The North Country Regional Economic Development Council held its first meeting of the year this month.
The North Country REDC is one of 10 regional economic development councils in New York state. It develops strategic economic development plans for Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties.
At the beginning of the meeting, members were reminded they must return a Code of Conduct that outlines ethical conduct including avoiding conflicts of interest. Chair Jim McKenna then assigned members to work groups.
“Our efforts are organized into five primary workgroups which are tradeable sectors, workforce, innovation, placemaking and housing,” McKenna explained.
Governor Kathy Hochul released her proposed budget on January 21st. North Country REDC Regional Director Steve Hunt reviewed sections of the executive budget that would be of interest to the council.
“The regional councils are in the budget again this year, $150 million in funding. The REDC’s will be enhanced this year to prioritize larger scale transformative projects that will serve as high impact economic anchors driving growth and revitalization in our communities,” reported Hunt. “We expect that should this be, this proposal be adopted, we’ll be getting new information about the programs for enacting these large-scale transformative projects.”
Hunt added that the Downtown Revitalization Initiative and NY Forward grant programs are included in the plan.
“It’s a $200 million total amount. A hundred million for DRI and up to a hundred million for NY Forward. And the regional councils play a vital role in that process of nominating communities for $10 million awards for the DRI and $4.5 million awards for smaller communities for the NY Forward,” noted Hunt. “There’s also $100 million in additional funding for the FAST NY program this year which is for developing shovel ready sites for manufacturing industry.”
Hunt also reported on a new program in the proposed budget called Power Up.
“With the growth of advanced manufacturing and next generation industries these businesses have increased power needs. The plan is to proactively extend higher levels of power to industrial sites to attract investment. While FAST NY is focused on shovel readiness, Power Up is focused on power ready,” Hunt said.
Last year the North Country REDC was one of three regional councils to receive $10 million from the Next Move NY initiative. The regional council contracted with the Development Authority of the North Country to administer and implement parts of its Next Move NY strategy. Director of Regional Development Michelle Capone provided an update for a program that is in its initial phases.
“We are undertaking the administrative side of the Next Move NY initiative. Also looking at a job portal, a veteran’s employment ambassador program, soldier recruitment and training incentive program and career readiness, job and apprenticeship matching program. We’ve been also meeting with economic development organizations, chambers of commerce, workforce development offices,” Capone said. “At this point in time, it’s really the information gathering stage of the program. It’s really going out and listening to all of our stakeholder partners out there to see how Next Move NY can work within the framework of everything else that’s out there already and how we can all work together.”
New members of the North Country REDC were announced: Development Authority of the North Country Executive Director Carl Farone, Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism President and CEO Daniel Kelleher, TDC, formerly known as The Development Corporation, President Danielle King, and new ex officio member Plattsburgh Mayor Wendell Hughes.
