LEDA Annual Meeting Flies High
Lincoln County – The Lincoln Economic Development Association held its Annual Meeting on Thursday, June 10th at Verdict Ridge Golf and Country Club in Denver, NC.
LEDA Chairman, Mr. Pete Acker opened the Annual Meeting and welcomed private members and special guests. Pete gave comments on the successes for the year that even during the down economy many were celebrated. From the recent groundbreaking this week of Cataler North American on their announced $31 million dollar expansion to the recruitment of a new Hampton Inn Hotel, normally out of our realm but responding to industry requests LEDA delivered. New companies recruited to Lincoln County included: Ostec, Spantek, and Sennebogen. While several industries had expansions such as Hof Textiles, GE Security, and Cataler.
Barry Matherly, Executive Director of LEDA made brief comments on the activities of LEDA and shared that LEDA was again named by Site Selection Magazine to the top 10 micropolitan areas as #4 out of over 600 plus similar counties. Barry said “We did not do as well as a few, but we certainly did better than many.” Rankings are based on the number of major industrial projects that located or expanded in the county.
The annual meeting delegation each June elects an individual to represent the private members on the LEDA Board of Directors. Panico Peres was elected for a new three year term. Panico is a member in good standing and was previously serving an unexpired term.
Special guest speakers were two gentlemen who know all about airports and flying high and sometimes by the seat of their pants. Mr. Jack Christine, Planning & Development Manager for the Charlotte Douglas International Airport who reports to Jerry Orr, Airport Manager; brought many great and valuable information notables about the expansion progress to date and what to expect in the future. These new and future planned expansions provide for great continued customer service which Jack shared the philosophy of Jerry Orr on the airport, “Provide a quality services at the lowest possible cost”.
Following Jack was our very own Lincolnton-Lincoln County Regional Airport Manager, Mr. Jeff Lynn. An experienced pilot for 15 years and the airport manager for 14 make Jeff the right combination of a well-experienced manager heading up our local airport. Jeff said “Now how do you follow that”, referring to all of Charlotte’s plans. But Jeff was beaming with pride as he shared his and the Airport Authority’s vision for what would put Lincolnton and Lincoln County on the map when it comes to an airport that has customer service at the top of their list of priorities also. A slide show of the new Lincolnton-Lincoln County Regional Airport Terminal was shared. The new terminal building features, 24 hour access for pilots, bathroom with shower, a “snooze” room, kitchen, flight planning room, WIFI, DSL High Internet access and a spacious waiting area, a snack area and a conference room that will accommodate approximately 24 guests. Jeff was especially proud of the new AWOS on Field Weather Reporting that has been installed and shared this is where the temperature and weather conditions are reported to local news weathercasters.
About LEDA
Lincoln Economic Development Association is a private, 501c(3) non-profit corporation charged with facilitating industrial and office development in Lincolnton and Lincoln County. LEDA’s mission is to foster an economic environment that promotes an enhancement of the standard of living by creating more and better jobs for the citizens of Lincolnton and Lincoln County and an increased and diversified tax base to provide needed community services. The organization’s goals include retention and expansion of existing business; attraction of diversified base industries and improvement of the overall business climate within Lincolnton and Lincoln County.