By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
The president and CEO of Barren Inc. and CEO of the Barren County Economic Authority, which operates through Barren Inc., the Glasgow-Barren County Chamber of Commerce, voiced optimism and confidence Monday evening that good things are coming to Barren County.
Maureen Carpenter told the Glasgow Common Council that would be speaking a little about the BCEA as well as the chamber, “because without a strong small-business community, you don’t have economic development for industry.”
She said the community has been growing over the past few years and the business community is stronger than ever. The chamber now has more than 500 members, she said. According to the first of the slides she projected onto the walls behind the council members, 380 of those have been recruited since 2021.
“That means that more local businesses are engaged, connected, and working together,” Carpenter said after noting that 33 percent of the businesses in Barren County are members of Barren Inc. “Thanks to that growth, we have also seen a 466 percent increase in our financial strength, giving us the ability to keep investing in the community and offering all of the programs that our chamber has to offer our companies as well as in education and workforce.”
She said the chamber introduced a tiered structure for dues this year. According to the slide, the tiers are Classic, Signature, Premium and Elite, with dues ranging from $200 to $600. Additional benefits are available for each higher tier.
“This tiered dues model was designed to better align with the diverse needs and capacity of our member organizations,” Carpenter said. “This approach has several advantages.”
She said it provides more flexibility for members to choose the level of investment and engagement they want to have, specific values they can clearly see that they will derive from the membership and inclusivity.
“There’s a tier for everyone, no matter what their budget is or what their needs are from a marketing and promotion, networking or professional development standard,” Carpenter said.
In the last three years, the organization hosted more than 180 events, from member celebrations like ribbon-cutting and ground-breaking ceremonies to professional-development and networking opportunities and major banquets, she said.
This year, they’ve already had 53 events that included 30 member celebrations.
“These events strengthen our local economy, but they also build relationships and civic pride here in our community,” she said.
Carpenter also spoke briefly about the resurrection of the Young Professionals of Barren County and some of its activities.
“On the economic development side, we have also been very busy,” she said. “These results [on the projected slides] can speak for themselves. We have grown our network of site consultants to over 200 consultants. We communicate with them on a regular basis, making sure that they’re aware of the advantages of Barren County – from our sites to our workforce to our fabulous infrastructure.”
Carpenter said they have about 25 active projects on average and have had 11 site visits since January, and are also communicating with many other companies that may not have projects right now but they want to make sure this area is “top of mind” should they begin considering new locations.
“So, since 2020, you can see that we’ve had over $200 million in new investment and over a thousand new jobs created through expansions and new business,” she said. “What we say in economic development is 80 percent of new growth is going to come from those existing industries, and you can see that trend is true here. Not all of those companies want to make flashy announcements. They’re ready to make those investments and just keep moving, so we do encourage them to do so.”
According to her slide, more than $162 million was invested in expansions, with 654 new jobs, and $44 million was invested in new locations, with 392 new jobs over those years. So far this year, expansion investments have totaled $3.1 million and new-attraction investments totaled $7.8 million, with a total of 120 jobs.
“With projects like the South Cooper Industrial Park, we’re making sure that our community is prepared for even more,” Carpenter said. “We’ve completed the first three phases of the South Cooper park, so now all the required infrastructure and access for industry is there.”
Over the past several months, two speculative buildings – 50,000 and 100,000 square feet – have been constructed, and all the utilities and main roads are in place for all of the sites there. The larger of the two was the second constructed and it is now under contract to be sold, she said, and she said they’re hoping that company will take possession of it next month. The other spec building has attracted “significant interest” but nothing concrete just yet, she said, adding that she’s anticipating it’ll be spoken for by the end of the year.
Behind those buildings along New Bowling Green Road (U.S. 68-Ky. 80), are two graded pads that are ready to build on, Carpenter said.
She said that because they have worked so hard on the development of that property over the last five years, she was very proud to say it had been noted as the No. 1 Submitted Property in the South Central Kentucky Region by the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development. She said that region goes beyond the 10-county Barren River Area Development District.
“So, we’re pretty proud and you should be, too, because the state is talking about Barren County; they’re talking about our site,” Carpenter said.
She said they’re working hard every day to build a stronger local economy that benefits everyone in the county.
Councilman Terry Bunnell, who represents the council on the authority’s board, asked her to discuss what companies are seeking when they come to the area.
She said they want infrastructure already in place – quality, affordable infrastructure; quality as well as quantity of workforce, with the necessary talents, skills and education; and partnerships with educational institutions.
“There, we’re very lucky, because our school systems are amazing, all the way from elementary through our postsecondary,” Carpenter said.
The other thing they look at is logistics in terms of where customers are and how they can get to them.
“We usually get that one pretty easy,” she said.
“So, we’re in a good position all the way around,” Bunnell said.
“Yes,” Carpenter replied. “Like I said, we’ve spent the last five years really focusing on having something to sell. We didn’t have any property, so if you don’t have something to sell, they can’t come. So then it was, ‘Well, you need to have the infrastructure in place.’ That’s our competition.”
She said they’ve been up against large places in other states, “so we have to be ready.”
“And, so, that’s really what we’ve been doing is building that portfolio of properties that we have, developing those relationships with the school systems, so we’re positioned for a lot of good things, I think,” Carpenter said.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Shoemaker asked about the funding source for the spec buildings, and Carpenter said they have an agreement with the contractor that they would construct them and BCEA would hold them for a year. If they haven’t sold to a company after that, then the economic authority is responsible for financing the debt for them, she said.
Mayor Henry Royse asked her to explain what she means by infrastructure for those who aren’t as familiar with “this world.” Carpenter said it includes the land itself, buildings, utilities, roads, etc., and she gave a shout-out to her partners with the utilities in the area, because she’s always asking them for something, “and they are fantastic to work with.”
Councilman Randy Wilkinson asked what some of the advantages are for this area, other than education, which he was especially glad to hear was a selling point, being a retired educator.
Carpenter said the proximity and access to Interstate 65 definitely works in the area’s favor. With this relatively central location, she said, we are within a day’s drive of 80 percent of the U.S. population. She added that companies usually have already looked closely at that “before they even talk to us.”
Beyond that, it’s about having those ready sites, and the way the city leaders can help is to support those local utilities when they need to grow, like when a new water tower is needed or when they invest in fiber optic lines or building electric capacity.
“And then workforce is key, whether they’re hiring 25 people or they’re hiring 3,000 people,” Carpenter said.
She said that although a community this size may not be able to offer grand incentives, “but what we can provide them is helpful.”
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Coverage of the rest of the council meeting is at this link.
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