According to
their website:
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Monthly Meeting for September Has Been Rescheduled For Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012 5:30pm Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Offices
That’s at 2110 N. Patterson Street, Valdosta. They also posted this notice on their facebook page yesterday. No agenda is posted yet.
Here are videos of last month’s meeting.
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Here are videos of the
21 August 2012 Regular meeting.
of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA).
Here's
the agenda.
See also Steeda Manufacturing moving into medical parts and new markets.
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland, Chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett,
Andrea Schruijer, Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton, Attorney, Tom Davis, CPA, Allan Ricketts, Project ManagerS. Meghan Duke, Public Relations & Marketing Manager, Lu Williams, Operations Manager,
Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 21 August 2012.
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Dario Orlando, CEO of
Steeda Manufacturing,
which currently makes performance parts for Mustangs,
told the Industrial Authority at its
21 August 2012 Regular Session
that Steeda
is moving into making medical parts, plus selling to GM,
and into new geographical markets.
Here’s Part 1 of 4:
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 21 August 2012.
Allan Ricketts, VLCIA Project Manager, explained that
Steeda had requested a second extension, and an amendment to reduce
the requirement of number of jobs from 40 to 30.
We certainly think that is justified in the very difficult economic climate and conditions that we’ve had over the past couple of years, and certainly acknowledging that in that very challenging economic time, we’ve had steady continued growth by Steeda. And so now we’re up to about 23 employees there.
I think it is also significant to note […] that Steeda has now moved its entire manufacturing operation to Valdosta. That move represents about a million five investment in the community. Actually specifically it is $1,480,950 in some very unique manufacturing equipment. I think it is important to understand that some of this manufacturing equipment provides a great resource here that two of the current projects that we are chasing are very interested in.
Here’s Part 2 of 4:
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 21 August 2012.
Dario Orlando then remarked that things were going very well, and:
We’re expanding into other markets like I’d mentioned before the commencement of the meeting. We’re moving into medical manufacturing because we do have the most advanced manufacturing capabilities here in Valdosta. Furthermore, we’re starting to supply General Motors with performance parts, the GM performance brand. We opened up another company here in Valdosta called LSR Performance.
I was telling Allan this morning… that we’re all going to be looking back at this day. I plan to have a couple of hundred employees here in the next five years.
Then he mentioned a new development, and Roy Copeland reminded him this was an open public meeting. Hint: Continue reading
The Industrial Authority apparently listened to its focus groups, and discovered that broadband and solar energy are important to attract industry. Andrea Schruijer even recommends conversation, which has been sorely lacking in recent years. Congratulations, Industrial Authority!
Jason Schaefer wrote for the VDT today, Authority analyzes Valdosta business: Broadband, solar power, professional services targeted for growth,
The Authority also plans to work toward the availability of more broadband Internet service and solar power in Valdosta and surrounding communities. These amenities would help support local industries as well as draw new ones to the greater Valdosta area for the creation of new jobs.
That’s a good start. Although it’s not clear from the writeup that VLCIA quite got it about Internet access.
As part of presenting Valdosta as an attractive package for
prospective industries, the Authority attempts to ready the land set aside for development before beginning the recruitment process. This means investing in infrastructure, including broadband internet.
“It’s not that we don’t have broadband,” Schruijer said. “What we’re looking at is the technology behind the broadband. We have it in certain areas, but in order for us to grow some of these core targets, such as professional services, we need that infrastructure.”
Well, actually, no,
we don’t have broadband.
6Mbps is the fastest most people can get around here,
and 30Mbps is the slowest you can even buy in many countries.
Plus, it’s not just fast Internet to industrial sites that’s needed:
it’s fast Internet access everywhere knowledge-based employees
may want to live.
But they’re on the right track:
Because the Authority can’t “buy” industries into coming to Valdosta—though it can offer tax abatements—it is necessary to make sure that new businesses have what they will need before ground is even broken, Schruijer said. To this effect, the Authority will “stimulate the conversation” to actively attract more broadband companies to the area.
A conversation! Now there’s something we’ve been needing around here. And it’s a refreshing change from only a year ago when all we heard was
“Debate is not allowed.”
Maybe the Industrial Authority will be the organization that will show the rest of us how to hold civil discussions about things that affect all of us!
The VDT’s writeup skips quickly over another big change:
Continue reading 
According to its website:
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority’s Regular Monthly Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 21, 2012, 5:30 PM at the Industrial Authority Conference Room, 2110 N. Patterson Street.
Last meeting, VLCIA Executive Director Andrea Schruijer told me the results of the focus groups would be presented this month. Maybe she meant at this meeting. On the VLCIA facebook page, there’s this paragraph from 14 August 2012:
We are excited to present our final Target Business Analysis to the community at the end of August. We took at 360 degree approach to targeting economic development activity concentrating on employment, workforce skill, investment, and innovation to identify clusters of economic activity and developing targeted strategies for economic development.
It links to this (unembeddable) video of Andrea Schruijer talking about cluster analysis. It’s good they’re branching out to new ways of doing PR. It would be even better if they also published agendas and minutes with content.
Here’s the (content-free) agenda for today’s meeting:
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial AuthorityContinue reading
Agenda
Tuesday, August 21, 2012 5:30 p.m.
Industrial Authority Conference Room
2110 N. Patterson Street
Today I received an invitation from the Industrial Authority 
to attend a focus group interview for input to their Competitive Assessment and their Economic Development Strategy. So, dear readers, what do you think I should say to them? Don’t worry; I have some ideas already, but I’m all ears for more.
You may recall VLCIA has been put out an RFP early this year for an organization to do a Strategic Plan process. They selected Market Street Services of Atlanta, and they said in April they were preparing to do focus groups. Now apparently they’ve sent out invitation letters for a focus group on 20 June 2012. I have no idea who else they have invited; I was rather surprised to find they invited me.
What would you say to them?
Invitation from Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)
to a focus group interview 20 June 2012
Wiregrass Georgia Technical College, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 1 June 2012.
Scanned by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
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VLCIA has announced a meeting date change (to next Tuesday) in multiple places, and has already posted an agenda!
According to their facebook site and meetings webpage:
Notice: The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Regular Meeting has been rescheduled for the month of May. The meeting date will be Tuesday, May 22, 2011, 5:30 P.M. in the Industrial Authority Conference Room.
That’s at 2110 N. Patterson Street, Valdosta, GA.
Their facebook page has a new logo on it (shown on the right above). Also this snazzy cover image:
Both the new logo and the cover image are legible (unlike their old swoosh 
logo, still on their website, and seen to the right here). And the cover image has useful information, like what VLCIA is about and how to reach them!
However, I note that of those
3 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT VALDOSTA BUSINESS
- Major Transportation Network
- Competitive Incentives
- Pro-Business Attitude
none of them is clean solar energy or fast Internet access. (Also, why are they SHOUTING?)
Here’s the agenda, which is back to their old content-free style. They don’t even say what the executive session is for. (Is it legal for them not to say?)
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Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial AuthorityContinue reading
Agenda
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 5:30 p.m.
Industrial Authority Conference Room
2110 N. Patterson Street
Likely new industry, private prison really cancelled, strategic planning, and trees in the median!
Here are videos of the entire March regular meeting of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA). Here’s the agenda.
It’s good that they approve minutes after emailing them to each other. Maybe someday we the taxpayers will get to see those minutes.
Did you know they had two executive sessions on 23 February 2012, at 10AM and 2:25 PM in addition to their retreat and regular meeting of that same day? If they’re having all these executive sessions, presumably all the material about personnel and real estate that needs to be kept confidential is in there, and the minutes of the regular meetings shouldn’t contain anything the public should not see.
For example, Continue reading
Andrea Schruijer, Executive Director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA), made a presentation to the Lowndes County Commission at their Work Session 26 March 2012. VLCIA Board member G. Norman Bennett was also present. Congratulations to VLCIA on proactively getting the word out about what they are doing!
Here's a playlist:
Industrial Authority presentation
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 March 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
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Eames Yates wrote for WCTV Friday, Plans For New Prison Scrapped,
To people who mostly don’t live here now and mostly wouldn’t want to live here then, while driving away better businesses; she didn’t mention any of that, or the other problems with the whole private prison bad business.Schruijer went on to say “It would have been a huge economic impact. There were about 400 jobs associated with the project with approximately $150 million dollars in capital investment.”
Those four hundred jobs that the prison would have created, on average, would have payed between $40,000 and $50,000 dollars eah.
That picture of Ms. Schruijer is hosted on the LAKE website, by the way. The VLCIA website is still broken, a week after I first pointed it out. Is this how the Industrial Authority plans to do PR, still promoting yet another failed Brad Lofton boondoggle while not making anything positive available on their own website?
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