Gaylor new EDC chairman
By Barbara Arntsen
Published in News on May 6, 2005 1:48 PM
Charlie Gaylor has been elected the new chairman of the Wayne County Economic Development Commission.
Gaylor is a Goldsboro lawyer and currently serves as EDC vice chairman.
He was elected to the position Wednesday by a unanimous vote of commission members. He will succeed Jimmie Ford, who completes his first term as chairman July 1.
Gaylor will serve for one year.
Dean Gurley was elected vice chairman for 2005-06.
No one was recommended for the position of secretary-treasurer. EDC President Joanna Thompson said the nominating committee would consider candidates for that office at a later date.
Tim Price and Ed Wilson were both re-appointed to the board for another term.
The commission has narrowed the field of candidates for its existing business position from 50 applicants to six. The new employee will work with existing businesses and industries in Wayne County.
Helping existing businesses emerged as a top priority for the EDC, both this year and last year, and the county Board of Commissioners budgeted money to pay for a new person to do the job.
Ms. Thompson said she went through the applications and initially narrowed the list down to 12 applicants. She then conducted a phone interview with those 12, using a three-page questionnaire recommended by the state commerce department.
After the phone interviews were complete, she was able to bring the number of applicants down to six.
Those six will be interviewed by Ms. Thompson, the EDC board and representatives from the state Department of Commerce.
Before meeting in closed session regarding the prospect of a business locating in Wayne County, the board briefly discussed economic activities in the county.
Ms. Thompson said five new businesses asked for information about the county during April, and two businesses came to tour the county.
Board member Jimmie Edmundson said inquiries in the county had "picked up" during the last few months.
"There are things that businesses had put on hold for a while, and there is a lot of pent up demand," he said.
Those are the things that are starting to come to fruition, Edmundson said.
"It's slow, it's not gangbusters, but it's coming," he said. "In general, I feel good, we're moving in the right direction."