Hope Kiwanis Hears From Anna Powell of Hempstead County Economic Development Corporation

The Hope Kiwanis Club heard from the new President of the Hempstead County Economic Development Corporation, Anna Powell, on July 18th.  Powell noted this was her first civic club program since accepting her new job.

Powell said she’s already participated in a community review for a project that would bring about 25 jobs and also met with a site consultant.  She noted her organization isn’t really involved in bringing in retail businesses because neither the EDC nor the state offer incentives for retail but do for industry.   Powell noted one of the biggest topics potential industries want to know about is utilities.  She said this includes water, gas, electricity, and sewer and wastewater.  Powell particularly singled out Hope Water & Light for answering questions recently for a prospect.  She also noted one thing people may not know is that many industrial sites in the Oakhaven area have some oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Powell said locally there are about 10 marketable sites right now around Hope.  These include sites owned by Hope Water & Light, the city of Hope, and private individuals.  Powell also noted she hopes to bring down a state official to brief local real estate firms on site selection.

One tool Powell talked about was a online site hosted by Entergy that allows communities to list their available sites and Hope takes advantage of that and also wants to beef up the presentations on that site.

One of the topics Powell said she talked to her board about during her interview process was how industrial recruitment/business expansion and retention work hand in hand with community development both in Hope and the smaller towns in the county.  She also noted how important a tool the college is for recruitment of industry.

During the question and answer session, club members asked about the proposed prison and Powell noted that subject is kind of quiet now as the Governor’s office is working on the LEARNS act.

The Kiwanians greatly enjoyed Powell’s visit and asked questions past the normal time for the meeting to adjourn.