January 6, 2010
Siskiyou Room
51 Winburn Way
CALL TO ORDER
Staff Member, Adam Hanks called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Committee members present: John Rinaldi, Jr., Bill Molnar, Sandra Slattery, Jim Teece, and Mallory Pierce.
Staff members present: Adam Hanks, Martha Bennett, Diana Shiplet.
REVIEW OF AGENDA AND REMINDERS
Staff Member Adam Hanks gave an overview of today's agenda. He reminded the group that on Wednesday, January 13 at 3:00 p.m., Eric Hovee will be in town to give a presentation of the EOA review and update his company has been working on. Both the TAC and the Policy groups are invited in attend.
CONTINUATION OF SWOT
Group did a quick review of the SWOT work done at the last meeting, and made some small changes for clarification.
Weaknesses
Group added some weaknesses including:
- Community can be intolerant to differences in thought, opinion, approach, or style. This limits our ability to be creative and grow. Also, it causes perception issues.
- Often politically homogenous
- Declining student population
- State challenges (finances, tax style/rates, etc.) inhibit
- Threat of devastating fire.
Opportunities
· Specialty manufacturing (leveraging what we have)
· Croman Mill site redevelopment
· Railroad site development
· Potential expansion of OSF
· TAP
· Resources to leverage support for Economic Development
· Increasing opportunities in technology
· SOU is taking a hard look at itself
· Knowledge base which exists in Ashland
· State of Oregon provides enterprise zones and commercial overlays
· Work being done to create "angel" network
· Growth of green technology as a niche market
· International recognition for being a "cool" place for innovative manufacturing
· Aging population's need for specific services (health care, etc.)
· People are engaged in our outdoor activities
· Geo tourism
· Land adjacent to the City is available for commercial development
· Clarity and responsiveness of development process
Threats
· SOU's continued lack of resources
· New and growing businesses challenged to find available capital
· Rail closure
· Image that we are a retirement community
· Inflation of real estate prices due to increase in retirement population
· Fewer people attending live entertainment and we are dependant upon the theater
· Lack of affordability (not just talking about real estate)
· Cost of living
· Lower wage scale = loss of recent graduates
· Lack of control over image of Ashland (newspapers, internet info, blogs, etc.)
· On-line business can be here without engaging in community
· Companies growing too big for Ashland (not poised to retain growing companies)
NEXT STEPS
Group will finish/review the SWOT at the next meeting.
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 4:35 p.m.
Diana Shiplet, Executive Secretary