The Franklin County Economic Development Commission met Monday, July 11 with commission members John Palmer and Gary Orschell in attendance and Nick Lawrence participating via telephone. 

The board met up to recap updates and their business reengineering (BRE) project. With previous minutes having been approved, Lawrence states a plan to profile firms in the county for interviews with a deadline is July 15. These include agriculture, manufacturing, clusters, and agriculture-adjacent with farming, processing, providing material and storage vessel molding.

Lawrence says BRE is not a lecture, but a chance to understand the businesses, what their obstacles are, what their marketing is, how do they market and if they can be found, and how they can help enhance the business for a higher financial gain by presenting various opportunities.

To explain, Lawrence states, "Ultimately, can BRE utilize research to eliminate some risks? That's our main question."

"People will want assurances before making changes, so our questionnaires are detailed to cover all grounds for changes, options, and their accessibility within the market."

Orschell also stated that, "BRE is a survey to see how much people are willing to change with a better understanding of different niches."

These meetings will derive a new agenda for the project. With the closing of the BRE project, Palmer adds in information about fiber optic installation. There were several glitches in the process of repair, which delayed the reception of connection. The delays should be cleared by the end of October.