Economic development update: Shell Building equipment arriving; ROI modeling and workforce efforts underway
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Summary
The county’s economic development director reported CSX site-certification work, arrivals of equipment at the Shell Building (initial jobs cited at roughly 50, potentially up to 70), development of ROI modeling with Indiana Municipal Power Agency and other metrics projects, and upcoming quality-of-life outreach events.
Bob Grewey, representing the county economic development organization, briefed the commissioners on a range of projects on Oct. 28. He said staff are working with CSX to pursue site certification for a rail-served parcel near Technology Drive and that equipment deliveries are occurring at the Shell Building; the developer had discussed initial staffing in the 50s with potential to grow toward 70 positions.
Grewey said staff have been trained on a return-on-investment model developed by the Indiana Municipal Power Agency to measure property-tax and wage impacts, and that Indiana University students are assisting with a proposed dashboard of economic indicators to help track county comparative metrics. He discussed workforce supports including rapid response work after layoffs, job fairs coordinated with WorkOne, an HR roundtable and training on AI for business spreadsheets.
The office is also planning town-hall open houses Nov. 19–20 to collect public input for a quality-of-life and workforce-attraction update. Grewey said the EDC is also preparing to revive a revolving loan fund and to transfer possession and leasing authority for an airport hangar to realize revenue.
