evaluation and approval process involved multiple public hearings and meetings. The pro-posed project was a ten-year assessment, development, and marketing endeavor to bring busi-ness investment and jobs into the community. Final approval to purchase the property and im-plement the development plan was given in October 2006. The purchase was completed inMarch 2007. At that same time, the site was certified as shovel ready by the Indiana EconomicDevelopment Corporation. The completion of the project required the approval and cooperationof over a dozen state and regional organizations.

The purchase and shovel ready certification marked the beginning of an eighteen month pre-development phase of the project. County leaders knew that, in order to present a more attrac-tive site to prospective employers, the community would need to do as much pre-constructionplanning and permitting as possible before marketing the site. SCEDC’s goal was to offer a sitewhere construction could begin quickly and with very little uncertainty about development time-lines and costs. The planning phase of the project involved more than just site work. SCEDCrepresentatives visited industrial parks throughout the Midwest to identify what facility designshave been successful in other areas. They also interviewed site location consultants and indus-trial real estate specialists to determine what park designs might be appealing to prospectivebusinesses.

Site development planning for the project has included coordination with the utilities that are beexpected to service the park and identification of what upgrades will be needed for utility sys-tems in the area as well as utility easements that were needed inside the park. Approval of theoverall site development plan was needed from several state agencies including approval of thefacility’s roadway and drainage plans.

Construction began on the Markland Business Park in November 2008 and is expected to con-tinue through 2009. When completed, the facility will offer 21st century industrial infrastructure ina competitive location. Sites will be available in mid-2009. Even in the early developmentphases, the site has done much to raise the profile of Switzerland County as a great place tolocate a business. This new exposure has included coverage in national industrial site selectionmagazines and coverage in regional business news outlets.

Page 23Progress Report for the Switzer land County Economic Development Strategy

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Page 24

EcO15 is a

collaborative effort

between ten southeast

Indiana counties.

EcO15 Initiative

Economic Opportunities 2015. Connecting the residents of South East Indiana toeconomic opportunity through education by 2015.

The EcO15 initiative is an exciting workforce and educational development projectsponsored by the Lilly Endowment, Inc. The project seeks to create a world-classadvance manufacturing workforce in Southeast Indiana by building a basic workertraining infrastructure enabling companies to customize training to meet their needsand will raise the basic level of education and workforce training in the region. Thehub of the project will be an advance manufacturing center located in Columbus, Indi-ana. Each of the nine other counties in Southeast Indiana (Switzerland, Decatur, Rip-ley, Ohio, Jefferson, Jackson, Jennings, Dearborn and Franklin Counties) will operateas nodes on the system with local worker training facilities. The grant is administeredthrough the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County and the Community Edu-cation Coalition Inc. of Columbus. In Switzerland County, the funds were granted tothe Switzerland County Community Foundation and the project is being administeredby the Switzerland County Economic Development Corporation.

The EcO15 initiative has three main goals:

· To move residents up one level in their education, training and/or job placement;

· To coordinate and align a regional learning system and

· To be a catalyst for regional leadership.

These goals will be met by working towards achieving 7 objectives:

1. Create an advanced manufacturing network of excellence;

2. Develop career pathways in manufacturing, healthcare and hospitality/tourism;

3. Create career awareness among high school students and members of the ex-isting workforce, and those who employ them;

4. Cultivate emerging innovations;

5. Increase regional collaboration;

6. Prepare regional foundations for change; and

7. Position foundations for visionary leadership.

The key working concepts and principles of EcO15 are that education is the foun-dation for earning higher wages, and that local communities are best able to decidewhat is needed locally to accomplish EcO15 goals. Project leaders also believe thatregional cooperation is critical to the success of the initiative, and will be demon-strated throughout the initiative's projects. By 2015, the region will see improvementsin the education level of our residents, our high school graduation rate, and the in-come levels of our working citizens if EcO15 initiatives are successful. SwitzerlandCounty has submitted a work plan for the EcO15 project and will begin implementingthe plan in early 2009.

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December 2008

The Vision for

Switzerland County

project sought to provide

a retail outlet to local

producers and enhance

our tourism economy.

A Vision For Switzerland County: The Retail Project

The Switzerland County Economic Development Commission partnered with theTown of Vevay, Switzerland County Tourism, the Vevay-Switzerland Foundation andthe Community Foundation of Switzerland County to launch an exciting program enti-tled A Vision For Switzerland County. The goals of the project were to:

1. Enhance the visual presence and brand awareness of Switzerland County, im-prove the tourist area in historic Vevay, and upgrade the “curb appeal” of thecommunity to attract potential new businesses;

2. Assist new and existing businesses in their drive to succeed in SwitzerlandCounty; and

3. Launch business incubators that are attractive to tourists, featuring productsand wares that showcase Switzerland County residents and will fill emptystorefronts to promote a clustering of retail opportunities to create criticalmass.

The goal of our program is to create a sustainable tourist economy, which will at-tract destination travelers who will enhance the local economy during their visit. Keyobjectives to achieving this goal are:

1. Improve “curb appeal” by having more than 25% of district businesses upgradetheir facades and signage;

2. Reduce the district vacancy rate by 50%, filling buildings with operation thatappeal to the traveling public; and

3. Create four stores that feature local products and producers;

Results:

1. Visual

· The project worked with the Vevay Main Street Program to create a signage/façade grant program for the district. To date, the program has assistedtwenty-five businesses, leveraging more than $155,000 of improvementswithin the district. This program was so well received that the signage portionwas extended throughout the county. Nine community businesses have takenadvantage of the signage program.

· The project has created a county-wide signage program that includes all commu-nities within the county as well as county entrance points. To date, thirty-threebranded county signs have been installed creating a unified designation for allcommunities as a part of Switzerland County.

2. Business support

· The project has surveyed existing businesses and created workshops based ontheir identified needs. To date, five workshops including computerized ac-counting, website, marketing, signage and business strategies have been heldserving more than 140 individuals.

· The project has created a small matching grant program for businesses that suc-cessfully completed the workshops.

· The project has successfully utilized retail operations to mentor and guide poten-tial entrepreneurs.

Page 25Progress Report for the Switzer land County Economic Development Strategy

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Switzer land County Economic Development Corporat ion

P R O G R E S S R E P O R T F O R T H E S W I T Z E R L A N D

C O U N T Y E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T

S T R A T E G Y

December 2008

A P P E N D I C E S

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With Switzerland County’s first strategic economic development plan coming to a conclusionand leaders of the Switzerland County Economic Development Corporation (SCEDC) in thepreliminary stages of drafting a follow-up plan, now seems like a good time to step back andsee where we have come from and where we are heading in the future. Part of this analysisshould take into consideration the strategies and objectives employed by other strategic eco-nomic development plans. We should look at other economic development plans for manyreasons: to identify counties/regions undertaking the same objectives and strategies as Swit-zerland County which could be predictors of future successes or failures; to generate newideas, objectives and action plans; and to find guidance on translating successful strategiesand action plans into Switzerland County’s next plan. Therefore, the purpose of this documentis to put Switzerland County’s forthcoming plan into perspective by looking at making a judg-ment call on our present position by comparing objectives, strategies and action plans from ourfirst plan with those of similar plans from nearby counties in Indiana and Kentucky, all the whilekeeping in mind what elements we need to adopt in order to embark successfully on the nextphase of our development strategy.

One of the more prominent features of economic development plans, specifically in this region,is the emphasis on promoting a particular county or region as the best place for business. ForSwitzerland County and surrounding counties in Southeast Indiana, this pitch is towards ad-vanced manufacturing businesses. This trend of answering the question, “Why should yourbusiness choose our county?” seems to have trickled down from the state economic developorganizations into development plans both in Southern Indiana and across the river in NorthCentral Kentucky. A look at the Indiana Economic Development Commission (IEDC) or theKentucky Cabinet for Economic Development will reveal multiple instances where these or-ganizations are attempting to lure new businesses by explaining why Indiana or Kentucky pro-vides the best business climate through advantages in infrastructure, quality of the workforce,low costs of doing business, tax/investment benefits for new business, innovation, and thequality of life provided by affordable housing, recreation opportunities, proximity to metropolitanareas, etc.

Taking cues from these state economic development organizations, leaders in Southeast Indi-ana counties, including Switzerland and Bartholomew, are looking to provide their own an-swers for why advanced manufacturing businesses should locate in Southern Indiana. Thekey to the counties’ answers just may rest in two important economic development initiativeslinked to education and training: EcO15 and “Dream It. Do It”. Leaders of both of these initia-tives are working to develop career path awareness and required skills/training that will allowmembers of the workforce to take advantage of advanced manufacturing jobs that this regionhas historic expertise in attracting. With leaders of the IEDC pursuing an Advanced Manufac-turing Initiative, the economic development plans within Southeast Indiana have provided valu-able resources and strategies to retain existing manufacturing jobs while making their countiesattractive for new business investment.

Another important component of economic development is the funding of projects that are cru-cial to the plan’s completion. In Switzerland County, Action Steps 3 and 4 of the first develop-

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ment plan have set forth county leaders’ intentions of finding a stream of revenue available toSCEDC leaders for project funding as well as of using revenue provided by state grants to con-tinue the next phase of development. Leaders in other counties will undoubtedly look forgrants and state money to finance development projects, which makes the availability of pri-vate and state funds even more crucial to Southern Indiana counties’ attempts to entice newbusinesses to relocate. The funds include but are not limited to: The Lilly Foundation’s $38million grant for EcO15; the IEDC’s $12 billion state fund for improving infrastructure for bothtransportation and telecommunications and their grant funds earmarked under the 21st CenturyResearch and Technology Fund; the Industrial Development Grant Fund and the Skills En-hancement Fund.

Aside from providing the site and infrastructure components necessary to attract new busi-nesses, county leaders need to ensure that members of their workforce can meet the needs ofthe new employers. Switzerland County is participating in the EcO15 and “Dream It. Do It” ini-tiatives to ensure a “highly skilled, educated and capable workforce” that not only will attractadvanced manufacturing businesses to relocate to Switzerland County, but will also allowthese workers to secure jobs with these new businesses once they relocate. Leaders of boththe Community Education Coalition and the Heritage Fund of Bartholomew County are push-ing hard for the EcO15 initiative because their primary objective is to, “target our recruiting ef-forts at new businesses domestically and internationally that will focus on job opportunities inhigh value-added manufacturing, service and technology companies which support the growthof advanced manufacturing and life sciences [industries]” will ultimately require “[working] withcommunity partners to achieve better alignment of local training and educational programs withthe needs of existing industry and real job opportunities... to improve skills and competitive-ness of the local workforce.”

Shifting from the impact that state-level organizations have made on the counties economicdevelopment organizations, county leaders, when drafting strategic economic developmentplans, should look at the similarities in what the counties are doing on their own. The first thingto note is that while situations across counties remain unique, each county appears to have thesame basic goal: to retain existing businesses while recruiting new businesses that will capi-talize on the resources and existing workforce within the community – this is clearly stated asthe second of five goals in Switzerland County’s first plan. A second, related goal is to improvethe quality of living within the county. This is accomplished both directly by working to “expandthe proportion of our local economy involved in high value-added service sector businesses,”and indirectly, because of the necessary investment in infrastructure (roads, water systems,telecommunications/Internet access). This emphasis on improving infrastructure was commonin the information provided by the economic development organizations for Ohio County/RisingSun Works, Crawford County Economic Development, and the Orange County Economic De-velopment Partnership. For Switzerland County, this issue is addressed under the first goal,which is to, “build the county’s capacity for aggressive economic development initiatives” andincludes the initiative to, “identify and address immediate infrastructure limitations to economicdevelopment” such as limitations of the Patriot Water Company, highway improvement andaffordable high-speed Internet access.

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Additionally, as a component part of the efforts to attract new businesses, managers of theselocal economic development agencies have done considerable work in compiling demographicdata on their populations, workforce, economic conditions, prominent employers/industries,poverty levels, education institutions, housing and utilities rates, major transportation hubs,recreational facilities and the availability of “shovel-ready sites” and business park develop-ments. Leaders of the Crawford County Economic Development compiled a massive databaseof demographic information in cooperation with Stats Indiana; leaders of the Orange CountyEconomic Development Partnership, Ohio County Chamber of Commerce/Rising Sun Worksand Carroll County (KY) Community Development Corporation devoted pages on their respec-tive Websites to data on the quality of life, the workforce, utility rates, tax rates and availableproperty listings that prospective businesses would want to consider when making decisionson relocating. Furthermore, the Columbus Economic Development Board’s Strategic Plan out-lines a number of direct and indirect measures by which board members will assess the pro-gress of their economic development plan, and many of these measures are the aforemen-tioned demographic figures. Members of MIDCOR, the economic development organizationfor Madison-Jefferson County, put forth considerable research on existing businesses and nec-essary infrastructure within the county and they even took a page from IEDC and outlined im-portant tax and investment benefits that businesses can obtain by relocating to JeffersonCounty.

In their plan, leaders of Switzerland County determined a handful of Indiana counties: Ohio,Union, Crawford, Starke, Orange and Spencer; that were comparable in size and economicsituation and that had economic development organizations which SCEDC leaders would useas a benchmark to determine the success of their own plan. By comparing these counties ontheir efforts at turning demographic research into an effective strategy, we can easily see thedifference in the quality of Switzerland County’s plan. It is as if SCEDC’s efforts have gonebeyond what similar counties have done in drafting strategic economic development plans.For example, the 18th action step for SCEDC’s plan states: “To gather extensive data on thecounty to have readily available for industry request,” which “includes workforce information,tax information, utility costs, available recreation and amenities.” This wealth of demographicinformation (called the “Switzerland County Factfinder”) was added as an appendix to the firsteconomic development plan.

It is true that other counties have completed similar demographic research; however, what setsSwitzerland County apart is the fact that the SCEDC plan is readily available to the public, andthe data used to develop the plan also is readily available by virtue of its inclusion in the formaldocument. These comparable counties’ economic development organizations have postedtheir demographic data on their respective Websites (for example, the Orange County Eco-nomic Development Partnership or Crawford County Economic Development) but they havenot made available, or in some cases even mentioned, their actual economic developmentstrategy on the website. On the other hand, Switzerland County’s plan is readily available onthe SCEDC’s Website, in addition to a page that separately profiles the community’s facts andfigures in a manner much like that which other economic development organizations have cre-ated. Therefore, the SCEDC’s efforts in creating this development plan appear to be thoroughand centered on getting as much of the community involved in order to increase the plan’s

Page 5Data Appendix

chances for success, and doing this required that the SCEDC leaders make the current planand relevant demographic data available to everyone.

So where do we go from here? The groundwork completed in conjunction with our first planhas put us in the position of setting an example of economic development efforts throughoutthe rest of Southeast Indiana. Switzerland County’s plan seems to be leaps and boundsahead of comparable counties in Southern Indiana because of the preparation and executionby the leaders of the SCEDC.

The strategies SCEDC leaders have employed are very much inline with the ideas and initia-tives being championed by state-level economic development organizations. Therefore, oursecond plan most likely will include the EcO15 and the “Dream It. Do It.” initiatives as theyshould play a key role in improving the quality of the workforce. This is a crucial step towardsachieving our first two long-term goals of improving the capacity for aggressive economic initia-tives and the drive to retain existing businesses while attracting new advanced manufacturingbusinesses. The funding and grants provided by the IEDC, the state, and private organiza-tions such as The Lilly Foundation, for infrastructure and worker training will make counties likeSwitzerland County much more enticing for new business ventures. However, we need tomake sure that we effectively align grant money with development initiatives and stay vigilantin monitoring the economic conditions in the community, the needs of existing and potentialnew businesses, and the continued progress as our development plan shifts into its next phasein order to keep Switzerland County’s economic future on course.

Alex Buschermohle

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AP P E ND I X B:CO M PAR AB L E COU NTI E S

In Switzerland County’s first strategic development plan (2004), a section was devoted todetermining success of the plan using “comparable counties” as a way to track SwitzerlandCounty’s performance over time across a handful of demographic/economic categories. In thefirst strategic development plan, six Indiana counties were selected as similar counties based onfactors such as population, income level, rural/urban disparity, industrial makeup, andcommutingpatterns. These counties were Ohio, Union, Crawford, Starke, Orange and Spencer.

The following is an update using the most current available data to determine whetherthose original comparable counties have remained as reasonable benchmarks for tracking Switzer-land County’s progress. The counties in these tables were included based on the following criteria:for population, counties within +/- 2,000 people of Switzerland County’s population were in-cluded; for education levels, counties were included if the percentage of the population with a highschool diploma was within +/- 3% of Switzerland County; for per capita income, counties wereincluded if their per capita income was within +/- $2,000 of Switzerland County’s figure; and forcommuting patterns, counties were included if they fit Switzerland County’s trend of approximately

2000 residents commutingout of the county for workwhile 500 non-residents com-muted in for work. Withinthe tables, counties appearingin italics are most comparableto Switzerland County out ofall other counties for thatgiven criteria.

This analysis was made

using the most current

available data to

determine whether those

original comparable

counties have remained

as reasonable

benchmarks for tracking

Switzerland County’s

progress.

Population

County Population (2007 est.)

Benton 8,810

Crawford 10,782

Martin 10,058

Ohio 5,772

Union 7,203

Warren 8,482

Switzerland 9,684

Education Levels

County Pop. Percentage w/ High SchoolDiploma (2000)

Pop. Percentage w/Bachelors Degree (2000)

Crawford 70.6 8.4

Daviess 71.8 9.7

Fayette 73.7 7.8

Orange 73.8 10.2

Scott 71.4 8.8

Starke 72 8.4

Switzerland 71.4 7.6

Page 7Data Appendix

Page 8

AP P E ND I X B:CO M PAR AB L E COU NTI E S

Per Capita Income

County Per Capita Income (2006)

Adams$26,402

Blackford$25,027

Clay$24,943

Clinton$26,564

Crawford$23,809

Fayette$26,473

Grant $26,476

Greene $26,121

Jay $25,112

Jefferson $27,612

Jennings $26,581

Miami $24,117

Newton $26,575

Noble $26,572

Ohio $26,972

Orange $24,470

Owen $24,922

Parke $24,144

Pike $26,240

Randolph $26,346

Scott $25,162

Warren $26,343

Washington $26,322

Switzerland $25,011

December 2008

Data Appendix Page 9

AP P E ND I X B:CO M PAR AB L E COU NTI E S

Conclusions:According to the trends from the most recent data, Crawford County is most comparable

to Switzerland County. Crawford County’s reported figures closely mirror Switzerland County’sfigures in every category. Other counties that compared closely to Switzerland County in thesestatistics included Benton, Ohio, Orange, Union and Warren counties. Like Crawford County,Ohio, Orange, and Union counties were also named in the first strategy, and current data indicatesthat they have all remained as reasonable benchmarks to measure the progress within SwitzerlandCounty.

Crawford County is

most comparable to

Switzerland County.

Other comparable

counties include Benton,

Ohio, Orange, Union

and Warren counties.

Commuting Patterns

County Number of individuals commutinginto county for work

Number of individuals commutingout of county for work

Benton 468 1,950

Crawford 485 2,376

Ohio 890 1,762

Union 449 2,100

Warren 646 2,440

Switzerland 475 2,083

Page 10

AP P E ND I X C: SUC C E SS ME AS UR E S

These statistics represent Switzerland County’s progress with respect to the success measures in-cluded in the first Economic Development Strategy:

The trends in the table above indicate that most other comparable counties lost jobs like Switzer-land County between 2005 and 2007. Orange County was the exception, where the growth in em-ployment was up, likely due to the opening of the French Lick Casino in 2006.

The table above shows that Switzerland County outpaced both the national annual percentagegrowth in per capita income, as well as the annual percentage growth rates for most comparablecounties between 2004 and 2006.

Data was not available at time of publication.

Most comparable

counties lost jobs

lbetween 2005 and

2007.

2004 2005 2006 2007 ’05-’07 %change

Indiana 2,988,878 3,028,983 3,073,006 3,056,590 0.91%

Crawford Co. 5,032 5,013 4,930 4,929 -1.68%

Ohio Co. 2,939 2,983 2,942 2,940-1.44%

Orange Co. 8,413 8,619 8,900 9,932 15.23%

Union Co. 3,555 3,656 3,688 3,459 -5.39%

Switzerland Co. 5,444 5,491 5,447 5,478 -0.24%

1. Annual percentage growth in employment that outpaces the State-wide average:

2. Annual percentage growth in per capita income above the U.S. average:

2004 2005 % change 2006 % change

United States $33,123 $34,757 4.93% $36,714 5.63%

Crawford Co. $22,364 $22,832 2.09% $23,809 4.28%

Ohio Co. $24,460 $25,740 5.23% $26,927 4.61%

Orange Co. $22,299 $22,733 1.95% $24,740 8.83%

Union Co. $27,883 $28,586 2.52% $29,814 4.30%

Switzerland Co. $22,148 $23,587 6.50% $25,011 6.04%

3. Annual rate of increase in the number of new business establishments above theState-wide average:

December 2008

Switzerland County

outpaced the national

average annual

percentage growth in per

capita income.

Page 11

AP P E ND I X C: SUC C E SS ME AS UR E S

Data shows that Switzerland County’s poverty rate decreased from 13.9% in 2004 to 13.6% in2005, placing it in the middle of the figures for comparable counties in 2005. Unfortunately, com-

plete data for comparable counties in2004 was not available and data be-yond 2005 was not available at timeof publication. If this trend were tocontinue through 2007, however,Switzerland County’s poverty ratewould be expected to fall below thenational average.

The proportion of Switzerland County’s workforce aged 18-44 increased from 36.5% in 2000 to37.2% in 2006, which was still below the 37.4% figure for the state of Indiana. However, the 2006

figure for the state of Indianamarked a declining from the year2000 while Switzerland County’sfigure marked an increase in theproportion of workers 18-44 in theworkforce. If this trend were tocontinue through 2007, the propor-tion of workers aged 18-44 in Swit-zerland County would be expectedto exceed the State-wide average.

Switzerland County’spoverty rate dropped to13.6% in 2005. Ifthis trend were tocontinue through 2007,Switzerland County’spoverty rate would beexpected to fall below thenational average.

4. Poverty rate below the U.S. average:

2004 2005

United States 12.4% 13.3%

Crawford Co. - 17.5%

Ohio Co. - 8.5%

Orange Co. - 16.7%

Union Co. - 11.0%

Switzerland Co. 13.9% 13.6%

5. Percentage of the workforce age eighteen toforty-four at or above the State-wide average:

2000 2006

Indiana 39.6% 37.4%

Crawford Co. - 36.4%

Ohio Co. - 36.6%

Orange Co. - 34.6%

Union Co. - 35.3%

Switzerland Co. 36.5% 37.2%

Data Appendix

Given the trend from2000 to 2006, theproportion of workersaged 18-44 inSwitzerland Countywould be expected toexceed the State-wideaverage.

A P P E N D I X D: G R A N T S A W A R D E D A N D

E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T F U N D E X P E N D I T U R E S

Vision for Switzerland County Project $140,000.00

Markland Business Park $99,000.00

High Speed Internet $45,500.00

Strategic Planning $20,000.00

Economic Development Fund expenditures through December 2008

Community Comeback Grant (Web Design) $25,500.00

Strategic Planning Grants $30,000.00

EcO 15 Initiative $900,000.00

Grants for Specific Events/Projects $8,600.00

Grants awarded through December 2008

Page 12 December 2008

Page 13Data Appendix

A P P E N D I X E: S W I T Z E R L A N D C O U N T Y

A G R I B U S I N E S S S T R A T E G Y

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Page 14 December 2008

A P P E N D I X F: O R G A N I Z A T I O N O F S W I T Z E R L A N D

C O U N T Y E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T A C T I V I T I E S

Page 15

AP P E ND I X G:RE G I ONA L DA TA ANA LY S IS - 4/08

Switzerland County, IndianaRegional Data Analysis

April 2008

Data Appendix

Page 16 December 2008

AP P E ND I X G:RE G I ONA L DA TA ANA LY S IS - 4/08

The Region

Switzerland County is located at the conflux of two major metropolitan areas (Cincinnati and Lou-isville) and three states (Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky). With such a unique location, the county isnot easily placed within a traditionally defined region. Because of this, a regional framework wascreated to gain perspective on the economic and demographic environment of the county’s sur-rounding areas.

The methodology for the regional framework was based upon distance and commute time fromthe Markland Business Park to towns and cities adjacent to Switzerland County. Distance was de-fined in adjusted miles and calculated using existing roads and highways in the region. Commutetime was based upon travel minutes, taking into consideration available routes and speed con-straints.

Two regional definitions were created based upon adjusted miles and adjusted minutes in order togather a picture of the immediate and greater areas to which Switzerland County is attached. TheRegion encompasses 15 counties under 40 adjusted miles or 50 adjusted minutes from Markland.The Super Region encompasses 26 counties under 55 adjusted miles or 75 adjusted minutes fromMarkland.

FIGURE 1: Switzerland County Region

15 Counties- 5 Indiana Counties (Dearborn, Jefferson, Ohio, Ripley and Switzerland) and 10 Ken-tucky Counties (Boone, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, Henry, Kenton, Oldham, Owen, and

Trimble)

Creating a region

around Switzerland

County provides a more

realistic look at the

available workforce and

opportunities.

Page 17

AP P E ND I X G:RE G I ONA L DA TA ANA LY S IS - 4/08

FIGURE 2: Switzerland County Super Region

26-counties- 11 Indiana counties (Clark, Dearborn, Decatur, Floyd, Franklin, Jefferson, Jennings,Ohio, Ripley, Scott and Switzerland), 14 Kentucky counties (Boone, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin,

Grant, Henry, Jefferson, Kenton, Oldham, Owen, Pendleton, Scott, Shelby, Trimble), and 1 Ohiocounty (Hamilton)

Data for the counties in the Region and Super Region was compiled and compared with Switzer-land County, the State of Indiana, and the State of Kentucky for benchmarking purposes. Theanalysis looked at the following demographic and economic characteristics:

Population Growth,

Educational Attainment,

Job Growth, and

Average Annual Wages.

A profile of Switzerland County including jobs by sector, wages by sector, and commuting patternswas completed. A comparison of the breakdown of occupations and their wages was performedusing Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) data for Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN Metro andLouisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN Metro. Additionally, data was compiled for the Region, SuperRegion, Indiana, and Kentucky analyzing patent activity and venture capital investment.

26 counties in three

states are within a 70

minute drive of

Switzerland County.

Data Appendix

Page 18 December 2008

AP P E ND I X G:RE G I ONA L DA TA ANA LY S IS - 4/08

Population Growth

Switzerland County is home to 9,721 residents (US Census Bureau, 2006), with the populationgrowing 7.2% from 2000 to 2006, a gain of 656 residents. The 15-county Region has a populationof 612,738 people and slightly outpaced the county with a growth rate of 8.4% from 2000 to 2006.The 26-county Super Region is home to 2,449,625 people and lagged behind the region and countywith a growth rate of 2.5%. The State of Indiana had a rate of 3.8% and the State of Kentucky hada growth rate of 4.1% from 2000 to 2006.

FIGURE 3: Population Growth Chart

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; Stats Indiana

Population Growth (1970-2006)

13.4%12.6%

1.1%

5.7%

13.6%

17.1%17.5%

5.9%

9.7% 9.6%

0.7%

8.2%

6.8%

0.5% 1.0%

7.2%

8.4%

2.5%

3.8% 4.1%

0.0%

2.0%

4.0%

6.0%

8.0%

10.0%

12.0%

14.0%

16.0%

18.0%

20.0%

Switzerland

County

Region Super Region State of

Indiana

State of

Kentucky

1970-1980

1980-1990

1990-2000

2000-2006

Page 19

AP P E ND I X G:RE G I ONA L DA TA ANA LY S IS - 4/08

Educational Attainment

Switzerland County has only 71.4% of its adult population (25 years and older) with a high schooldiploma or higher which lags behind the Region (76.4%), Super Region (77.3%), Indiana (82.1%),and Kentucky (74.1%). The county is 10.7% lower than the State of Indiana.

FIGURE 4: Educational Attainment: High School or More

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; Stats Indiana

Only 7.5% of the adult population have a Bachelor’s degree or higher, lower than the Region(14.0%), the Super Region (15.0%), the Kentucky (17.1%) and the Indiana (19.4%). This is an indi-cation of the pressing need for higher education opportunities in the county and region.

FIGURE 5: Educational Attainment: Bachelor’s Degree or More

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; Stats Indiana

Bachelor's Degree or More,

Percent of Adults 25+ (2000)

7.6%

14.0%

15.0%

19.4%

17.1%

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0%

Switzerland County

Region

Super Region

Indiana

Kentucky

Data Appendix

High School Diploma or More,

Percent of Adults 25+ (2000)

71.4%

76.4%

77.3%

82.1%

74.1%

65.0% 70.0% 75.0% 80.0% 85.0%

Switzerland

County

Region

Super Region

Indiana

Kentucky

Page 20 December 2008

AP P E ND I X G:RE G I ONA L DA TA ANA LY S IS - 4/08

Job Growth

The number of jobs in Switzerland County has remained relatively flat with only a very slight de-cline from 2003-2006. In the same four year period, the comparison areas experienced the same flatjob market with the most significant gain occurring in the Region in 2005 (2.08%).

FIGURE 6: Job Growth (2003-06)

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Average Annual Wage

Switzerland County’s average annual wage is $28,368 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2006) com-pared with the Region ($32,710), the Super Region ($33,289), Indiana ($36,553), and Kentucky($35,200). From 2003-06, the average annual wage in the county did grow 4.45% compared with aflat wage in the Region (0.04%), the Super Region (0.06%), Indiana (-0.05%), and Kentucky(0.85%).

FIGURE 7: Average Annual Wage

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Average Annual Wage (2003-06)

$28,368

$32,710$33,289

$36,553$35,200

$20,000

$22,000

$24,000

$26,000

$28,000

$30,000

$32,000

$34,000

$36,000

$38,000

Sw itzerland

County

Region Super

Region

Indiana Kentucky

2003

2004

2005

2006

SwitzerlandCounty Region Super Region Indiana Kentucky

2006 -0.86% 0.31% -0.45% 0.64% 1.19%

2005 -0.86% 2.08% 0.78% 0.87% 1.65%

2004 -1.27% 1.68% 0.11% 0.95% 0.86%

2003 -0.96% 1.94% -0.37% -0.38% -0.23%

Page 21

AP P E ND I X G:RE G I ONA L DA TA ANA LY S IS - 4/08

Industry Breakdown

Within Switzerland County, a sector breakdown from the Indiana Department of Workforce De-velopment is provided below. Jobs with the government are listed as the largest sector with 441employed (2006). However, these data does not capture specific sectors due to non-discloseabledata, specifically the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector- failing to capture all employment atBelterra Casino.

FIGURE 8: Switzerland County, Employment by Sector (2006)

Source: Indiana Department of Workforce Development

Jobs Wage

Total 1,126* $28,368

Federal, State, & Local Govt. 441 $30,115

Accommodation and Food Service 153 $18,171

Health Care and Social Assistance 117 $29,162

Retail Trade 95 $15,886

Manufacturing 87 $24,887

Other Services 49 $20,287

Construction 48 $26,530

Finance and Insurance 43 $35,504

Admin. and Waste Services 33 $21,787

Professional and Tech. Servs. 22 $36,937

Information 19 $18,886

Transport. and Warehousing 10 $25,227

Utilities 9 $28,368

Mgmt. of Companies 0 n/a

Educational Services 0 n/a

Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, Hunt D D

Mining D D

Arts, Entertain., and Recreation D D

Real Estate, Rental, Leasing D D

Wholesale Trade D D

*does not include all jobs due to D = non-disclosable in compliance withthe Bureau of Labor Statistics and/or State of Indiana confidentialityguidelines.

Data Appendix

Page 22 December 2008

AP P E ND I X G:RE G I ONA L DA TA ANA LY S IS - 4/08

Occupation Breakdown – Metropolitan Areas

Due to data constraints, the most reliable data sets for an examination of Industry Breakdown inboth the Region and Super Region are Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) estimates for jobs andwages released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-INMSA and Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN MSA were utilized to gather an understanding ofoccupation types in the region compared with Indiana and Kentucky (see Figure 9 below). For themost part, variance across the geographical areas is minimal with the exception of production-related jobs where Cincinnati (8.8%) and Louisville (9.9%) are lower than Kentucky at 11.8% ofoccupations and Indiana at 13.7% of occupations.

FIGURE 9: Occupation Breakdown (May 2006

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Decision Data Resources

Occupations Cincinnati Louisville Indiana Kentucky

Office & Administrative Support 17.8% 17.7% 15.6% 16.5%

Sales & Related 10.3% 10.5% 9.9% 10.2%

Food Preparation & Serving Re-lated 9.2% 8.3% 8.8% 8.7%

Production 8.8% 9.9% 13.7% 11.8%

Transportation & Material Moving 8.1% 9.9% 9.0% 8.9%

Education/Training/Library 5.4% 4.9% 5.6% 6.0%

Healthcare Practitioners & Tech-nical 5.4% 5.7% 5.3% 5.7%

Business & Financial Ops 4.8% 3.5% 3.1% 2.9%

Management 4.2% 4.5% 3.8% 4.4%

Construction & Extraction 4.2% 4.7% 4.9% 4.8%

Installation/Maintenance/Repair 3.9% 4.1% 4.6% 4.5%

Building/Grounds Cleaning/Maintenance 3.0% 3.1% 3.3% 3.0%

Healthcare Support 2.7% 2.8% 2.3% 2.7%

Computer & Mathematical 2.4% 1.8% 1.3% 1.3%

Personal Care & Service 2.4% 2.0% 2.0% 2.1%

Architecture & Engineering 1.9% 1.2% 1.6% 1.2%

Protective Service 1.8% 2.0% 1.8% 2.0%

Arts/Design/Entertainment/Sports/Media 1.2% 1.1% 1.0% 0.9%

Community & Social Services 1.0% 1.0% 1.2% 1.2%

Life/Physical/Social Science 0.7% 0.5% 0.6% 0.6%

Legal 0.6% 0.6% 0.4% 0.6%

Farming/Fishing/Forestry 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.3%

Page 23

AP P E ND I X G:RE G I ONA L DA TA ANA LY S IS - 4/08

Mean Annual Wage by Occupation – Metropolitan Areas

The Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN MSA outpaced Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-INMSA, Indiana, and Kentucky in the majority of wage categories. In particular, the mean annualwage for management occupations was significantly higher at $93,280 than Louisville at $82,520,Indiana at $80,510, and Kentucky at $76,400. This can be attributed to the headquarters of ten For-tune 500 companies located in Greater Cincinnati including two Fortune 50 companies, Procterand Gamble and Kroger Company (Fortune Magazine, April 2007).

FIGURE 10: Mean Annual Wage, by Occupation (May 2006)

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Decision Data Resources

Occupations Cincinnati Louisville Indiana Kentucky

Management $93,280 $82,520 $80,510 $76,400

Legal $76,020 $69,270 $64,940 $64,550

Computer & Mathematical $64,150 $59,100 $58,310 $55,840

Architecture & Engineering $63,640 $53,480 $58,890 $56,170

Healthcare Practitioners & Techni-cal $61,180 $56,300 $55,450 $53,700

Business & Financial Ops $57,750 $51,010 $52,110 $49,230

Life/Physical/Social Science $57,280 $49,060 $55,870 $46,720

Education/Training/Library $46,080 $40,170 $40,580 $38,540

Arts/Design/Entertainment/Sports/Media $42,380 $37,110 $36,480 $34,970

Construction & Extraction $40,510 $36,490 $41,280 $35,010

Installation/Maintenance/Repair $40,140 $37,200 $38,910 $35,620

Community & Social Services $39,250 $36,330 $34,400 $35,060

Sales & Related $36,270 $33,830 $31,470 $28,890

Protective Service $33,690 $31,530 $32,440 $30,200

Production $32,030 $33,310 $32,020 $30,420

Office & Administrative Support $30,280 $28,930 $28,270 $27,460

Transportation & Material Moving $29,780 $28,500 $29,490 $27,790

Healthcare Support $25,670 $25,310 $24,390 $22,940

Personal Care & Service $24,590 $20,060 $20,390 $21,850

Building/Grounds Cleaning/Maintenance $23,550 $21,360 $22,090 $20,250

Farming/Fishing/Forestry $22,920 $23,060 $27,030 $22,780

Food Preparation & Serving Re-lated $17,790 $16,980 $16,950 $16,230

Data Appendix

Page 24 December 2008

AP P E ND I X G:RE G I ONA L DA TA ANA LY S IS - 4/08

Commuting Patterns – Switzerland County

Within Switzerland County, 88.15% of jobs were held by county residents (3,504 workers) based ontax filers with the Indiana Department of Revenue in 2005.

FIGURE 11: Switzerland County Workers, Work Location (2005)

Source: Indiana Department of Revenue

The remaining 11.85% of jobs (471 workers) were filled by individuals from neighboring areas withJefferson County providing the most (171 workers).

FIGURE 12: Top 5 Counties Sending Workers INTO Switzerland County (2005)

Source: Indiana Department of Revenue

40.15% of Switzerland County residents (2,351 workers) worked in locations outside of the county.

FIGURE 13: Switzerland County Residents, Work Location (2005)

Source: Indiana Department of Revenue

40% of Switzerland

County residents work

outside of the county.

Workers Percent

Number of tax filers wholive in county and workin Switzerland County 3,504 88.15%

Number of tax filers wholive out of the countyand work in SwitzerlandCounty 471 11.85%

Number of tax filers whowork in SwitzerlandCounty 3,975

Jefferson County 171

Kentucky 77

Ohio County 67

Dearborn County 35

Ripley County 33

Workers Percent

Number of tax filers wholive in county and workin Switzerland County 3,504 59.85%

Number of tax fliers wholive in county and workout of SwitzerlandCounty 2,351 40.15%

Total number of tax fliersin Switzerland County 5,855

Page 25

AP P E ND I X G:RE G I ONA L DA TA ANA LY S IS - 4/08

The largest receiver was Kentucky with 762 workers, followed by Dearborn County, Indiana with435 workers, and Ohio with 310 workers.

FIGURE 14: Top 5 Counties Receiving Workers FROM Switzerland County (2005)

Source: Indiana Department of Revenue

Innovation Activity – Patents

The State of Indiana consistently led the other areas from 2002-06. Interestingly, the 26-countySuper Region and the 15-county Region outpaced the State of Kentucky each year in the reportedperiod.

FIGURE 15: PatentsSource: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; Decision Data Resources

In order to determine patent productivity, the number of patents per 1,000 people was calculatedusing 2006 figures. This showed that the Region had the greatest productivity with 1.19 patentsissued per 1,000 people, significantly higher than the Super Region (0.39), Indiana (0.24), and Ken-tucky (0.13)

Kentucky 762

Dearborn County 435

Ohio (State) 310

Jefferson County 289

Ohio County 216

Patents Issued (2002-2006)

927 903814

629

727

1,2911,332

1,239

1,089

970

1,782 1,801

1,611

1,422

1,527

610 576537

464

567

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

1,800

2,000

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Region

Super Region

Indiana

Kentucky

Data Appendix

Page 26 December 2008

AP P E ND I X G:RE G I ONA L DA TA ANA LY S IS - 4/08

FIGURE 16: Patent Productivity (2006)

Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; Decision Data Resources; U.S. Census Bureau

Innovation Activity- Venture Capital Investments

The 15-county region had over $191 million in venture capital investments from 2002-06 while the26-county Super Region had over $445 million, taking into account investments from two majormetropolitan areas, Louisville and Cincinnati. The State of Indiana was highest with over $678 mil-lion invested while Kentucky had over $373 million in investment over the five-year period.

FIGURE 17: Venture Capital Investments (2002-06)

Source: Decision Data Resources

While innovation in the

Switzerland County

region is high, venture

capital investments are

substantially lower.

Patents PopulationPatents per

1,000 people

Region 727 612,738 1.19

Super Region 970 2,510,127 0.39

Indiana 1,527 6,313,520 0.24

Kentucky 567 4,206,074 0.13

2002 2003 2004 2005 20062002-2006Total

Region $10,750,000 $0 $20,000,000 $160,499,100 $0 $191,249,100

SuperRegion $164,133,000 $10,606,700 $69,982,900 $192,618,100 $8,360,800 $445,701,500

Indiana $44,120,700 $57,000,000 $74,250,200 $147,025,800 $356,455,200 $678,851,900

Kentucky $131,385,000 $5,400,000 $34,083,900 $175,499,100 $27,082,800 $373,450,800

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AP P E ND I X H:SA M P L E MA R K ET I NG M A TE R I A L

Data Appendix

Page 28 December 2008

AP P E ND I X H:SA M P L E MA R K ET I NG M A TE R I A L

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