 I am going to introduce our first speaker of the day so you can reference your booklet at any point. There's a lot of different information that our speakers did share with us in here as well as additional information about the Chamber of Commerce. Of course there's some pens on the table so if you want to take notes along the way you're welcome to do that also. So we did have a quick shift in gears but quite frankly it's to our advantage that Adam Payne was not able to join us today but Deputy Administrator Elaine Kraus from Sheboygan County is going to give us an economic update on the county so welcome Elaine and thank you for being here. Well thank you Deidre for the introduction. Adam sends his regrets that he is not able to be here however he is home battling a nasty nasty flu so I think it's all for our best interest that he is not here spreading that so I am here pinch hitting on his behalf. For those of you don't know my name is Elaine Kraus I am the deputy county administrator. I've been working for the county for just under 10 years and I'm pleased to be here this morning with all of you so we will get started. The county employs over 850 people working in 19 departments administering over 200 programs and services. Our total budget is 167 million dollars of that 52 million is property tax levy. The balance is state and federal revenue private pay and fee or service charges. I know this is in your booklet and it is a little bit small but these graphs are demonstrating the breakdown of the tax levy by major categories and then also the total expenditures by major categories or departments so please feel free to look at that at your leisure. Of our departments the most well known would be our Health and Human Services Department Transportation Sheriff and the Rocky Knoll Healthcare Center and those comprise nearly two thirds of the entire county budget. The county has an impressive fiscal track record healthy reserves and an excellent bond rating. For 2022 there will be a 1.14 property tax levy increase and over the last 10 years the average annual levy increase has been just 1.22 percent. For 2022 the tax rate will decrease 19 cents which is a 4 percent decrease from last year. The county board and staff are fiscal stewards providing quality service in a responsible manner COVID. I would be remiss not to talk about COVID since it is still very prevalent in our lives. After two years it's safe to say it has impacted all of us personally and professionally and I think it's also safe to say we are all sick of it. Unfortunately cases active cases and hospitalizations are at an all-time high and the Omicron variant is more transmissible than measles. So now more than ever we need to do our part and I know you've heard this all before but please please please stay up to date with your vaccines wear a mask and stay home when you are ill. We owe a debt of gratitude to our public health staff who are burnt out but continue to work tirelessly. They are contact tracing, correlating data, working with our schools, businesses and health care centers. They've launched a testing site and they are providing vaccines to those who may experience barriers. Thank you also to the chamber for continuing to provide updates to the community and hosting Zoom meetings with our public health staff. All right onto the more upbeat stuff. So next I'll be going through our 2021 accomplishments and the things that we are most proud of. So despite the ongoing pandemic we still were able to accomplish a lot together this past year. Rider Cup, wasn't that something? Sheboygan County was in the global spotlight this last September. We had upwards of 45,000 daily visitors at Whistling Straits, 27 hours of live worldwide broadcast coverage and an estimated $135 million dollar economic impact on the region. The Sheboygan County Memorial Airport was able to showcase its new terminal and customs facility which was a great public and private partnership between the Wisconsin Bureau of Aeronautics and the Kohler Company and others. During the event the airport supported over 1200 takeoffs and landings. Countless organizations and people are involved in an event of this magnitude. From the county we had health and human services staff, transportation staff and sheriff's department working closely with the Rider Cup officials for months leading up to the event. They were involved with security, traffic, food safety and COVID mitigation plans. In addition there were over 4,000 volunteers who stepped forward to help. All involved contributed to a highly successful event that we can all be proud of. Similarly, Road America hosted a NASCAR race last year over the Fourth of July drawing over 100,000 spectators. These events require extensive planning and coordination and we are grateful to all of those involved who bring these vibrant events to our community for residents and visitors alike to enjoy. Next up, another great milestone that I think we all appreciate, the Highway 23 expansion. Last year the portion in Sheboygan County was finished and the remainder of the project in Fond du Lat County will be finished this year. This project for those of you who don't know was originally enumerated by the state over 30 years ago. At that time it was estimated to cost $42 million. Due to the delays in inflation now the project is estimated to cost $170 million. With that being said I think we're all still grateful that it is happening. This project will significantly enhance safety and support economic development. And for anyone who travels on that road I think we're all in agreement that we're glad it's getting done. In addition to the highway itself being expanded the old plank road trail that runs along the highway is also being expanded and that will now run from the city of Sheboygan all the way to the city of Fond du Lat. Speaking of the transportation department and transportation system our staff maintain 450 miles of county roads and 152 bridges including the town roads, state highways and interstate miles they have 2,172 lane miles of maintenance responsibility. To put that in perspective that would be the equivalent of driving from Sheboygan to San Francisco. So next time it snows please have a little bit of patience for our guys out there clearing the clearing that roads. For those of you who don't know we also own our own asphalt plant which provides essential cost-effective material for our county and municipal road work. The current asphalt plant I won't tell you how old it is but I will tell you it is older than I am. It needs to be replaced. It is old and we are unable to get parts to fix it. So we plan to be replacing the asphalt plant next year which will continue to allow us to have a more efficient plant and provide cost-effective road construction for our community. Next up Rocky Knoll Healthcare Center for those of you don't know that is located just off of highway 67 between Plymouth and Elkhart Lake. Despite the ongoing pandemic and staff shortages we are proud to say that Rocky Knoll has again earned the five-star rating from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid for the fourth consecutive year. We're very proud of this it's a huge accomplishment. This rating reflects the dedication of our staff and commitment to quality. In addition we have a number of facility improvements planned for the year ahead. We are striving to tackle the workforce shortage with enhanced recruitment and retention initiatives such as higher wages, paid training, quarterly bonuses, onsite daycare, tuition reimbursement and student loan repayment programs. Even with all of those wonderful benefits we are still struggling as I'm sure many of you in this room can relate. We must maintain minimum staffing levels in order to care for the residents and the more staff we have the more residents we can accept which reduce the burden on our hospitals. So as many of you are in that same same boat recruiting staff will continue to be an area of focus and an ongoing challenge for the foreseeable future. There is a new educational facility at the Sheboygan Marsh. Construction of the Kohler Center for Marsh Education Building is nearly complete. For those of you who have never been to the marsh I encourage you to get out there. It's located just outside of Elkhart Lake. The new building one of the wings will house the YMCA Outdoor Skills Center Marsh Education Program which services over 1,000 students annually and when that wing is not being used for educational program programming it will also be available to rent. The other wing of the building has new bathrooms and shower facilities for the county's campground. This new community amenity is another great example of collaboration between public and private partnerships including the Kohler Company, the YMCA, Friends of the Marsh, and others. American Rescue Plan Act. Some of you may have heard Adam present on this at a previous chamber event so I'll keep this high level. The American Rescue Plan Act was enacted in March of 2021. Sheboygan County is set to receive 22.4 million and the city of Sheboygan is also receiving about 22 million. The county established six task forces based on community need. Those task forces include affordable housing, behavioral health and crisis response, broadband development, child care, transportation, and workforce development. This collaborative approach is seeking community engagement and input and the task force members represent dozens of organizations from the area. They have been meeting since August and are formulating recommendations to be considered by local elected officials including the County Board, City Common Council, and other local leaders. And we have until December 31st of 2024 to obligate those funds. All right, next up our SEDC partnership. Continuing on the theme of collaboration and partnerships, next I'll be highlighting some accomplishments related to economic development. In the past, when Adam has given this presentation, he's asked the SEDC staff to put together a list of notable achievements and this list is pages long and I would love to touch on all of them but I promised to be more concise than Mayor Pullman so I'll try to sum them up here. And for any of you who would care to read it in more detail, it is a handout on your table so please feel free to take that with you and look at it at a later date. But here goes the high level. So expansions and remodels, there are 15 projects listed. They run the gamut from large manufacturing to small businesses. Many of these companies have been here for decades and continue to show their commitment to the community by growing here. Of note, one recently announced is the $136 million expansion at Millpore Sigma. Business and community developments. There are 19 items listed. They include development in areas critical to quality of life such as child care, housing, major road work, recreation, renewable energy and retail. These initiatives span all corners of the county and certainly give us all the reason to be excited. One that I'm especially excited about is the expansion of bookworm gardens. Openings. 21 new businesses are listed. Most are restaurants, housing developments, retail or arts and education focused. These new investments will enhance our community and continue to set us apart from others. The list of grants is also lengthy. There are over 20 grants and they total hundreds of millions of dollars coming to Sheboygan County. These dollars are sustaining our businesses during economic hardships and they are also bolstering nonprofits, our educational institutions, the hospitality sector and conserving natural resources. We could all take pride in these accomplishments. None of the things I mentioned this morning would be possible without partnerships with the SCEDC, the Chamber, individual businesses, nonprofits and other government entities. We look forward to another prosperous year working together. Thank you all for the contributions you make to our community. All right thank you so much Elaine. For our second update today we have Mayor Ryan Sorenson. He was not able to join us in person as he is representing us in Washington DC this week but he did bring in a video. Good morning everybody. My name is Ryan Sorenson and I have the privilege of serving as the mayor of the city of Sheboygan. I apologize for not being able to be in person today but I still wanted to ensure that I provided an update at the annual Economic Outlook Breakfast. First off, thank you so much for being here today and being active members of the Chamber of Commerce. Your involvement in our city makes Sheboygan stronger. 2021 has been a comeback year for our community and we are still fully recovering from the impact of the pandemic. However, moving forward myself, Administrator Wolfe and the entire City Council are committed to having a strong and vibrant business community. Today I just want to share some highlights that you probably heard about and what our vision is for the future moving forward. One of the key indicators for the vibrancy of any city or business climate is access to affordable and quality housing. As businesses grow across the area these employees and their families need places to stay. The city recently completed a comprehensive study that underlines the need for more affordable and accessible housing. You've probably seen the new Oscar apartments that have sprung up on South 14th Street and these are 250 new units that will be going online this year. Many folks have already signed leases before this project has even been completed. We are also working on redeveloping the former Kepsel property. General Capital is the developer that we're working with on this project. This will bring over 100 new units with 85 reserved for affordable senior units and 16 live work units with a total investment of $26 million. Additionally, we are working on revitalizing 14th and Illinois Avenue with the Commonwealth Development. This will be 48 affordable units with investments totaling of around $12 million in rents ranging from $350 to $900 per month. We love partnering with our many non-profits like Partners for Community Development on a Veterans Affordable Housing Project on North 13th and Erie Avenue. 44 units will be valued at $12 million of investments in rents ranging from $350 to approximately $1,000. We are also focused on acquiring land so that we continue to build. Moving forward, we're going to be purchasing the old Jocombs Hall on North 15th Street for affordable housing and to give this neighborhood some much-needed attention. As you hopefully see, we are laser focused on housing and now we need to focus on filling our vacant spaces and vacant buildings as well, which is important to the success of our community. You've probably heard the exciting news about the redevelopment of the former Shopco store, which will now be Hobby Lobby in Ross Dress 4 Less. We are working on revamping this site over the winter and we are excited to have more retail options right here in our city. Additionally, we recently awarded bids for the renovation of the former Save a Lot store, which will now be the new Senior Center, Uptown Social. We've secured us 2.7 million HUD loan and will be also utilizing some ARPA funds for this project as well. Sheboygan also has a great asset in our business park on the far south side of the city and a lot of work is being done there. We are also working with an Appleton developer to construct 100,000 square foot spec industrial building in the South Point Enterprise campus with a future expansion of doubling that square footage as well, valued at approximately $8 million and construction will begin this summer. Recently, the completion of Sheboygan's first urban solar farm was established in our business park. Alliant Energy completed its work this past December and the solar array will be functional this month and will provide 1 megawatt of renewable energy. Investments in renewable energy are key to energy independence and future growth. City staff is also working on other South Point Enterprise campus leads related to a data center and a new food and beverage manufacturing project as well. So stay tuned for some more exciting news to come. Also, everyone knows that Sheboygan is the Malibu of the Midwest and we are premier tourism destination. We had some of the best tourism numbers on record. Our tourism room tax collection was above 50% over last year and the Ryder Cup helped substantially in our third quarter and we also exceeded budget projections for room tax collection in the first and second quarters as well. We all also know just how important strategic planning is for the future success of any organization. That is why the city has retained Baker-Tilly to lead the development of our new five-year strategic plan for the city. In the coming weeks a community survey and focus groups will be held to gather public information and input to guide our plan forward. We truly value your input and ideas during this process so watch for more information and please feel free to reach out. Now I know I wasn't able to cover everything today and there are so many other great and exciting things going on like the Million Dreams 24-7 Child Care Center getting established, the Game Board growing in our downtown, we're updating our outdoor recreation plan making significant park improvements and major investments in our road and infrastructure as well. However, there are still many challenges ahead that we still need to tackle. We need to recruit more people to our community, address our workforce shortages, we need to build more affordable housing and I know working together and strengthening our partnerships we can get it done. Sheboygan has so much opportunity and potential and with your help and commitment to the community we can keep Sheboygan moving forward. The city is open for business and the best is yet to come. Thank you so much. Thank you to Mayor Sorensen. Although he is not here we have a number of our city folks with us and city administrator Todd Wolfe. So thank you Todd and Chad and Derek and I apologize your name was escaping me but Garrett for participating with us today. So next yes we are going to welcome Mayor Randy Meyer from the city of Sheboygan Falls after Mayor Meyer's presentation. We'll take a short break just to give everybody an opportunity to stretch their legs to you know grab coffee what they need to do and then we will resume the second half of the program. So welcome Mayor Meyer. Well thank you. My wrestling coach always told me if you pin him in the first period you don't have to worry about the second and third period so I try and keep things short but first I want to thank my entire city team and Administrator Shad Tempest is here today. It's a great cooperative relationship which that cooperation also extends through the whole county. Recall it's a number of years ago we did that cooperative agreement in Sheboygan County that the county chamber was a lead on and I and I'm glad to say that cooperation still rings true throughout our county. Doesn't mean we're not friendly competitors and have fun with each other once in a while but I can tell you when I talk to other municipalities across the state because I'm privileged to be on the League of Municipalities Board there's not that same level of cooperation in every county so I think that's something we really need to be proud of here. In Sheboygan Falls we like to say we move at or above the speed of business and that just about killed us last year because we also found out we were really really busy but Vision Park is going really well. Polyvinyl is in the process of adding a new facility there right now. Fifth color completed their facility last year and if memory serves me right Shad I believe we did the ribbon cutting for the Morrell Rockline building right at the beginning of last of last year so a lot of good things going on Vision Park that is started with Taxicom at District 3 about 30 years ago or in that range and now we did an overlay district of Taxicom at District 5 there and we amended that district this year to help out a subdivision on across from Falcon Falcon Way subdivision on PP so that subdivision will be starting and we added 18 acres across the road from Vision Park which could be an expansion of Vision Park could be a subdivision if we got another set of acres to go with it to give two ways in and out to that area so a lot of good opportunities that was land added to the city and added into that Taxincrement District amendment and speaking of Taxincrement District amendments if you have a project you want to do in Sheboygan Falls Shad I would really appreciate if we could do an amendment in the spring or the summer not the fall right at the end of the right at the end of the timeline it just gets a little stressful and you know you have to get this done and you have three days to get it done but that said we did get it done because we're wrestlers and that's what we do so other things in Sheboygan Falls other subdivisions we have a good chunk of land on the west side of the city that has some great possibilities we have an infill subdivision Norgaard Meadows which which is really a nice thing to sometimes you got to look like we're some little pockets of land in your city not always expanding outward but make sure you're you're taking care of what's also in your city and then the vintage willow subdivision that's by Hillcrest is getting closer and closer to being at capacity I so subdivision growth is something a priority we focused on and we think we've got some of the answers now and we just have to implement this is the year of implementation on those so we'll bring more housing online apartments our tannery falls project downtown it's kind of interesting because you take a little heat on facebook sometimes and you want to respond but you're like like no I just let it go let it go but the question on facebook who's going to rent those apartments and what's going to happen there well the answer is 72 people will rent those apartments because they're full put on facebook it's true so but but really in my mind that's a gateway to our downtown and it's what's allowing going to allow our downtown to be vibrant for years to come just inserting 72 units of apartments of higher end people that are going to naturally walk and shop and eat in our downtown and with that in mind we added a an excellent Mexican restaurant I just shortened it to El Ranchos because maybe I can have a hard time pronouncing the second word the arrow I don't know but El Ranchos that's I've been there a number of times really nice really nice atmosphere it's really nice to see what used to be and when I was younger it used to be the villager vibrant restaurant for years in Sheboygan Falls and now it's nice to see that vibrancy back with El Ranchos so we're very happy about that what I know is the old pine lodge is coming back online it's going to be the see if I can get this right oh there's a number in front of it then it's gastro pub and tap house and I always forget the number I don't shed you remember what the the number is 18 2873 thank you yeah I knew you came for a reason thanks yeah good good teamwork good job yeah right the dog doesn't drive that is true so we're really happy to have that come online so you know a year ago I would have said a problem we were having is lack of restaurants and and now we seem to have solved that that problem to an extent and the former Richard's building speaking restaurants is for sale they've done some work in there is there work that needs to be done yet yes but there really is an opportunity for someone to create something really nice in that historic building so we're we're really happy to be working with Dane Shackalinsky I think I said your last name right Dane too I'm learning so I'm getting good at this but but he's he's listed that and we're really happy to be working with someone that that we know like and respect listing the property and we've gotten tours of that property because one thing we do in Sheboygan Falls we work with our local chamber main street program and monthly Shad and I meet with a group of them and have an economic meeting where we we really have come to a great comfort level of respect and trust and confidentiality where we maybe don't share a hundred percent but we're probably sharing 90 percent of stuff with them there are certain things if someone says this is confidential we don't go to that committee meeting talk about it but I would say it's been a group of about 10 of us that Shad and I feel very comfortable telling them exactly what's going on where our challenges are and they feel comfortable as well as telling me like I love Justin Richardson's in that group and someone's Justin Richardson to go mayor I disagree with you I'm like great because that's what I need to hear you know having 10 people to say mayor you're really great and I agree with you all the time that's not helpful but respectfully telling you they disagree with you on an issue that's helpful and Justin doesn't probably the best of anyone in in there so I mean that's the type of things we have going on in Sheboygan Falls we are Shad and I you know we we always say you know if you want to do something in Sheboygan Falls you meet with Shad and I and we get the ball rolling and then we bring in the rest of our team our our council is is always very cooperative with us works with us in economic development and we always tell people if we tell you like don't worry the council's on board that means don't worry council's on board so again my coach said keep it short so I hope I scored a pin here in the first period and I'm going to get cut off there but any questions feel free to contact either Shad or I we're always happy to talk so thank you for your time and I guess you can go to break now right we will go ahead and move forward with the second half of our program and our next speaker had shared with us last year in true Sheboygan county fashion that he was going to be retiring and within just a couple of months he had to jump right back into his role as the interim village president for this the village of Usberg so Alan Rubel welcome and thanks for joining us today well she was right I'm not supposed to be here today but there was a family medical problem with the gentleman who ran for president and won I was actually in Florida at the end of November when they called and I turned it down the first time I turned it down the second time I turned it down the third time and we were in Florida on vacation because we've been going back and forth and my wife and I had been married 50 years so that was kind of the deal we would you know travel and be in Florida after the fourth time somebody called my wife said why don't you just do the damn thing you you know you want to so that's why I'm here today and I'd like to give you some quick updates of what's been accomplished in Usberg in the last year Viking Masek which is a global packaging company they make packaging machines they have a four million dollar expansion they just finished they had larger office space and it's already full they also have extra warehousing and which is also full they also bought land east of their main building along I-43 and it's a holding pond and what they did is they turned it into a park they did some landscaping they put in some paths for their people to walk around the lunch hour and also for the people in Usberg they also bought six acres west of them for future expansion when it came to Usberg they had a I think it was a 35,000 or 40,000 square foot building they probably more than doubled that right now so what's interesting with Viking inside their building they put in a fitness center they also put in an Irish pub and this Irish pub I think it's once a week their employees can get a beer or maybe two not more than that and they hold client meetings there which I think is you know kind of unique then we'll move on to master gallery they put on a 21 million dollar 110,000 square foot expansion which is due to be completed in a second quarter of this year they now have a total in Usberg of 285,000 square feet of buildings and they still have room for a third expansion so we're hoping that happens in the next couple years we also have a new subdivision it's called settlers point in the first phase and settlers point is going to be two apartment buildings with 10 units each eventually there'll be six of the 10 unit also included in the first phase is single family and side-by-side condos around a pond there's also five single home lots that will be available for people that is the first phase I think there's around 70 can be 70 lots in that subdivision that's an east side of the village on the west side of the village west field is almost full I think there were 60 lots I think there's only four left in that area the village also has some major road projects happening we have a 1.2 million dollar interceptor sewer on north 10th street which is a county road going out of town that's going to be completed in 2022 then after that in 2023 we're hoping they're they're going to the county will come in and help us hopefully do the road curb gutter and new sidewalk hopefully that's in 2023 it depends on how busy the county is going to be with that also in 2023 along with that road project we have another area which is Minnesota or KK Avenue on the north side of the village which has some stormwater problems and we hoping to fix that road at the same time as far as other developments in our industrial park in the last year we've sold 30 acres that the land that the village owns on five acres quick trip is going to be building in the spring so we're really excited about that because it is really an outstanding company then there are 17 acres owned by a private individual in the business park and hopefully that's about to be sold dane tells me it is going to be and they're looking at a 200,000 plus square foot building on that property I can't really say what's going to go in there hopefully next year we'll be able to tell you what the business is like every township village and city roads and infrastructure are the problem hopefully with a trillion dollar package passed in washington we'll get our fair share one of the main concerns that we have and the townships around us and inshboy and county have is fire and EMS giving example I was talking to one of the town board chairmans and between us and them for two vehicles they spent over 700,000 for an engine we bought a much smaller vehicle was almost 300,000 so between us it's we spent 1.1 million dollars on two pieces of fire equipment there has to be some help somewhere we're hoping and adam pain if he was here would roll his eyes when I say this but hopefully that we can work with the county that maybe it can be a county fire chief excluding and naturally the city of shabuigan where there's somebody overseeing all the fire departments that people when they need a piece of equipment they go to this individual and this county fire chief or district whatever it is would make that decision and say yeah you need it because you know what happens when one community has a brand new fire truck the community next to it wants it that's just the way it is it's been like that for since the fire departments came into being so hopefully working eventually with the county we can get something done EMS EMS is always a problem it seems they can't get enough people as an example usburg ambulance went out of existence because of the amount of people we just couldn't get and it was going to get very expensive if we did it ourselves and employing people so we went to orange cross orange cross came in did a great job and but they also ran just in the usburg ambulance area 496 calls that's over a hundred more than they did the year before orange cross as a total did over seven 7600 calls the problem they're having is staffing you know their EMTs were getting $15 an hour $15-$20 an hour would you want to be handling COVID people emergencies for that kind of money so these people move on to city fire departments or better paying jobs so again I think if we can work with the county somehow and work something that we can that they can able to pay their people more maybe that you know they can buy a vehicle for them something to help out because there's only one ambulance volunteer ambulance service left in the county that's random late and I know they're having problems so if they would go out then orange cross has another area to cover so hopefully again working with the county in the future we can work something out in closing I'd like to thank the chamber of commerce for this opportunity to talk about the village of woesburg so I'll see you next year maybe thank you thank you so much and for our next speaker we are pleased to welcome Mayor Don Pullman from the city of Plymouth and as we have poked fun at him a few times today I will have a sheet of paper if I have to ask you to just kidding thank you so much for being here Mayor Pullman nice to see you you would think that I have hardly anything to say all the time it's uh it's always great to be here and talk with all of our business people and thank you to the county chamber for putting this on and it's a welcome relief as we're coming out of some of the last 18 24 months that once again we can look to the future and what opportunities lie ahead of us all of that comes with a optimistic outlook that not only the community leaders present to us but our business leaders and I would be remiss if I didn't ask everybody to check their mail from the last week did you get a flyer from lakeshore technical college and their workforce solutions I think that we are fortunate in our small community Manitowoc and Sheboygan to share a two-year technical school that is receiving and has received national awards for innovation they are your partner in business and are willing to work in every way possible to create the opportunity for development of employees that will get on the job and train on the job come to your facility and be productive that is the partnership that we all need especially as the job force tightens and prices increase across the board we're all experiencing those problems of employment so how do we reconcile that in our different communities and of course partnering is a big part of that uh city of Plymouth is starting the recruiting process again I didn't think I'd have to do that in my term of a business administrator utility manager and we're starting that process actually in February there's a lot of demands on our different cities and communities that are now reaching out globally and how do we accommodate those demands from the community as as a business in a city the city of Plymouth on the southwest side owned 67 acres of mixed residential end of the month we will be exercising our option on another 120 acres on the south side of 67 as you go out of town the opportunity that that gives us for development from multi developers we're not looking for one developer to do the whole thing but to give a variety of opportunity for housing that hopefully will supply workers for all of us our industrial park we refer to it as tiff number four we'll be closing in september of 22 or september of 23 we have an election to make on that we're probably looking at 23 only because we're trying to coordinate which is very difficult when you deal with state and federal governments to put some of our dollars into a revolving loan fund for expansion of assistance with housing which we all need and also the as areas become older they need more work our tiff districts as all our tiff districts have facilitated substantial infrastructure improvement which is one of the key benefits of a tiff and trying to partner on a timely basis with some of our industry to facilitate their growth and expansion is one of our most difficult tasks businesses make decisions you all make decisions months six months a year things get done in government we make decisions and ten years later it starts to come about it's very frustrating for community leaders and to try and and say we're going to time this right highway 23 that's been going on for 26 years and it's finally going to get done we're hoping that that timing and we're seeing the phone calls come in asking about opportunities in all of our communities and if something isn't good fit for us we pass them on to the next community in the county it's important that we feed off of each other and we can do that in a very economical way when we have transportation to facilitate the commerce so none of this is possible without good schools and our public schools have good records they're partnering with a lot of industry we're teaching the skills that are required in a proactive way and I think that if we continue on that path Plymouth 12 years ago was the first to partner with LTC random lake just did it a year and a half ago so we continue to use all of the tools in the toolbox and the spirit of cooperation that was started many years ago is really starting to pay dividends we can't attract businesses to all of our different residential areas that we're trying to do our business communities and our manufacturing without the support of all of you to be part of that so I thank you for all of that it's something that we work for as leaders at different levels take advantage of making that phone call and contacting either us or someone in business or LTC you will get responses I think we have all come to the conclusion that we can push the county ahead faster and more productively together so thank you for today's session it's a wonderful event every year I appreciate the invitation and another beautiful great day sunny in Sheboygan county thank you all thank you so much mayor Pullman all right so we are in the home stretch and I will try to make it fast because what I have to share is can be a little bit dry it's a lot of information from our annual survey so annually we survey our business community our chamber members and you know ask a lot of information we recognize that in the past two years there have been 87,000 different surveys that we we have asked you guys to participate in mostly related to COVID so we really tried to limit or eliminate any COVID questions from this particular survey to give you all a break but I do want to say thank you for those that did participate we it's important that we gauge the business community it's important that we get feedback from you guys on how we can better support moving forward and look for holes in processes that we might be able to help fill as the Chamber of Commerce or alongside many of our community partners so we had a diverse group of folks that participated in in the survey this year you can see that financial and insurance manufacturing and personal or business services were were our top three categories of participation I won't go through each one because I know you all can read very well so I won't bore you but to give you an idea of of the mix of participation this is what it looked like attraction I can't imagine that any one of you in this room is not having or hasn't had in the past let's call it 20 years some sort of workforce development concerns shortages or issues so in in shrew shabuigan county form we do expect that our workforce is expected to grow significantly 60 percent of organizations expect their workforce to grow in the next 12 months this is only up 1 percent over last year but we also know that last year was a little bit of a situation that we won't give much mind to but you know for for what we're doing in shabuigan county in comparison to many other communities across the united states I think it's refreshing and wonderful to see that we continue to be successful as a community and that we continue to look for progress and growth even despite a pandemic so as far as the top three expected positions needed it hasn't really changed much over the past I will say past probably four this is my fifth year doing this so the past four and a half to five years you know we still are looking for finance and it positions business management and then of course manufacturing and production and then we ask what what initiatives what k through 12 talent initiatives does your company actively participate in we are also blessed in shabuigan county with a number of different opportunities to engage with our students k-12 students we have wonderful programs like junior achievement wonderful programs like inspire shabuigan county along with a number of other opportunities so we still see that being a guest speaker at schools continues to be top of mind being a member of inspire shabuigan county is also another wonderful opportunity to connect with our next generation of workforce and then on-site career experiences so again there's a number of different ways but these seem to be according to our participation the top three opportunities utilized and then as far as attracting new talent to the area many of our businesses are looking at employee referral programs as top of mind digital hiring practices my thing is much smaller than the one on the screen so imagine that that or I'm just really old and then offering college internships and we know that we bring in hundreds of interns and co-ops annually to the area and this is a wonderful opportunity to showcase everything that we have in shabuigan county but also the opportunities whether it be quality of life whether it be cost of living and then of course the opportunities with our employers throughout shabuigan county so I'd mentioned that employee referral was the number one utilized opportunity to attract and you know bring people to your spaces if you notice only 82.35 percent of respondents would likely recommend a friend or family member to move to shabuigan county this has actually gone down over the past couple of years and I think it's something that is really important that we pay attention to especially if you are asking your employees to refer folks but your employees are saying they wouldn't refer their people to come here that is that is a bit disheartening and it means that we've got some work to do to make sure that you know that the people that you have in your spaces are feeling you know excited about shabuigan county and what it has to offer so that they're relaying that same message to those that are important to them so I think this is an area of opportunity that we all need to really pay close attention to and look for new and different opportunities to engage our employees and then retention our retention survey results have shifted just a little bit we are now looking at flexible work schedules increased wages I can't imagine anybody in this space is you know hasn't heard that one right and then of course professional development opportunities and in the past it looked a little bit different we were offering different ways to retain our talent but really it shifted to what is it that our employees are looking for what is it that our employees need versus what we thought maybe they needed so I think this is also interesting because it tells us that you're not alone if you're increasing your wages if you're offering professional development opportunities and you're offering flexible schedules then you're probably right in line with most of the people throughout the county and then remote workforce so COVID showed us that well actually didn't give many of us an opportunity but that we could work remotely one thing I did find interesting if you look at current years so 2021 over previous year which was 2020 57 percent in total are reporting that they have some remote remote workforce versus roughly 50 percent in the year previous so although we're two years into a pandemic and it might feel like we've returned back to normal in many ways even more of our employers are offering remote workforce options and this I think also goes back to the previous slide where we talk about flexibility and scheduling I think this tells us that as employers and employees we found that you can work very efficiently and effectively even if you are working from home in many aspects obviously that is not applicable to everybody in the space depending on what you do but it is it is certainly encouraging expected percentage of wage increases we know that increasing wages is a way to attract and retain talent more than 44 percent of respondents have forecasted a wage increase of three to five percent this is up significantly over last year no surprise there but more than 70.65 percent have budgeted for a wage increase overall and that is up almost 10 percent over the previous year but the good news is that sales increase year over year is is phenomenal so if you look at 2021 there was a 74 percent reported increase in sales over previous year not surprising almost 17 percent reported also no change so it tells us that in our community that it's either sustainable or we're still growing at a wonderful rate despite coming into you know ending the second year of a pandemic so very promising for business in our county that the vast majority are reporting positive progress so optimism in sheboygan county so we're paying people more we're selling more things so that's the good news how do you believe your business will perform over the next 12 months and I kept the the previous years up there because I think it tells a story if you look at obviously 2022 almost 20 percent of respondents expect significant growth but if you go back to pre-pandemic value so think about 2019 where we were at we are we are back to pre-pandemic a pre-pandemic space as far as optimism is concerned so we continue to be optimistic in 2020 a little bit more in 2021 but when you look at 2022 compared to 2019 they look very very similar and I think that's very exciting for us because we're turning the corner and although COVID continues to be a thing and we need to be mindful and make positive choices and make safe choices and healthy choices but business is still moving forward and we have a successful community because of it overall 81.69 percent of respondents believe that sheboygan county's economy will improve in 2022 and that is compared to 69 percent over previous year so again optimism is very high this is pre-pandemic value as well so it's exciting to know that we're we're all excited about what 2022 will bring we don't say that out loud though because every time we say next year will be better or this year will be better things go a little bit awry so we will avoid putting that up so what keeps you up at night and there's a lot of information here but you know we asked you to rank on a scale of one to ten what you know what things in business are keeping you up at night and our top is talent recruitment I don't think that there's any surprise there we know that we continue to have talent recruitment concerns I traveled in the last three weeks from one coast to another so I spent one week in in massachusetts and the other week in washington state so truly from east to west and I can tell you that there is not a community along the way that is not experiencing the same concerns that we're experiencing so that is difficult but it means that it's not anything that we're necessarily doing wrong it's just this is the state of what the country looks like at this time what it also means is that we need to think about how do we set ourselves apart and how do we make it look different what are we willing to do differently in shabuagan county than what other communities are willing to do across the country and we do a lot of things already right it's about showcasing those and making sure people are aware so second health care costs we continue to see increases in health care and and this you know adds cost to our you know not just the employers but in many cases the employees which will show in a moment and then technology and innovation continues to be a concern and so these are three areas of opportunity that as a community we need to be mindful of and and start thinking of creative ways to tackle those so talking about health care we asked what you know how will the changes in the cost of health care impact you or your employees so we had a significant chunk that said they were not affected this year so that's great additional costs will be shared with their workforce and then organization will absorb health care costs so you can kind of see that you know as we're paying employees more in many ways the cost of health care is taking that money right back out of their pocket and and so I think that's something important for us to to pay attention to and and maybe have some different conversations with how can we advocate for lower health care costs but that's just me what professional development opportunities would you like the chamber to offer in 2022 so obviously the chamber of commerce you know one of our specialties is that networking relationship building ability so 55.7% are asking for more networking and relationship building programming we expected that to be high because for the past two years it's been a little more limited than it typically would have been so that's why I think in this space bringing you guys together and having everybody with wonderful conversations and laughing and seeing each other smiling is so important 50% are asking for additional leadership and management professional development opportunities and then almost 36% of respondents are looking for DEIB training or diversity equity inclusion and belonging training especially important when we're looking to retain talent to the area and of course attract new folks to the area we want to make sure that we are welcoming that we are inclusive that we are equitable and that everybody feels and not just feels but does belong in Sheboygan County so top issues workforce development obviously talent attraction recruitment and talent retention housing we've heard a lot about that today affordable housing and more housing are the top issues that we see in our community currently and then support and marketing for small businesses so small business support encourage major employers to support local rather than shopping online you know places like Amazon and things of that nature so you know continuing to provide support to our small businesses they are the fabric of our community and even for our major employers your employees are out there shopping and getting their hair done and eating at restaurants and all of those things so we need to make sure that those things are sustainable as well all right so you told us what was important to you as a community you told us you know what sales look like you told us you know what your needs are to kind of give you a quick snapshot of things that the Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce has accomplished over the past year we continue to welcome new members to our community we send out welcome letters I'm not sure if many of you are aware but we send out welcome letters to community that are moving within Sheboygan County on a monthly basis this gives them really just kind of an opportunity to say hey we are so glad that you're here in Sheboygan County with us but also these are the resources that we can make available to you call us if you have questions if you have any needs you also told us that talent attraction and retention was important in 2021 we brought via well we did it we did it in three different versions so hybrid we had people in person and then we had people fully online 1400 area sophomores from Sheboygan area high schools throughout the county into our explore your future programming this is an opportunity for them to understand what what industry and what opportunities are available right here in our community we also go through you know personality you know kind of profiling helping them understand who they are as people and what might be good fits for them so that was a great success even though we weren't able to go into every school we were able to bring industry professionals and chamber staff and many of our volunteers and partners from throughout the county into their classrooms via the web or via online we also hosted 137 interns and co-ops virtually and in person throughout the summer with several activities and events to give them an opportunity to learn more about Sheboygan County and to start building relationships within our community the goal is that when our employers bring interns and co-ops into our space that they fall in love with Sheboygan County they begin to grow roots in Sheboygan County and then the next year if they are up for another intern or co-op that they would choose to come back here or upon graduation they choose to move here permanently you also told us that diversity equity inclusion and belonging was really important and throughout 2021 chamber staff participated in a number of different DEI trainings provided by UW Madison UW Green Bay United Way and other organizations and we'll continue this journey to learn and be welcoming and inclusive to all we also hosted the 2021 workforce development symposium which was focused on DEIB in the workplace and school systems in partnership with freighter Andres Gonzalez came in and and he has been on the DEIB journey in freighter hospital systems for more than 10 years and so he came in and brought a lot of really wonderful information to help us how do we get started if you're not quite there yet how can you get started what worked what didn't work you know so sharing best practices we also brought in Dr. Moutry from 4am consulting Sheboygan area school district superintendents came to talk about their journey in the individual school districts and then of course a number of Sheboygan area businesses and Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development on top of the workforce development symposium we also hosted a focal point with Leslie Laster on building inclusive workspaces so we know that this is not enough and we're just getting started but we we're super excited about you know where we are at at this space and we will continue to grow in the DEIB space and continue to provide programming and opportunity for all of our businesses and organizations whether small or large to have access to DEIB initiatives and trainings and support you also told us that small business support and marketing was really important so in 2021 we sold more than 568 thousand dollars in chamber cash and chamber members accepted and cashed more than 459 thousand dollars in chamber in chamber cash dollars this is a local currency that goes straight back into our community you can't spend it on places like Coles.com or amazon.com you have to physically go into local businesses and spend those dollars there so the fact that we're able to inject almost a half a million dollars or more per year into our local businesses is a wonderful opportunity this is at 100% free to our businesses and those who are purchasing the chamber cash so for example there are no fees associated and if you come in and purchase chamber cash we're not charging you a fee to purchase it either so 100% of this money gets injected back into our small businesses we also had some fun on small business Saturday we surprised local diners and shoppers throughout the county and this I was able to do this and I tell you I left my house at like 6 30 in the morning on small business Saturday and I didn't get home until probably 6 30 at night and I went all over the community and surprised local diners and shoppers with free chamber cash so this is a way to reward a good behavior right we want those folks out there spending money in our local businesses so I'm showing up and saying hey I'm going to give you money for your purchase today or a portion of your purchase today it's just a way to get folks excited about the opportunity and and I'll tell you the people that were received the recipients of that chamber cash that day were so excited it is probably one of the most fun things that I've been able to do in my role as executive director so and and we try to document all of it via Facebook so if you don't follow us on Facebook I would encourage you to do so and watch out for us on on shop small spat Saturday because it's certainly worth your time we also partnered with writer cup to provide additional free marketing to area businesses through the show your ticket campaign so writer cup we've worked we worked with writer cup for the last few years now although they were delayed by a year we continued that partnership and and they really were wonderful partners this really was a wonderful opportunity for local businesses so you know driving driving writer cup visitors to our local spaces and local establishments was a great time and at Sheboygan the Sheboygan county chamber of commerce members can be anyone can be a recipient of chamber cash or participate in any of these programs free of charge it is a part of their membership upgrading and updating I don't know how many of you frequent the Sheboygan county chamber office space but during a time of uncertainty and limited resources we recognize the need to offer our meeting rooms so if you're a business in the area you know in many places we're shut down or limited access so we were able to open up our conference room spaces hosting more than 50 different businesses in 2021 alone to utilize our our small and large conference rooms and our upgraded technology when we saw how important that was we made the decision to invest even further back into the chamber for our membership so now we have a full small conference room with full technology to include cameras microphones large screens etc we have further updated our large conference room space and we know that we will continue to see visitors come and use our space as needed for business needs this again is a free opportunity for any of our chamber members you call our front desk we get you scheduled and then you can come in and use the space as needed so that's been a lot of fun we expect that the full updates will be completed in first quarter of this year and we hope to have a ribbon cutting and a grand reveal somewhere in early March late February depending we've also updated the space with some new furniture so if you're familiar with the chairs and tables we had for I think they were dated back to 1987 if I'm not mistaken on the bottom of the chair I know 1987 but so we were able to update the the furniture in that space as well so it is a truly beautiful professional space for you guys to utilize and we're going through a fresh paint job currently so it's a little bit of a disaster but if you come see us next week I'm sure we'll have it all cleaned up my team is laughing because every day we find something new but we know that continuous improvement of our programming in space will keep us relevant and help us be a better chamber of commerce for all of our members to utilize the tools and resources that we make available health and safety in 2021 we hosted three question and answer updates with Dr. Rye who is the CEO of Prevea Health we also continue to host updates with Sheboygan County Division of Public Health I believe we had if I'm not mistaken more than 10 public health conversations offered virtually and we opened these conversations up to both member and and non-members we want everybody to have access to information to be able to ask experts firsthand or in real-time questions about health and safety and these were also made available on our website and via social media pages for anybody to share out with their friends their networks their employees free of charge so we heard a lot of information from many of our partners from throughout the county and we know that we are better together and I think Mayor Pullman said it best you know we we know that we've got a lot to offer but really working together in collaboration and partnership is the only way that we're going to get to where we need to be so I want to say thank you to our partners at Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation I know Brian and his team are here so thank you for your continued partnership our friends at public health have been significant partners for us other community organizations throughout the county especially as we continue to tackle workforce development and advocacy needs it's important that we stay in constant contact and work together to to do those things I told you a little bit about what's going on and you know we think we think you've noticed as a Chamber of Commerce membership we think you've noticed the many wonderful things that have been happening in our space we as a membership have continued to grow with 63 three new members in 2021 retention looks really quite good 87.5 percent which is above national average and also during a time of really crazy uncertainty is really promising we also know that we have a lot of work to do and so we are in the process of completing our three-year strategic plan expected completion is first quarter of 2022 so we expect by the end of March that we will have our new three-year strategic plan ready to roll out and share with all of you new programming is also on its way we continue to develop and implement new programming we're in the process of additional professional development opportunities to fill the needs of our membership based on the feedback that we've received so as you guys shared with us that leadership and management opportunities is important as well as DEIB we are in in process of developing new programs that we will hopefully roll out or not hopefully I shouldn't say that hope is not a strategy but that we will roll out before end of 2022 and new and improved programming will be made available with our explore your future we've already transitioned that focus and explore your future 2022 took place just a couple of weeks ago we transitioned to we went away from sophomores in high school and moved it down to seventh and eighth graders at the middle school level we received feedback from our Sheboygan area schools that that touching giving these students an opportunity before academic and career planning takes place would be more meaningful and would help them better be better equipped to make decisions as they go into their acp stuff into high school so we just completed that with 1300 seventh and eighth graders participating onsite with our partners at Lakeshore technical college it was a wonderful experience and some of the eighth graders if you are not familiar if you don't have kids I have a lot of them so I know but some of them talking with some of the eighth graders versus sophomores in high school is like a completely different space and actually is a ton of fun not that high schoolers aren't fun but I've got three high schoolers in the house right now and and I'll tell you that my sixth grader is way more fun than all of the high schoolers so so we were excited about that we also our business education partnership committee has been in play for well over I believe 35 years if memory serves and and they decided as a committee that the Sheboygan county chamber of commerce should be the host of stem fest annually so obviously with a number of partners we certainly can't do anything on our own but in 2022 Sheboygan county chamber will also host stem fest for fourth and fifth graders and then we are in process of completing financial literacy programming to help support our friends in the high school at the high school level so juniors and seniors to have additional financial literacy opportunity so as they're graduating they'll know what it looks like to really buy a car that isn't a tesla or you know when they take out college loans what does it really look like you know because of course all my kids are going to be youtubers and like tiktokers and influencers and make millions of dollars you know every day so but we we saw the need and and decided as a as a group that it was important that we offer we offered this opportunity so we will continue to you know provide programming like that so it helps us to have a touch point and it helps local professionals so when you guys told us that going in and doing on-site career experiences and talking with students at the school level these are opportunities for you guys to do just that and begin to really build those relationships at a younger age so we may not see it immediately but over time we will continue to see those relationships being built and and those students just choosing to stay in the shabuagan county area when they decide to or after graduation so with that good news i will stop talking your ear off but thank you for joining us today and thank you so much for your continued support of the shabuagan county chamber of commerce we would not be here without all of you i do want to say thank you to purveye health they are our annual sponsor of our executive series programming and the economic outlook breakfast is a part of that so purveye health has been a wonderful partner to the shabuagan county chamber and the shabuagan county area as a whole we are also recording this we were not able to provide it as a live option this year but it is being recorded and within the next week or so the recording will be made available on our youtube channel so if you want to go back and listen to one of us talk again you're welcome to or if you want to share it with other members of your team or in your spaces it will be made available in that way we also created a one-sheeter so you have an idea of some things to look forward to and some things that you know 20 21 successes of the chamber you're welcome to take those sheets with you the booklets have a lot of wonderful information about about the different communities and please share with your team so thank you so much and have a wonderful day