Tag Archive for: #vancecountyeconomicdevelopment

Mills Stepping In As Interim Vance Economic Development Director

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Newly retired Granville County Economic Development Director Harry Mills is stepping in on a part-time basis to be interim economic development director in Vance County. According to Vance County Manager C. Renee Perry, Mills started Wednesday, Mar. 6 and will be on board to work with McKinley Perkinson, who announced last month that she is stepping away from the position.

“He will start in his official capacity on Mar. 20 as interim until we find a permanent replacement,” Perry said in an email to WIZS News. Perry said she reached out to Mills to see if he’d be interested.

In a phone conversation earlier Thursday, Mills said he looks forward to helping fill in until a successor is hired.

“It was a mutual agreement,” Mills said. “They needed someone…it’s a good opportunity to help and continue the momentum” for development in the county and to be available to help when economic development opportunities arise.

“Harry will bring his enthusiasm and experience to this role. He’s familiar with Vance County and has historically worked with our past Economic Development directors,” Perry said, adding that she looks forward to his expertise in economic development.

Vance County Manager Sees Growing Vacancies As “An Opportunity”

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According to the Vance County website, there are 22 departments within county government, from administration to tax administration. Of those 22, County Manager C. Renee Perry reports that four departments face vacancies in the director role after one director was fired and three more turned in resignations.

That’s a lot of vacancies, but Perry, now in her fourth month as county manager, remains positive: “It gives me the opportunity to build my team and move forward…I’m looking at it as an opportunity.”

Perry said Vance County Economic Development Director McKinley Perkinson’s last day is Mar. 19; she was named to the job in November 2021. Perkinson told WIZS that she is leaving for another opportunity, but wasn’t ready to divulge what that opportunity is.

Vance County Board of Elections Director Jennifer Cocklin has resigned her post. Cocklin said she’d see the county through the Mar. 5 primary elections and will leave on Mar. 29.

Cocklin said her resignation has nothing to do with the job, but she cited personal reasons for deciding to step down. “The board has been very good to me, as well as the poll workers,” she said.

The county elections board is responsible for naming her successor, Perry noted.The Department of Social Services has an interim director Tilda Marshall, who stepped in when Denita DeVega resigned. Perry said DeVega is the new DSS director in Nash County. The DSS director reports to the DSS board, which is charged with finding a replacement.

All that on top of the Feb. 9 firing of County Deputy Manager/Chief Finance Officer Katherine Bigelow, and Vance County is facing some big holes in its administrative leadership.

If you count new Planning Director Sherry Moss and Animal Services Director William Coker, both of whom assumed their duties in the last month or so – and County Manager Perry, who came on board in November 2023, that’s seven of the 22 departments -close to one-third of the county’s departments.

Perry, sounding undeterred, said Vance County “is not unique in the amount of vacancies…other counties are experiencing the same.” She said she would continue to recruit and look for the best candidates for the open positions, adding that she hopes that prospective employees will see her as “a manager who wants to support them and lead Vance County in a different direction.”

TownTalk: County Commissioners Adopt Strategic Economic Development Plan

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The Vance County Board of Commissioners adopted a strategic plan for economic development at its July 10 meeting that creates a roadmap for future growth over the next few years.

Crystal Morphis, with Creative Economic Development Consulting, walked commissioners through the basic framework of the strategic plan, which she and her team developed over the course of the last year.

Following the presentation, Commissioner Archie Taylor expressed appreciation for the work that went into the plan’s development.

“The easy part is planning – the hard part is doing,” Morphis replied.

As part of the development process, Morphis shared results of a SWOT analysis – the acronym stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats – derived from information from almost 100 respondents from across the county.

The plan lists “ordinance enforcement” as a weakness, and, when asked by Commissioner Taylor to explain in greater detail, Morphis said it dealt with appearance and first impressions when a newcomer or prospective business owner visits.

“Code enforcement is so important,” Morphis said, for a community’s beautification and appearance.

Morphis used information and data from the respondents to create a plan tailored to take into account the area’s strengths – interstate access and proximity to urban centers like Raleigh and Durham – while working to address some of the challenges – an unskilled workforce and a lack of available housing, just to name two.

The plan lists five goals and has a three-year implementation timeline that details specific items that need to be achieved over that period:

Goal 1 – Attract, retain and foster start-up businesses

Goal 2 – Make Vance County a choice location

Goal 3 – Attract, develop and retain talent to ensure a strong pipeline for the future

Goal 4 – Strengthen local and regional connections

Goal 5 – Strengthen the Henderson-Vance Economic Development Commission

During her presentation to the commissioners, Morphis provided information from the respondents on topics such as challenges to growing their business. Some of those challenges include workforce availability, wage growth pressure, workforce training, financing, housing for workforce and finding affordable space to operate a business.

Some of the areas that the respondents wanted to see the county invest more resources in were in attracting new business and retaining existing businesses, and developing amenities like retail, dining and recreation.

Almost half of the respondents – 49 percent – cited personal or hometown connections – to the county as the reason their company is located within Vance County, Morphis noted.

The Kerr-Tar region and the state are seeing a growth in population, but Vance County and its three municipalities all have seen a drop in their overall populations, according to data from the 2010 and 2020 Census. This can also affect the available work force, which also has shrunk in Vance County since 2017, when there was a workforce pool of 17,237 to a November 2022 level of 16,639.

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McKinley Perkinson Named New Director Of Henderson-Vance Economic Development Commission

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McKinley Perkinson has been selected to be the new director of the Henderson-Vance Economic Development Commission. She will begin her new role on Nov. 15, according to information from Vance County Manager Jordan McMillen.

Perkinson was marketing director for Maria Parham Health for four years and most recently has worked with Franklin County EDC as a project manager to enhance the county’s website and online presence for, among other things, economic development and tourism.

She told WIZS News that she is happy to be coming back to work in Vance County. She is no stranger to the role economic development plays in a community – her previous jobs have allowed her to interact with the economic development sector.

“I have always worked very closely with economic development,” she said, of her time with Maria Parham Health and before that as marketing and public relations manager of VCU Community Memorial Hospital in South Hill, Va.  Hospitals located in smaller towns often drive the economy, she said. And “everybody wants their hometowns to have strong economies.”

Perkinson said she will draw from her education in communications and her experience to “be that great fit” for Vance County’s economic development. She said her short-term goal is to focus on the county’s current businesses and industry to make sure business leaders are aware of all resources available to help them, especially those financial resources that are a response to COVID-19.

She also will focus on the county’s strategic plan for economic development – goals for the next year, five years, and beyond – and looking for ways to make the likelihood for achieving those goals even greater.

“Economic development is not a job that solely falls on one person,” she said.  “It is a team effort. You’ve got to have strong relationships with everyone to be successful.”

In a press release, McMillen said Perkinson “brings optimism, energy and passion for Henderson and Vance County and has proven to be a creative force in marketing in her past roles.” He added that she is well positioned to continue leading the effort of the county’s recent economic development successes. “McKinley is an outstanding fit for this role,” he said.

In the search for an economic development director, McMillen said the ideal candidate would be “creative, able to work with the community and local businesses to build relationships, and one who has passion for improving the community.”

Perkinson said she feels that timing is everything, and “this is my time to bring my skills and my experience” back home to Vance County. “Everything happens in its own time,” she added.

“I love Vance County – it’s home.”

Dennis Jarvis

Vance County Announces Dennis Jarvis, II as Economic Development Director

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— courtesy Vance County Manager Jordan D. McMillen

Vance County is pleased to announce the hiring of Dennis Jarvis, II, as the Director of the Henderson-Vance Economic Development Commission. He will begin in this position on November 6th.

Jarvis has a total of 18 years experience in economic development, with the last 2½ years serving as the Director of Economic Development for the Town of Altavista, Virginia. Prior to that he has had Economic Development positions in higher education, non-profit organizations, consulting, and county entities in Virginia and West Virginia. Mr. Jarvis holds a bachelor’s degree in History from Bluefield State College and a master’s degree in political science from Marshall University. He is certified in Business Retention and Expansion International (BREI) and is eligible to obtain his Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) certification through the International Economic Development Council.

During his career he has been directly instrumental in the creation of over 800 new jobs with $62 million in new investment and $335,000 in grant funds. In addition, he has led marketing efforts, business retention initiatives, and has experience in obtaining public and private grants for community development.

Mr. Jarvis has a history of strong relationships with board members, staff, the business community, state and federal agencies, and the general public. He brings a passion for community and an energy for economic development and improving the quality of life for others. He will be a welcome addition to the county’s management team and the Vance County community.

(Press Release)

Vance County Economic Development Update 7/18/17

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Commissioner Hester Chairs NC Rural Infrastructure Authority

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Governor Pat McCrory recently announced in a press release that Vance County Commissioner Tommy Hester had been reappointed to the Rural Infrastructure Authority. Hester has served the authority since its inception in 2013, and next week he will be running to chair the authority for a third-straight 12-month term.

In an interview with WIZS News, Hester said he hopes to continue to serve as the chairman. As he described it, the authority is charged with distributing funds across North Carolina for rural counties as it pertains to job investment grants for infrastructure.

“We try to help Tier 1 and Tier 2 counties, like Vance County,” Hester said. He said, “Take the Handcrafted Homes building for example. It became vacant and stayed so for more than six months. Someone says their going to buy it and employ 25 folks. So the Rural Infrastructure Authority will help up fit it, giving $100,000.00.” The more jobs created the more potential funds are available.

Hester went on about the Henderson-Vance Industrial Park, which consists of 45 acres south of Henderson near Iams. “Henderson applied for a grant to supply water to the site so it would ground ready when someone wanted to locate there,” Hester said.

Also, he said, “The Henderson-Vance Industrial Park is full,” except for one site. “We might need to buy more land to have site ready,” he said of the Henderson-Vance partnership.

Hester also serves on the Golden Leaf Foundation board, likewise appointed to the board by Gov. McCrory. It provides continuity according to Hester, who meets every other month with both Golden Leaf and Rural Infrastructure. Since both boards give money, Hester being on both boards helps coordinate supplemental giving and it also helps know what to do when someone applies for a grant but does not fall under the guidelines of one organization or the other.

Hester is the first from Vance County to serve on either board.

As a Vance County Commissioner, he said, “I am trying to better lives in Vance County by increasing tax revenue without raising the tax rate. Day by day, month by month. This week, I’m meeting with three different companies, just to talk to them.”

More companies not only equals more jobs but also the additional tax revenue to the County to which Hester refers. More jobs means more money of the citizens of this area, and the companies that create those jobs add to the County tax base, which keeps more money in the pockets of the individual citizens. This is part of the ongoing economic development discussions in Vance County.