Published: October 21, 2009 11:50 pm         

Indiana counties gather for economic development

FRENCH LICK — Greene County is one of eight south-central Indiana counties involved in a regionwide economic development commission unveiled Tuesday afternoon in one of the region’s most famous landmarks, the French Lick Springs Hotel.

That was fitting.

Admissions taxes at the French Lick Casino, which happens to be next door, are the reason for the group’s formation.

Unlike many other economic development groups that primarily promote a specific area — such as the Dubois County Area Development Corp. — Radius Indiana is designed to consider the resources of all the counties involved.

“One team, one voice,” Thomas Cooley, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and the group’s president and CEO, heralded at Tuesday’s meeting that attracted more than 200 business leaders and elected officials from the eight counties.

Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman was the keynote speaker and lauded the efforts of the Indiana Economic Development Commission for forging Radius Indiana. In a short economic pep talk, she told those gathered that “no community represented here today is an island” and cited south-central Indiana’s diverse work force and resourcefulness as two of its strengths.

Radius Indiana is not designed to take the place of local economic development commissions. Its goal is to be “the next level” of development, said Ken Sendelweck, president of private banking and wealth management at German American Bank and Dubois County’s representative on the Radius board of directors.

“The positives of Radius is the regional perspective it brings. Historically, Jasper and Dubois County have a reputation of being proud and taking care of themselves. If [local] companies have a need, they will go out and fix it,” he said.

But if local resources don’t exist — whether that is the labor force or a facility — Radius could help.

Legislation that led to the construction of the French Lick Casino included language that earmarked 25 percent of admission taxes be used for economic development in Orange County, and the five counties it touches: Dubois, Martin, Lawrence, Washington and Crawford.

The admissions money was sent to the Indiana Economic Development Commission, and in turn was funneled to the six original counties.

An ad hoc group among those counties was formed to divvy the proceeds. Dubois County’s share of the admissions money is close to $70,000 so far, and those dollars have been deposited in a separate account with the county development corporation and are earmarked for training grants, Sendelweck said.

That account is called the Project Readiness Fund.

Radius Indiana also includes Daviess and Greene counties, which do not border the casino’s home county. Their addition can be traced to the location of one of the region’s economic landmarks: Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, the military base built during World War II in Martin and Greene counties; a large portion of its work force of more than 3,000 lives in Daviess and Greene counties. Crane’s economic impact touches 40 Indiana counties through payroll and contracts, and it puts $2 million each day into Indiana’s economy, according to its public affairs office.

Crane is where Radius Indiana will maintain its offices.

For Ron Arnold, director of the Daviess County Economic Development Corp., Crane has the most potential to support economic development in the eight-county region.

He called it the “domino effect” for job creation and existing company expansion.

“We are working on that on a daily basis,” he said.