 Thank you all for being here. I know that it may or may not have been an ice skating rink getting into Pine Hills today, but I appreciate you you coming and and when we look outside the back side of Pine Hills into the golf First area it makes it all worthwhile because it's absolutely stunning and We're nice and cozy inside. So thanks for bearing the cold and coming to join us. I Am going to go through and share the results of the economic outlook survey So annually we send out the economic outlook survey to members and actually this year We shared it with some non business members as well or non members that are businesses and encouraged their You know them to participate and share what their thoughts are and their experiences and their forecasts for the year Because we feel like it's important to have that really diverse perspective When we're you know talking about the economic outlook of Sheboygan County, it's obviously very important to us And the good news is is that you know, we we are seeing that the diversity in You know industry in age range of participants in employer versus employee That you know that that we're getting a good mix of respondents This year we also noticed that roughly 15 percent of our membership actually did participate And so if you conduct surveys on large scale, then you know that that is a really really good number So thank you to all who participated We also saw that about 9% of our respondents were actually non members So again, we this was our first time really offering it out to non-member businesses So to have you know a chunk in there that were non-member businesses. We were pretty excited about that as well So let's talk about some things that might be important to you attraction Alright, so workforce growth. It is no secret that year over year we talk about workforce attraction and retention and the importance of it and In many cases the dire need to attract more talent to Sheboygan County So, you know in looking at you know talking about workforce growth 56.7% of our organizations Expect that their workforce will grow in the next 12 months. This is down about 4.3% over the previous year But you know having more than 50% growth in you know year over year is is significantly great space to be as a community This question is also asked annually by our partners at WMC or Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce which is a statewide agency and their respondents reported that about 49% of employers Expected increase in workforce. So we continue to be ahead of what the state is reporting out and then looking at Looking at you know Who's having trouble and who's not having trouble? We still continue to see the trend that 75% of respondents are sharing that it's really hard to find workers So we have to as a community Collaborate and continue to find ways to attract and retain workforce to our area any any surprises there No hands up. Okay. I didn't think so Alright looking at the types of positions needed So the top three that really stood out were business management Positions manufacturing and production and then finance and IT So, you know, and you can kind of get an idea of what some of those other Some of those other industries are looking for we've noticed that these top three have not really changed much over the past few years But the order of them does fluctuate. So You know, we continue to do what we can to attract in those areas specifically But it doesn't mean that there's not a need of course for additional industries to have more workforce as A part of our attraction and retention workforce development You know, we look at what K-12 talent initiatives our companies are actively participating in which ones do they maybe find the most valuable? And so this year we saw this change a little bit On-site career experiences seems to be number one very closely followed by guest speaking in schools And then partnering with our wonderful partners at Inspire, Wisconsin Those those continue to be in the lead, but you can see that youth apprenticeships at Steam Fest junior achievement are really You know follow not, you know, not there's not a huge spread between what people are doing So it seems to me that many of our businesses, which we're so grateful for are very very Engaged and actively participating in K-12 initiatives So thank you for that and we know that if we want our next generation of leadership So as our students are graduating from our local high schools in the county We want them to stay here and the best way to engage them is to build those Relationships and also to make sure they know about the wonderful opportunities. We have right here in Sheboygan County They don't have to go somewhere Different in order to have wonderful careers In looking at attraction the top three efforts that our employers are utilizing Are the employee referral programs digital hiring and offering college internships We we also see that relocation expenses has climbed up Some place better our partners at SCEDC's some place better campaign is right there But there's so there's a lot of different opportunities that our employers are utilizing we've you know specifically Looking at the college internships. We are honored to Host an interning co-op program annually I'm not sure if many of you are aware, but we partner with you know several of our employers in Sheboygan County every summer and We're given the opportunity to Show our intern our college interns and co-ops a good time by immersing them in the culture of Sheboygan County And so, you know, certainly if this is an area that you are utilizing To attract talent to your your workplace and you're not using the intern and co-op program to help kind of Close the deal if you will then I would certainly encourage you to reach out and we'd be happy to share that information with you So how likely are you to recommend a friend or family member to move to Sheboygan County this year? 83% of respondents would likely recommend a friend or family member to move here This has actually gone up over the previous year, which is really wonderful. Certainly. We'd like it to be closer to a hundred percent But the fact that we're moving in the right direction is really promising and especially as we you know Talk about employee referrals being the number one way that we attract talent to our places of business Then it's even more important that we have people boots on the ground that are Recommending their friends and family members to move here, right because employee referrals don't work if people are not Excited about the opportunities that Sheboygan County has to offer. So, you know as a community continuing to build Build up the community real realistically and have more offerings available and and make this the you know Continue to make this the best place to work live and play becomes really important from an attraction Perspective so I'd like to see this number continue to increase But I was happy to see that it did go up over the previous year and then we will move to retention So we ask each one of you What you know what retention efforts are you utilizing as an employer and so offering? Flexibility and schedules really rose to the top this year giving more money I think we're all feeling that burn a little bit, right? And professional development opportunities are the most widely used retention efforts But again, you can see that it really you know, there's there's some others up there that are really pretty closely aligned as well so You know in the past the flexibility and scheduling has actually been You know a little more questionable in our county So it was really interesting to see that that flexibility in the workplace being offered It seems to again have risen to the top and and that's what a majority of our employers are using That also leads to talking about remote workforce So fifty four point seven percent of current respondents reported that some of their workforce is currently working remotely This is actually increased nine percent over the previous year. So that's a pretty significant change Also, probably why flexibility and scheduling happens to be number one of Those offering remote work options roughly thirteen point six percent offer full-time remote options and roughly 23% offer at least one day per week as a remote option Similarly our friends at WMC asked the same question and they found that about 36% of their respondents across the state of Wisconsin are offering some remote work hybrid opportunities So the fact that we are at fifty four point seven percent really sets us apart from what maybe some of our brothers and sisters across the state of Wisconsin are currently doing and Hopefully it is the reason why more people are going to want to come to Sheboygan County and work for our employers Versus going to maybe some other communities throughout the state of Wisconsin Expected percentage of wage increases this year. So number two was we're giving employees more money, right? So more than 51% of our respondents have forecasted a wage increase of at least three five three to five percent in 2024 this is up more than nine percent over 2023 More than seventy two point nine percent have budgeted for a wage increase overall Which is up seven percent over the previous year and in the most recent WMC report 95% of their respondents reported a wage increase with 46 percent of them reporting an increase of at least 3.6 percent or higher So I think that this is really interesting In the past we have been You know, we we have wonderful employers. We pay our employees really really well You know, it is why we have such a thriving economy in Sheboygan County But now we're seeing that the rest of the state employers across the state are kind of catching on to that and they're starting to Do the same things and so, you know, I think it's something that we really need to be cautious of because that can be very attractive To somebody, you know making a decision between this employer or that employer and and if the wages look exactly the same You know, we probably need to Take a look at that a little bit and I recognize it's not always easy to give people more money However, we also don't want to lose our workforce to Employers in other places. I was trying to be nice to say that Growth so looking at the successes of our employers sales increase year-over-year and you can see, you know from 2016 on up through 2023 more than 56% of our respondents reported an increase in sales over the previous year Another 22% reported no change. So as we, you know, talk about You know concerns in our economy as a as a country As a state as a community It's really interesting to see that still more than 50% of our employers our companies are reporting that their sales growth Is higher than it has been over previous years and although it has declined, you know that that reporting has declined a little bit It kind of fluctuates But it's still really promising because you know if most of our employers were reporting that They weren't seeing an increase in sales year-over-year That would be concerning the fact that we have more than 50% of them doing so tells us that we do have a thriving Economy in Sheboygan County and we're clearly not suffering like maybe some other communities across the United States So how do you believe specifically that your business will perform over the next 12 months? Again to give you, you know some perspective from 2019 through 2024 Almost eight and a half percent of respondents expect that significant growth. It will happen in 2024 That is a 5% decline over the previous year. However, almost 78% expect some growth as a whole Again growth of any kind is very promising. We continue to be leaders in this space 67% Believe that Sheboygan County's economy will improve in 2024 that is compared to 60% last year So, you know more respondents believe that our local economy is going to going to continue to go up Significant concerns of course include talent recruitment impact of inflation competition and health care costs, which Dr. Gross alluded to earlier this morning WMC also asks this same question and Reported that about 42% of their respondents expect the economy across the state of Wisconsin to grow and roughly 27% expected growth across the US as a whole so as you can see we are absolutely Leaders in this space and although we continue to have those concerns of inflation Or an economic downturn overall as a community we we can see the light at the end of the tunnel We see that there is going to be Significant growth and that we have a strong economy So what keeps you up at night? We've talked about some of these things already talent recruitment, of course impact of inflation health care and Competition but again across the board. It's you know other than the talent recruitment piece Everything else is really pretty closely aligned So, you know, we of course are going to continue to work on some of those different pieces that that we have an ability to impact such as the talent recruitment But we are not seeing that these concerns are changing year over year. They they pretty really do look very similarly over previous years and To talk a little bit more about health care The cost of health care is expected to impact more than 53% of our respondents and this is up over the previous year This you know, it does health care costs do come up annually But I will say that in comments throughout this survey the cost of health care concerns came up more frequently this year than it has in the past So we we really need to you know kind of take a look at that and see what ways as a community Can we maybe impact the cost of health care in our places of work? And I'm sure that we have some wonderful health care partners that might be able to help us Make some different decisions if needed What professional development opportunities would you like to see the chamber offer in 2024? So almost 65% are looking for more networking and relationship building opportunities About 58% are looking for more leadership and management opportunities and about 39% are looking for sales and marketing learning opportunities Networking and relationship building move to the top of the list this year That actually had looked different over the previous years We saw that you know, certainly declined significantly with the pandemic, but even coming out of that pandemic It really wasn't top of mind for the past couple of years So to see that rise to the top pretty dramatically this year was very interesting Professional development, of course, you know continues to be important and you know overall is important to the growth of our community In order to grow and make progress. We need to give opportunities for people to learn and develop skills And that really comes from the top down So we're glad to see that Employers are finding professional development really important as well And then top issues so if you completed the survey if you recall this is where you could throw all your comments out there There was no predisposed answers for you to choose from and these were the three different areas that rose to the top in in those several Hundreds of comments that I had to count by hand Which is great We're glad that so many people are interested in giving the feedback and that's the only way that we can grow and thrive as an Organization as well, but certainly workforce development talent attraction and recruitment You know continues to be important This also includes, you know continuing that professional development journey Continuing the diversity equity and inclusion journey Making sure that as we're looking to attract and retain talent to the area that we are an inclusive community And we have an inclusive employers so that our employees feel great about going to work every day And they want to stay with us for the long haul countywide collaboration is also top of mind as a concern as you know as a Commitment in our strategic plan for the Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce We have said that we will lead in countywide collaboration to the best of our ability and so You know, we've done a lot of work over the last couple of years to you know Build relationships, maybe mend relationships where needed and certainly nothing is ever perfect But I you know believe that we've seen a lot of really wonderful progress and then of course health care So advocating for lower costs and health care And encourage a healthy lifestyle mentality across the county is a really important piece So let's talk about some things that we're already doing And you know to tackle some of the requests that you as our members have We continue to mail out welcome letters to new residents knowing the importance of being welcomed into a new community On a monthly basis we pull a list of residents that are moving throughout the community or new to the community and We at the Chamber send them a welcome letter. So this is you know, sometimes 30 per month Sometimes it's 150 per month But it's just an opportunity for us to connect with our new neighbors to let them know that there are resources available If they're looking to build relationships get involved in community Get involved in organizations Whatever that might look like to help them settle and want to stay here. That's something that we're providing as a service We also this past summer hosted 70 interns and co-ops in person throughout the summer Including several activities and events to give them The chance to really be immersed in our culture. And so when we operate this intern and co-op program, we are We're doing fun stuff, right? We do some professional development things because these are college interns and they're obviously Have already shown up with this very much growth mindset But we also want them to make friends and build relationships because we know that in order to Attract and really retain that talent to our area if they have friends here And they feel connected to the community that they're more likely to come here after graduation on a more permanent basis We also launched our junior leadership Sheboygan County program bringing 11th and 12th graders from across the county together To participate in this 10 month program So you may be familiar with our adult leadership program, which is actually here today with us You guys can raise your hands Don't be shy. Don't be shy But we have Operated the adult leadership program for well really several decades at this point But over the years employers have said why are we not doing why are we not starting this sooner? Why are we not doing this at the high school level? And so we were so blessed and thankful that the support of our board of directors Would say yes, let's do it Diedra. Let's build this program and make it happen And so for the first year we have piloted this program Just earlier this week. We had government day with our junior leadership participants where they got to learn about all different levels of government such as Hearing from Mayor Meyer about what is it like to be a mayor? What sorts of decisions are you making? they did a mock Common Council meeting at the city of Sheboygan with several of our Sheboygan Common Council members they also Got to see what a ballot looks like from our friends at the county They helped us to create a mock ballot with the names of our students And then they got to vie for their positions, which was very interesting But it was such a fun opportunity and then to go through that whole process of Understanding Wisconsin voter ID law and what is it like to go? To you know place your ballot. What does that experience look like and feel like and so that's just one example Of some of the things that we're able to teach and impact with our 11th and 12th graders Also notably in talking about countywide collaboration. We have students from this year students from Plymouth High School from Sheboygan Falls High School and from both North and South High School in the city of Sheboygan So with the piloted we wanted to keep it smaller. We weren't sure How this was going to go with a group of high schoolers. It's not generally what we do on a day-to-day basis But we have such a phenomenal group. It's just they're they're so sharp these students It's unbelievable and so our goal for next year would be to fill that class up and to expand it into You know our friends in Random Lake our friends in Newspurg Howard's Grove Kohler, you know, whatever it may look like We've been able to offer this program free of charge to the students so removing barriers to access. We recognize that if if we you know had to Charge them a fee that they may or may not be able to participate And so we wanted to make sure that regardless of their circumstances that they could participate in this program and so You know the chamber and the board Were very gracious and said nope. We can do this. Let's make this happen for these students So we've got a really great mix of kids that now we can impact You know and teach them leadership skills and provide them opportunities for mentorship and to get to know The community as a whole and where they fit into the community and what impact they can make as they continue to Transition into whether it be college or the workforce or the military or whatever their journey may look like for them So also, you know with talent attraction and retention. We operate the Explore Your Future Program so this year Josh who is in the audience somewhere our new director of membership and workforce development He's over here. Oh, perfect. There he is. There's the man of the hour So just last week We we had our Explore Your Future program for the 7th and 8th graders across the county And we had more than 1200 join us over three sessions. It is a very busy and chaotic day We bring in lots of volunteers and it gives an opportunity for us to connect with 7th and 8th graders Give them ideas about what industry they may or may not want to go into as they progress into high school and beyond and to ask questions of folks who are living and daily doing these jobs and And so it's it's such a it's so much fun. There's Just so much energy when you bring that many 7th and 8th graders into one space. Sometimes that energy is really good Sometimes that energy is questionable But nonetheless, we had a ton of fun We also hosted for the second year the steamfest program. So roughly 1500 4th and 5th grade students came together at UW-Green Bay-Sheboygan campus and we again Got to go through a similar model except for at the 4th and 5th grade level. So just introducing these 4th and 5th graders to Steam industries. What is what is science technology engineering arts and math really look like in in the real world in the workforce? And so it was really just a great opportunity to To connect with them in this way This this upcoming year or this well now it's 2024 I don't know what day it is anymore or a year for that matter. We've had significant requests from employers to extend our Interning co-op program beyond the summer months So we are currently looking at ways that we can expand that program into fall and winter Because we recognize that there is still a group of college students that stay here beyond August And and are looking to continue to connect throughout the community And so we're looking for ways that we can engage them even beyond the the summer interning co-op program In talking about workforce development attraction and retention You know, we've spent a lot of time over the past few years talking about creating inclusive workplaces so in in 2023 we actually Hosted our first series of creating inclusive workplaces. We have some of our our speakers Ms. Renita was one of our speakers for a couple of our sessions this year from Praveya Health But we were able to offer this program as well to employers and their employees free of charge So six sessions one every month throughout the year It was really just a great opportunity to learn and grow together as a community We also continue to offer the shabuigan county community guides in both english and spanish to make sure that Our spanish-speaking neighbors have access to the information about our community We have entered into partnerships this year with the wisconsin veterans chamber of commerce As well as the latino chamber of commerce of southeast wisconsin so that we can provide additional opportunities to businesses in shabuigan county That may benefit from the resources that they have available and then of course We continue to partner with the wisconsin mung chamber of commerce and the wisconsin lgbtq chamber of commerce I currently serve on the board of directors for wcce at the state level So that's a great opportunity for shabuigan county to be represented across the state And also i was um invited to Be on the board of locally our bako group or the black american community outreach So we know that our businesses are a diverse diverse mix Of you know industries of cultures Of lots of different things and so it's really important that we Be leaders in this space and make sure that we can provide the tools and resources to all of our businesses As equitably as we possibly can Additional business support provided you told us that supporting local and small businesses is important So in 2023, we did sell more than 275 thousand dollars in chamber cash Chamber members accepted and cashed more than 250 thousand dollars of that. So The chamber cash program is a local currency. It is we sell it There is no fees to buy it. There is no fee to the business to accept it And so really 100 of that goes right into the hands of our businesses and stays in our local economy We actually gained a wonderful New partnership with all of the teats is pigley wiggly is across the county to sell chamber cash at their location So this is a huge help to us Because you know our our team at the chamber drew specifically Can attest that we get a lot of chamber cash orders and people coming in for chamber cash And it can get very busy and sometimes difficult to get to the other things that we need to do And so having this partnership with the pigley wiggly is really takes a load off, but it also expands our reach dramatically So we are so pleased That mark and the team at pigley wiggly have said yes, we want to be a part of this We of course again surprised local diners and shoppers throughout the county with free chamber cash on small business saturday So this is probably one of my most fun experiences of the year where I get to run around to about 45 different locations on a saturday It's a it's it's an interesting It's an interesting day for sure to run around that much But but when you get to surprise folks and you know and and celebrate that they are in local businesses in local retailers in local restaurants And and give them free money. I mean everybody likes a little bit of free money, right? But it also just you know goes to say we're supporting our small businesses We want to make sure we're injecting money into the local economy and that we're supporting our community All of our chamber cash recipient or all of our chamber members can be chamber cash recipients And so if you are not familiar with the program, it is not limited to any particular industry We have you know quick trip is a member you can use it to buy your gas We have some doctor's offices or dentist offices that accept it They can people can use it for their co-pays or to help pay their bills And again 100 of that goes into That small business or that I should say business that is receiving the chamber cash There's no additional charge. So when you think about you know using a maybe a visa or an american express and you know businesses Losing money because of you know fees and and different transaction fees that they're charging out there This is really the best way for us to kind of support Not doing those things and putting the money directly into the hands of our local businesses Now I will say that chamber cash sales this year dropped pretty dramatically. We were Unpleasantly surprised by that You know some of it is we did lose A partner in chamber cash sales early in 2023 due to a new corporate policy that was out of control of our local partner But also too we didn't see you know typically we see some of our larger employers by Large chunks of chamber cash to support and celebrate their employees Say during the holidays or for employee appreciations. We saw Significantly less of that this year. And so this is just maybe a reminder An encouragement that here in 2024 Let's make sure that that we are Encouraging even our employees to keep dollars local by giving them local currency Rather than maybe sending them online to purchase things that don't benefit our community That was my plug keep dollars local We talked to you know the past couple of years about our strategic plan And so this is the final year of our strategic plan We will You know begin strategic planning going into 2025 Throughout the course of 2024 But you know at the time these were the different areas that the strategic plan really kind of Rows to the surface and told us these are the things that our members want These are the things that we need to be supporting and working towards And we've really done a pretty phenomenal job of accomplishing The commitments that we've made to the membership Okay, so We also asked to you know kind of transition into the next where what areas would you like to see the state of wisconsin provide additional support So there's been significant conversation over the past couple of years The state of wisconsin has a a pretty significant surplus of billions of dollars And and you know still kind of figuring out maybe where where should some of those dollars go Across the board numbers are pretty close between education infrastructure and housing development Although you can see that down the line. It's it's pretty even playing field across the board So, you know things like talent recruitment putting money into public transportation putting money into child care Those are also, you know extremely important as well And we know that many of those things really flow into the need for the workforce development and attraction and Collaboration So, you know one of the top three issues or concerns that our members have shared with us that they'd like to see us tackle Maybe a little bit more a little bit better is to continue to build those relationships and collaborate across the county And so, you know, we continue to build relationships with my friends at the scedc. Brian is here with us today Community organizations government We've got a significant partnership with cheboygan county currently that we're we're so pleased to be a part of We'll talk a little bit more about that in a moment But then, you know, also, you know fellow chambers. I tammy is here from cheboygan falls chamber Thank you for being here And so when we work together and we support each other across the county, that's what collaboration looks like, right? We've got to walk the walk Not just talk the talk and so when we are building You know programming and we're coming together and we're working together towards a common cause That's truly what collaboration looks like and so we are really a blessed community and and even Representing at the state level with wcce or wisconsin chamber of commerce executives Often I it is shared with me about Wow, the stuff that you guys are doing in cheboygan county together is so phenomenal So across the state Employers and other organ of community organizations really recognize the collaboration that happens here in cheboygan county And i'll tell you that it does not look like this everywhere else. So we are pretty blessed that we are in this space together Okay, so a couple of numbers You know, you've told us what what your needs are and we think you've noticed that we've been doing some things very right Membership grew Pretty dramatically in 2023. So we're thrilled with that 117 new members and retention looks great at 90 percent Which is significantly ahead of the curve National average is typically between 80 and 85 percent. So the fact that we stay at that 90 percent mark is really quite promising We know of course that we have a lot of work to do still right? It's never perfect and we've always got to have that growth mindset So new programming is on its way Leadership and management professional development has been requested by by you the members And so we are currently building a small business boot camp Which will be introduced this spring and then also a leadership boot camp for young professionals that will also be introduced later this year Of course continuing to improve some of the programming that we already do. So we've talked a lot about the explore your future esteem fest and and junior leadership And so as we you know continue to grow those programs and making sure that we are engaging all schools throughout the county We still have a few that haven't you know, haven't come in and enjoyed us So this year is going to be a year of building those relationships and and engaging some of those other school districts So that we can get all students in shabuagan county participating Um, you know and I and of course too these programs would not be successful Of course without sponsors and without the team at the chamber But I also have to give a shout out explore your future last week is hosted annually by our friends at lakeshore Technical college and so really without LTC That that event wouldn't happen Same with um steam fest steam fest is hosted by our friends at uwgb shabuagan campus And without them sharing their space with us. We absolutely couldn't make events of that size happen So thank you um in partnership to talk a little bit about the partnership with our friends at the county We are um, you know last year we talked about the workforce development attraction and marketing campaign With um using the some of the arba dollars and so in partnership the chamber and the county have come together We are preparing to launch very very soon the actual attraction campaign so we've partnered with a A marketing company and we are looking to drop roughly a half a million dollars on a very targeted marketing campaign that will be solely focused on attracting workforce to shabuagan county This could not happen without our friends at the county, right? We've not ever been able to do something like this before Um to my knowledge. This is the most aggressive targeted marketing campaign that has ever taken place in the county And it is here to support all employers So it doesn't matter if you're a chamber member. It doesn't matter if you're a you know single owner operator It doesn't matter if you're a large organization This is an opportunity for all of our employers in the community to benefit And of course, you know Oh, I lied one thing. I forgot we've also entered into an agreement or an mo With our harbour center bid district, which is our business improvement district in downtown shabuagan So the chamber Um beginning january one has begun to provide managed services for this volunteer led organization supporting roughly 180 small businesses throughout the district and this collaboration, of course Will give us an opportunity to provide additional tools and resources to those small businesses Um, we know that main street is important in any community, right? When you have a strong main street It spills over into the rest of the communities And so for us to be able to use What we know works at you know with at the chamber level and mimic many of those things At the bid level is going to help us to support those additional resources so that those small businesses Can thrive even more than they maybe already have in 2024 And you know, of course these relationships are important to the growth of the chamber But more importantly, this is what collaboration looks like. This is what working together actually looks like when we come together And we say we're going to do this. We're going to do it together. We're going to work In step. That's how we make impact Because no one of us can do things by ourselves So with that, um, thank you so much, uh, for joining us and and for listening to me talk for probably a really long time Um, I appreciate I appreciate you giving all of the feedback on the survey I'm going to pass this over to My friend and colleague, Elaine Krause Good morning, everyone. Thank you, teacher for the introduction Uh, it's good to see everyone here and so many familiar faces this morning Uh, for those of you don't know, my name is Elaine Krause. I am the county administrator as teacher clarified The county administrator. Yes, I've been working for the county for about 11 years and in this role for one year For those of you who may not be as familiar with county government We are actually one of the largest employers in the area. We have 875 employees, which I think comes to a surprise to many We operate in 19 different departments and offer over 200 programs and services to community members Our total budget for 2024 is 192 million dollars and of that 54 million is property tax levy and the rest comes from federal and state revenue as well as private pay and fees for services So the state of the county is a kind of look back on 2023 a year in review Now, of course during any given year, there are a number of things that happen in accomplishments that we're we're proud of But I couldn't possibly touch on all of them. So today I'm just going to cover some of the more significant accomplishments And I know I'm on the clock here. So I might move through this a little quickly And these are in no particular order So the first step is the sheboygan broken marsh dam reconstruction So the sheboygan marsh is located just outside of elkhart lake It is a 14 000 acre complex about 65 of it is publicly owned The former dam was built in 1938. So it Had a very long life But was definitely in need of repair and reconstruction So starting in 2018 the county worked with the state the dnr and ducks unlimited to start doing some due diligence And planning for the replacement of the dam. This was a significant undertaking And construction officially started at the beginning of 2023 and substantial completion was achieved in december This project will increase public access improvements areas for launching kayaks better flood control And better cattail management, which is something that we struggled with for years This is a more recent picture as you can tell by the snow accumulation there But this was a significant project from a funding standpoint as well in total It was 3.3 million dollars the county and the state were the two largest funders And we also had funding from ducks unlimited The sheboygan county conservation association and their 26 member clubs and then different grants Including sustainer great lakes the fund for lake michigan and the us fishing wildlife service And so this dam replacement project will not only benefit the the residents But also certainly attract more visitors and enhance the recreational opportunities fixed space operator services at the airport some of you may have seen a press release that went out yesterday The county saw an opportunity to enhance services at the sheboygan county memorial airport, which we own And so we are going to be offering the fixed space operator services or fbo services starting february 1st And you'll see in the bottom left hand side of the slide There is the the new name and logo which was officially approved by the the county board on tuesday And i want to take this opportunity as a quick plug to say thank you to many of our board members who are joining us here this morning But the county will be as i said commencing fbo services at the airport on february 1st under lake breeze aviation We know that the airport is a critical asset for the community and is often the the first Impression that people get of the community when they fly in and so we're glad to be able to offer services and reasonable fuel prices and Assist not only those in the aviation community, but those throughout the community to realize the opportunities that we have at the airport camera systems for law enforcement The sheriff's department was the first law enforcement agency in the county to have In squad cameras, however, we were one of the last law enforcement agencies to have the body worn cameras So in 2023 we equipped all of our sworn officers With the body worn cameras, which there are 48 of them And we also replaced all of the in squad cameras that we had and there are 22 of them So this was a big project for the county that total cost of that was just over 400 000 dollars And that was paid for through a grant through the department of justice as well as some of our American rescue plan act dollars And having these cameras will enhance transparency with the public and offer video for prosecution expansion of our highest need human services We continue to see high levels of referrals in some of our Programs and services that we offer through the health and human services department Some of those programs include the birth to three program our comprehensive community services and children in need of long term support Our public health division the community outreach workers that you see pictured on the left They continue to expand their activities to engage with the Hmong and Spanish speaking communities And our children with in need of protection services We are proud to say that we've had the fourth consecutive year with fewer children in out of home care Which is the graph on the right representing those numbers So that's a a significant accomplishment as well. We continue to to see those numbers decrease A couple other health and human services programs that are starting up We hired two new positions a jail transition planner to help folks who were incarcerated Reacclimate themselves when they are released as well as a youth therapist Both of those positions are funded through the opioid epidemic litigation that the county was a recipient of We also had two initiatives that are funded through the American rescue plan act launch in 2023 And that includes the mobile crisis co-response, which is a partnership with the city of shawagon police department And that puts mental health professionals in the squad cars with the police as well as the family and neighbors together program, which is a neighborhood based prevention effort with social workers in the community to try and prevent future needs and for intense services So we continue to adjust our service delivery to meet the the needs and the demand based on the referrals that we receive from the community We constructed a new asphalt plant. So the county maintains 450 miles of roadway and 152 bridges And in order to do that effectively, uh, we have a asphalt plant Which is located just west of plummeth on highway 23 and this provides cost effective material for our municipal road work The former asphalt plant was 37 years old and due to its age, we couldn't find parts to Replace it when it needed repair. So we undertook a reconstruction, which just completed also in december of 2023 So we're currently going through testing. Of course this time of year. We're not producing asphalt But we are certainly testing it to make sure that come the spring when we're ready to do so It is it's ready to go The new plant will be more efficient have a higher capacity Have nearly twice as much storage and use up to 40 more recycled materials The total cost of this replacement was just over six million dollars And that was paid for through bonding our transportation fund balance and net position And also proceeds from the sale of selling the old plant Rocky Knoll health care center. That is our skilled nursing facility that we own located between plummeth and elkhart lake We have been undergoing a number of different facility renovations over the last couple of years And now that we're finally putting the the pandemic in the rear of your mirror We've been increasing our census allowing more people to receive both short and long-term services at rocky Knoll We opened a new classroom in 2023 for our nurse aid training program Which allows us to train staff right on site. They can get paid and get their training for free Which is a great opportunity. We also brought our dining services back in house We used to have a contracted vendor and we wanted to improve the overall food quality and the service for our residents and because of all of the Work that our staff at rocky Knoll have been doing we again were awarded the five star rating From the wisconsin department of health services and centers for medicare and medicaid services That is a mouth mouthful, but five star rating is the only thing you need to hear in that part So we're very proud of that recognition from the state Enhancements to our facilities. This is probably one of the less sexier topics, but it's still important to maintain our buildings and grounds We underwent a significant renovation to the taylor house, which is pictured on the left That is located the schwenk county museum. That was over a hundred thousand dollars to replace The porch and the roof and do some other exterior upgrades that were needed to that building to maintain it We also replaced some flooring In the detention center for the inmates, which was over four hundred thousand dollars And we replaced the tower roof on our law enforcement center, which was the original roof from 1981 so that also lived a long life In addition our north side highway shed, which is located on highway 42 We started a 5000 square foot addition that building was constructed in 1994 And as you probably know These days equipment seems to be getting larger But our buildings haven't so we needed to add some additional storage to accommodate the larger Applies and equipment that our highway department uses as well as some upgrades to the the fueling system Which is what you see on the right there. Uh, crane is lowering a fuel tank there So that project started in 2023 and will be completed in 2024 Our strong fiscal track record So on the left is a picture of the tax rates and the history for the last 10 years and on the right is a picture of the tax Levy and the trends for the last 10 years So in November the county board adopted a 1.69 percent property tax levy increase And over the last 10 years the average annual levy increase has been just 1.44 percent And during that same time inflation increased 2.62 percent. So that means that county services are offered at a bargain The adopted property tax rate, which is the the graph on the left is 3.89 And that's a decrease of 11 percent over last year and the eighth consecutive year that the tax rate has decreased And both the tax levy and the tax rate are determined by factors that are both in and out of control of the The county such as our state levy caps, tid closures bridge aid library levy, etc We also received a clean audit report for 2022 We are projecting a surplus from 2023 We successfully bonded for just shy of 11 million dollars for our capital projects And we had our moody's credit rating reaffirmed at a double a two In addition our finance department received an award which also is a mouthful It is the certificate of achievement for excellence and financial reporting from the government finance officers association Very long title, but it means we're doing a really good job And we've received that for eight years in a row now. So another thing that we're proud of and further evidence of our fiscal track record For 2024 the adopted budget as I mentioned at the beginning is 192 million dollars The graph on the left shows some of the different departments and the tax levy which is Just shy of 54 million dollars and their reliance on the tax levy And then the graph on the right shows the departments and the overall budget at the 192 million dollars So this is really just depicting the different departments and their reliance on the levy versus other revenue sources. So one Obvious one is the sheriff's department over here on the left. They utilize 41 of our tax levy But they make up only 13 of the overall budget. So that's just one kind of comparison that you can draw from these graphs A couple of other key components from our 2024 budget include the new supplemental shared revenue Which we want to think our legislators for that that impacts all local units of government And was a huge win for us in the last state biennial budget The county specifically is going to be receiving another million dollars in state revenue from the From the state and we will be investing that in our sheriff's department We also are going to be Providing modest pay increases and insurance increases for our staff And continued use of the american rescue plan act dollars One other Financial piece the county sales tax. So we collect the half-scent sales tax and the proceeds from that continue to perform very well We were a little bit uncertain during cobit how that would affect it, but as you can see here There wasn't a significant Change there. So in total since the sales tax has been in place. We have collected 78.5 million dollars For those of you who don't know one of the stipulations of that is that we share Part of the proceeds with our local municipalities So the towns villages and cities also receive a portion of that And all of the funding that we receive from the half-scent sales tax codes towards our roads and bridges and maintaining Our infrastructure which we all know is important not only for quality of life safety, but also the economy and getting Our manufacturers their their goods from a to b So the amount that we've shared with the municipalities for their road work over the course of this Of this time period is 11.3 million dollars Okay, and I apologize. I feel like I'm talking really fast, but I know I gotta keep on keep on schedule here So next I'm going to be touching on some of the American Rescue Plan Act initiatives I know Deidre mentioned some of the partnerships with the chamber So to refresh your memory or for those who you who are less familiar the county received 22.4 million dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act And we have to obligate those funds by december of this year and then expend them by december of 2026 So in total we have obligated Internally 11.9 million which is about 53 percent and we have obligated 10.5 million externally And that was a result of our task force that we put together So we had six community task force that brought together different subject matter experts and stakeholders from across the community To identify various areas of concern and we wanted to take these one-time funds to make an impact And this is a really nice correlation to some of the topics that Deidre was talking about earlier So these are the different task forces that were put together and the amount of money that the county board approved as financial commitments to those different areas So affordable housing two millions going towards the the workforce housing and 500 thousand is going to a down payment assistance program For behavioral health earlier. I mentioned the mobile crisis core response We committed a million dollars towards that and the neighborhood social workers is 500 thousand Broadband that is two million dollars for matching funds for expansion projects for broadband throughout the county For child care. That was a two million dollar commitment for educator recruitment and training as well as startup grants and expanded programming For transportation. We are utilizing the 500 thousand dollars Currently a portion of that to do a countywide transportation study to get data We've heard over the years that we need more transportation But we wanted to get data to make informed decisions. So we haven't Kicked off that 500 thousand dollars yet other than some of it for the to complete the study And then finally the workforce development piece which dj already spoke on so I won't go into detail there All right and then the last portion of my presentation is about the partnership that the county has with the Economic Development Corporation The county was a founding member of the scedc and continues to be one of their top Investors and we have a strong working relationship with the scedc and work together Throughout the year with them on a number of different initiatives And every year for this program They provide a list of some of the major accomplishments and notable achievements throughout the year And when brian sent me the list it is very very long. I think it was six or seven pages in total So I couldn't possibly go through all of those but I will just take a few minutes to touch on a couple of the key initiatives So some of the major news and I won't certainly read this to you And these also are not all encompassing But these are some of the major initiatives that certainly will impact the community for the better So founders point would just significant achievement and I'm wondering if maybe mayor mayer is going to speak on that a little bit later Uh, we hosted the midwest mercury power boat challenge was great for the local economy brought a lot of visitors to the area The random lake community enhancement fund was created with an anonymous one million dollar donation The onion river solar project, which is just over a thousand acres is now online LTC and the freighter medical college at wisconsin broke ground on their center for health care excellence The south pier and shabuigan finally opened after a three-year renovation project freighter medical college of wisconsin also announced plans to construct a 70 million dollar hospital in shabuigan North town, which is the major development in the town of shabuigan is underway And finally the cedar grove business park, which is a 152 acre Business park was approved and is the only state certified site on i-43. So a couple Big achievements in 2023 Here is a list of some of the businesses that opened in 2023 So very excited to have these new businesses join our community and wish them the best As they celebrate their their one-year anniversary with us few acquisitions and mergers that occurred with various businesses in the county And i'm getting the the one minute mark here. So i'm going to keep moving And then these are just a couple notable celebrations and designations For some of our major companies that achieved Celebrated many years in business that is phenomenal to see And then some designations at the bottom of the slide there So in conclusion, I just want to to say thank you We things that I talked about today are things that we can all take pride in and as didra mentioned And these things can happen as an individual and they all require collaboration and working together So I want to thank all of the businesses and nonprofits and other Area local units of government that we work with throughout the year to make these things happen And we want to thank you to the chamber for hosting this event and allowing us to speak And look forward to all of the opportunities and challenges that 2024 brings. Thank you Just going to give you a couple opening remarks and then really share three things They're uh, it's been an amazing awesome year in sheboygan falls. So I there's no way I could cover it all in seven ten minutes but opening remarks, um, just on a personal level I've been Fortunate to be on the league of wisconsin miss pelley's board and was elected to be their second vice president Which means provided I win my election. I'll be the president of the league in the next couple years But I really mentioned that because part of the league's initiative Uh, starting two years ago was how do we get shared revenue increased for you know for municipalities? And we really came up with a collaborative spirit and gee What cony has more of a collaborative spirit in cooperation than sheboygan county? So I believe I brought a little bit of that collaboration and cooperation to the entire state because you had The league which is cities and villages got together with the county's association the town's association and Sometimes cities and towns Well, I think in sheboygan county. They play relatively nicely, but across the state Maybe not so much. So really getting those three groups together and come up with one consistent constant message and then sharing it over and over again in madison Really led to a giant impact and increased shared revenue not only for sheboygan falls not only for sheboygan county, but everyone in the entire state. So I'm very Very proud. I could bring that impact Not only to my own city, but everyone and I'm not saying I had a large part of it But I think I had a small important part behind the scenes The the other thing I would just tell you as far as Sheboygan falls I'm going to focus on the downtown vision park And then we'll talk subdivisions. So the downtown we really had a major major Thing happened this year in that um, we have a store called evans. If you haven't been to evans You need to go to evans this year Otherwise, you're missing out it's really a throwback to My youth and what stores used to be And it's independent and it's just an awesome awesome store But for probably about five to ten years the owner was saying, yeah I'm going to retire and I don't know who would ever take this over and we were like, well, gee, Ed, please please give it some opportunity And um, Cheryl Brunig the the previous director of chamber main street and myself met with him numerous times and and Finally he came up with a price and he sold it to his daughter So it's staying in the family and continuing and Angela now runs it But the city was able to help through our revolving loan fund again. It's a small part of it I'm not saying the city made this happen But we certainly encouraged the process work together with our partner in our chamber main street and work together with Ed evanoff and his daughter Angela to really get this to transfer to the next generation So for our downtown evans, they're anchored. So keeping evans open and vibrant is extremely important And Angela's really rocking on social media. So I think that was a major accomplishment downtown and then I may not be the most cultured of people, but we actually added some culture to our downtown, which is cool again, there's probably no hope for my culture, but We added a french pastry bakery Excuse my french and if you want something from there, you better get there By nine o'clock when she opens because Usually if you walk in around 10 10 30, she's usually sold out But it's just it's just I mean I I do like to eat so that I have that part of the culture part down But but no, it's just amazing and ellity will say well my english isn't very good I'm thinking well, your english is a lot better than my french So again, just an amazing two two of many Really nice developments in our in our downtown or historic downtown is really a jewel of shabuagan falls I could go on and on about it, but I was told I had a time limit So let let me pivot to vision business park Really pleased with that entire park and what's happening out there But had a really neat thing happen, you know Oftentimes you meet with people and they're strangers and you're like, well, I'm glad I can help you and glad I got to meet you and glad your business is coming here, but Um Really over the last year A friend came bill pruso with his company pros for technologies and I met bill when he was really pretty starting out in that business and that's probably why he still takes care of my computer because I'm just a little a little guy now but Really was an honor to work with him and get him to move his operations into a new building and vision park I I remember bill. I knew bill was looking for things and I I called them up about like, you know bill There's this empty bank building. Well, I was already bought by the mirth burger group and merit financial So we had to we have to move to option two, which was actually better option for spring and falls and that Bill just built a whole new building. They've they've moved into that now in vision park So that was just really cool to be able to help someone. I know I can respect um To to make their dream come possible and really continue the dream of vision park So other things happening in vision park Spect electric They started a building and I guess if you're in the trades like scott spektas You can get other people to respond quickly because they got that building up really really fast So I'm sure my building would take twice as long I'm not in the trades and I would be like, please please and So that that building went up really really fast and then another cool thing that's happening out there is sign me up Sign companies ready in shabuigan falls who put the signs up in vision park They broke ground in their project in vision park So it's kind of I really like that because it's come full circle with brian and paul bringing their company Uh to vision park where they put the nice signs up for vision park So that was really a nice a nice development And then we uh inked another one right at the end of the year el ferio laboratories Who is basically based in newton, wisconsin Really nice people came and met with us a number of times. Um got to give brian at the edc compliments He he kind of toured him around the county and took him to a lot of different places and they visited and And um, I guess, you know in this case, they just for variety reasons picked shabuigan falls were really grateful But they closed the purchase there a lot late last year So that'll they'll be building come spring when we get rid of all this snow, right? So Vision park has gone really well. It's nearing capacity Um, we've already started researching different locations for parks because one thing that really amazed me about the awesome economic development your shabuigan falls had is We had another large large opportunity that ended up not working But it's really cool. And as a mayor I consider and go, yeah, we lost one big opportunity That was confidential and I signed nda so I can't really say who the opportunity was But it's really cool. And I can stand up and say we lost a giant opportunity and we still had one hell of a great year I mean, that's that's amazing I think any mayor would tell you like when you lose a big opportunity, but you still have a great year That's just really amazing stuff So we will have to we will have to identify another business park and kind of rinse to repeat and continue our Our current system of success, but really happy or vision parks come from um We purchased that land probably 18 years ago I think in my first two years as mayor And I named it vision park because my campaign so long has always been it doesn't take vision It doesn't take sites around the community takes a vision So really really happy with what's happened in vision park. It took patience It took persistence But at no time with the with that development that the city ever was a city ever at risk So again, it's got great upside. We're just showing today, but it never had any downside So let me pivot into subdivisions because I I think that's really where something truly unique has happened Um, and it didn't happen by accident happened through partnership collaboration cooperation communication It's really a great example of how private sector and public sector and edc And everything came together to make this happen So by no means when I tell you how excited and pumped up and was am I taking credit for this I had a small part in it, which a lot of people had a small part in it But I began to realize the impact of founders point subdivision When I was at a WMC event I was the guest of my wife tammy who's our executive director of our chamber main street And I was just quietly sitting at a breakfast. That was about, you know, housing And then someone in that the director of walkershaw chamber mentioned sign Well, they're really doing a great thing in shaboy and cony. I'm like, yeah, we are Yeah, big big smile on my face, but I'm like, I'm just trying to be in the background Then someone asks a question about I'm like, well, and I started talking about it And then Stephanie clut the former tourism director Asked me a question. She goes, can you explain how tax increment districts work? I'm like, well, now you're talking my language And I said, thank you for asking and so Was really neat to see how shaboy and cony is catching the attention of all other 71 counties in the state We're really rocking things And that's a tribute to all the leadership in shaboy and cony And all the teamwork it takes to support that leadership in shaboy and cony Was also at a meeting of the league of miss pelley's board and mark rolloff the city manager of ashka She's going, hey, what's going on there in shaboy? Good falls with this founder's point, you know I'm like, well, jeez if I'm getting if I'm getting their attention So it was really Blessed to give a presentation to the chief executive's workshop of the league and the at the league of miss pelley's annual meeting On founder's point Lots of questions from people on how how things worked and got to explain again how tax increment districts work So if you want to know how those work just give me a call. I'll tell you how they work But Founders point exciting to see that the edc has put the first four homes for sale You know like all successful things you don't get there overnight and you don't get there without some challenges that have to be overcome Um, I think I think through that process. Brian. I only yelled at you once so that's pretty good We did pretty good because we've had a lot of we've had a lot of seriously intense meetings But but really a compliment to the investors in the forward fund master's gallery sargento Johnsonville coler company shaboy and cony Um, again without without that foresight and partnership coming together to put the investment in it Nothing happens. My city minister. She had tempest identified the land Um started developing the land then you realize like boy if you want to put a road where all these utilities are You got to get the utilities to move things and getting the shboy can falls Electric utility to move their thing was easy Getting a couple other utilities to move Took a little bit, but we got it all to happen Um, I even maybe allegedly broke into a couple of the houses to check them out for myself I think brian, you might have me on camera from that Um, but but the funny thing is I walked around the houses nice houses Quite frankly, I've I've always been kind of a minimalist on my house So they're actually a little bigger than my house But but I'm in the houses and you know what a blind person a house funny thing I'm reaching up and like all these ceilings are really high and my Administrator goes stretch your fingers out one more inch. There you go So but but I had a really good time looking at houses that they are nice three bedroom houses Nice basements that are ready to be fixed up when the when the owners want to do that Um, but really proud of that But the founders point subdivision the first phase is going to be 54 homes and You can probably expect the full completion of those 54 homes somewhere around the end of this year They've really made great progress So imagine in a roughly year and a half adding 54 homes this point falls. It's just huge Then phase two will happen, which is another 41 homes We're still talking about some other areas which might be single family might be duplex might be apartments I don't I don't know brian will have to talk about those more. I I think maybe duplex is now but But again, there's plans and something will happen So you're talking nearly a hundred single family homes in this one subdivision um But because I structured that tax increment district correctly when it started I added land to it to give it more volume that didn't add tax base to it I know I was I was at one meeting and someone spoke at a public hearing and they They said that was fluff and like well one person calls it fluff. I just call it damn good planning Um, because because of that there's certain tests you have to do in tax increment districts 35% can be newly newly developed residential. That means single family homes and apartments Well, because I put that fluff in there great planning The 35 test could be met not only for the founders point project But we're able to we're able to leverage the founders point project Which is an awesome project and do a second subdivision with warner homes Um, so we're able to meet that 35 test with all those acres added to add it into and you have to meet That single family homes can't be more than a third of an acre in size Well, the founders point subdivision is like the subdivision I live in now houses are close You have to know your neighbors because you tend to hear your neighbors Um, you see your neighbors talk to your neighbors just like the neighborhood I grew up in that's what founders point is going to be Um Excellent excellent way to raise kids and cooperate with people I think sometimes we shut ourselves away too much and then we wonder why we can't cooperate more Just an observation, but but so we're we're leveraging that into that So what this is all going to mean is in the last year shabuagan falls ink deals to build over 75 million dollars of single family homes That's amazing. That's just stunning Um, but again, none of that's possible without the private public partnership the cooperation Um, and everything I've mentioned So one person doesn't make this happen But one person cooperating with another person cooperating another person. That's what makes this stuff all happen Um, so everything I do In shabuagan falls, I'm doing to try and make shabuagan falls better But I'm also concerned about the rest of the county and want to see the whole county rise Because I believe shabuagan county's got something unique going on and I'm happy to be part of that uniqueness And and I want to make sure I'm doing my part to increase the county. So Like when we talk to people about locating a vision part, we You're way over your time. Oh my oh, holy cow That goes really fast. Well, hey, we do a lot of great things visit shabuagan falls stop it at evans. Thank you I wanted to ask randy if I could have my time back, but um We'll we'll discuss that at our next luncheon the um Topics that we all talk about in shabuagan county Are all positive we Collaborate and have collaborated for many years The workforce housing the tid that randy talked about is so important to all of us and When they Succeed as planned you like to brag about them a little bit So i'll do a little bragging to begin with the tid 4 and plummet Which will formally close next month We'll put on the plummet tax rolls 140 million dollars of development Uh That's an outstanding number from corn fields to facilities When we close that in 25 our county will Receive approximately eight hundred thousand dollars That they can do whatever they want with so You can say thank you when that check arrives. I might even deliver it the um the benefit Of our tids can Produce not only the mixed Commercial industry and housing that randy described But it helps us to Show the success and ask for more successes Through a request for proposals rfps That we're currently Preparing for The highway 67 Going south out of plummet on 67 acres by coincidence that will be a single family duplex multifamily area That we will be asking for Our community partners to be Working with us on that when we close tiff 4 We will no longer be tiffed out meaning we can now put Offers on the table So we're looking at opening tiff 7 And tiff 8 we have 127 acres on the South side of that same curve going south out of town That we'll be looking at developing in a mixed use process The infrastructure That we have to put in in order to Provide that opportunity is rather significant We Three years ago closed out under the state requirement for Municipalities in a unique way That we extended Our tiff by one year Allowing us to be one of the first communities if not the first community to Put aside 2.3 million dollars into a affordable Work for us housing project That will supplement What randy's already talked about from the county and our partners in forward fund to Bring housing which is badly needed in in our community Uh to the forefront the Process sometimes Is a little slow to develop Um regulations. We just love regulations in every Part of our life But we have to live with them So we make the best of what we can with them and we currently have Kapoor doing six different studies for us In six locations for Uh redevelopment increased opportunity Uh planning our sewer water and electrical Uh To these areas which Will probably come out in the spring of 24 It's very exciting that we have this kind of Information in front of us Uh, it'll include of course senior housing And and other services the, um Kmart property which has been a pain in our butt to be polite Uh, we're looking to create a a tiff eight or nine For redevelopment of that property Um, it's been vacant for way too long Some of these things take a long time in trying to Facilitate in working with different partners across Uh The county and the state We're looking at Updating our zoning Codes which currently restrict us to 12 units Uh and extend that to 26 unit. So we're really looking to be Positive in and and forward in our response We have a, um, 2.5 million dollar Mill pond dam to replace And just like the county that takes an awful lot to put that into Uh perspective We have a river corridor that we're working on very aggressively and our sewer and Treatment facility building Has to be replaced at a mere cost of 4.5 million dollars Bonding is important to all of us in our communities and we hope That our federal legislators will stay away from Trying to tax our municipal bond interests. That is one of our few options that we have in funding things And then one of the important things that I think we're fortunate to have in our county Is and I don't say just just because I'm a trustee at LTC and president paul is here today. Thank you paul for attending Um, we are a leader nationally in innovation competency-based education and We are really really willing to work With businesses with the community and I think we've shown that was shavoy and county out at rocky and all other facilities It's important that all of us as partners continue to be Um proactive and increase opportunity Within our community So Thank you all for being part of this. I think this is an exciting Place to live I've always said once you come here you don't leave here And I think that the progress That we're making in retention Thank you to the county chamber Is important because we want people to Grow in our backyard So thank you very much Have a good day and We don't have the weather you have Throughout the county because in plummet. We just close the roof. We don't worry about the snow. So Thank you all Good morning everyone and thank you for the opportunity dita in a wonderful event First I just want I need to be on the road by 10 o'clock. So if I if I'm like five two Let me know because I have to be an appointment with a client. So As far as I just want to stress partnerships Truly whatever we're doing across the county with municipalities with chamber Is our commitment to continue to build collaboration and partnerships with all businesses And now we're going into a next phase of individuals as as well So what I want to stress to you is that As you look at opportunities Please reach out to the chamber to with the edc And make sure that your vision your ideas become reality Okay, so that um We have a lot of you're going over the next year I'm going to focus in on 24 to 26 because I don't want to take away from local municipalities But over the next year you're going to see a lot Articles about tiff districts and the development opportunities across the county I would just like to mention random lake We had generous donations for our master plan there So about half the lake is undeveloped right now So we're creating a whole new master plan for that community So that community on the south end of the county, which many people forget about that is part of the county But that is going to be huge opportunities for that 57 corridor So our vision, I just want to This is the first time the vision and mission statements for the edc have been updated since 2010 Really, we were structured originally as a traditional economic development corporation industrial development focused I want to just stress to you some of the things that we're going to be focused in on long term is Global investment We have global companies. We compete globally every single day in shaboykin county My comment is we're going to compete globally for startup businesses as well Moving forward our mission um Again, everything we've talked about private private partnerships easy for me to say Fuel growth, but vibrant neighborhoods. That's not just building subdivisions. That's not just building Apartments that are good for families Is about building neighborhoods the amenities that attract and help people belong in the marketplace Okay Strategic direction. So it's in your packet. Uh, by the way, this all is pending my board Adoption, I think in march. So just like if I got approval from my executive committee to move forward with it um Our first strategic direction statement is our traditional economic development. So it's Doing the developer summit. It's doing The revolving loan fund program that we help help grow businesses It's helping with labor training grants with the tech college As well as with other and local companies It's making sure that we're reaching out to businesses like Deidre talked about decreased sales Those in my eyes are companies that we need to reach out to to make sure that we're helping provide Technical assistance to help them mitigate that drop in sales and how they grow long term We also have the small business development center in our offices. So again from large company to small company We provide the technical assistance to grow businesses. We preserve wealth and then we grow wealth Statement number two Some place better. We've talked about that We look forward to working with the chamber and their initiatives on the workforce development of that marketing campaign Right now we sell all the homes through founders point on someplace better We continue to do that just so that that is truly connected As a strategy Statement number three Is really tied to Housing but it's housing across all levels. Do not think of when we talk about Housing and the building Community is about our founders point or future Projects I would just stress the two million dollars that is unspent on affordable housing Will be about land acquisition throughout the county to make sure that founders point is duplicated in different markets Okay, so we need growth across the entire county We also want to make sure that These something called third places You work that's one place you live at home second place third place is where do you go? As community gathering for that interesting place where you can belong But you know that you got those two things The natural one that everybody talks about here is three sheeps where it doesn't matter who you are You can go there and you have that sense of belonging We're going to be working with the chamber and the communities to make sure They're already doing this but we want to make sure that we're making sure that we're part of that engagement process As we build out communities as we are looking at all these new developments Oops and number four Is going back to innovation and startups Over the next three years we will be focused in on capital formation So in 2024 we will be announcing a revolving loan fund for early stage companies With product needs, so they're trying to launch a new product We're hoping to have 30 to 40 thousand dollar per loan to help with that effort So with that I want to thank you for your time. Sorry if i'm a little rushed, but I want to say thank you for the opportunity We've got one last unfortunately Mayor sorenson from the city of shabuigan Nor the city administrator were able to join us there at other programs and events Across the country. So that's great that they're representing us in places Other than just shabuigan county so that they can bring more excitement to our space But with that mayor sorenson has Shared a video update with us. So we'll go ahead and watch this. Good morning folks. Mayor ryan sorenson here I hope that your new year is off to a great start Today I wanted to share with you all the great projects that have been going on in our city And what's on the horizon First and foremost, let me highlight some of the key achievements and strengths that have propelled our local economy forward Our city has experienced robust job growth even with unemployment rates reaching historic lows This is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our local businesses as well as entrepreneurs and of course all of our community partners As we gather here today We find ourselves at another crucial juncture for a city's development in the future The choices that we make today will undoubtedly shape the trajectory of our economic future And i'm pleased to report that even despite all the uncertain challenges in the world That we have had to deal with as a community our city has strewn some great resilience as well as adaptability And we know that access to affordable housing is fundamental for a strong community The city of shaboygan continues to embark on several housing projects As our small businesses and large companies look to grow and retain talent It is vital that we increase as well as diversify our housing stock This past summer we broke ground on several projects And we have more coming on the way if you drive on 14th street You can see view 14 which is on illinois 14th street continue to build This project will be 48 new affordable units On indiana avenue. You can also see the berkshire project, which is well underway This project incorporates apartments as well as some units for seniors as well as some live work units For the next steps, you'll see the city focus on some key areas throughout the city The city recently acquired the gartman farm which is on the far south side of the city This is about 275 acres that the city will work with developers to transform into a new neighborhood With many different types of housing from duplexes to townhomes as well as some single family homes as well The city's redevelopment authority recently acquired the old mayline property just along the river We're working on cleaning this property up and hopefully be having some exciting And key announcements coming very soon On the north side of the city freighter and the medical college of wisconsin is moving forward with a 70 million dollar development We are excited that freighter will be coming into our market and incorporating a neighborhood hospital with emergency rooms As well as outpatient surgery and some new office medical buildings This project will have an estimated 300 jobs that will add to our local economy Many also local businesses know that sheboygan is a great place to invest and grow and who doesn't like pizza Now you can get pizza by the slice on michigan avenue from uptown slice Which has opened their doors to offer a great variety of pizza selections for folks that are craving some new york style pizza Another restaurant that has opened up is venet pancake house This restaurant is a sit-down restaurant with wonderful breakfast and lunch options and encourage you to check it out for your next breakfast meeting Being in the midwest also means that we have a strong manufacturing economy I want to highlight some two local manufacturing companies that are expanding investing back into their growth right here in our community Htt which is just off of union avenue is a metal stamping facility that will be breaking ground soon on their next expansion right here in our city The city has worked alongside of their leadership to help achieve this expansion And if you're driving through the business park on the south side, you will see some cranes in the sky This is near neemak neemak is expanding their footprint neemak is adding about 449,000 square feet to their existing plant This expansion will look at more space for die-cast production and work will be done in several phases The city also understands the importance of investing in repairing our infrastructure I'm excited that we're kicking off our complete streets initiative This program will look at all forms of transportation And ensure that our roadwork projects that we're doing are done in a modernized way that increases safety We're excited that we've received funds from the bipartisan infrastructure law to help fund this project We also know that we have a strong tourism economy that continues continues to grow And folks know that sheboygan is known as the malbu of the midwest And folks continue to spend their vacation right along the lakefront Last year the city was proud to host the mercury midwest racing challenge Which was a key successful boat racing competition right on our lakefront This event saw an estimated 4.7 million dollars of tourism spending by over 40,000 visitors over the course of that weekend With all the progress that we've made over these last few months We also know that we must acknowledge the challenges that we also face And the work collaboratively that we need to do to address them The global economic landscape is evolving rapidly And it impacts the city we must adapt to these continuous challenges and changes Even with ongoing geopolitical shifts and environmental concerns that demand our attention We must be proactive in these measures To navigate these challenges successfully I continue to propose that we work on a multifaceted approach And continue to invest in partner with key partners like the chamber to expand workforce development options to ensure our community is well equipped To have skills for the job needed for the future We need to continue to foster a culture of continuous learning and innovation And stay ahead of the competitiveness in the global marketplace Lastly, we all know that our strength lies with our partners throughout our community Partnering with the private sector and public sector as well as key stakeholders Collaboration is key to getting things done right here in Sheboygan This helps us overcome many challenges share knowledge and making sure That nothing gets done alone In conclusion, the economic outlook for our city is promising But still continues to require a collaborative commitment and effort Together we can continue to build Our community that is economically prosperous and also improves the quality of life for our community I'm confident by working hand in hand We'll secure a brighter and more resilient future for our city and all of its residents. Thank you Thank you So thank you Everybody for your continued support. Let's make 2024 another awesome year in Sheboygan county And please let us know as a chamber of commerce how we can better support you And we will do everything we can to make sure everybody is thriving and moving in the same direction. Thanks again