Micah called the meeting to order and Joseph Williams led our prayer and pledge.
Announcements
- Welcome guests Marcy Green and Anna Patterson from Impact Alamance.
- Micah asked us all to sit at different tables next week for our Club Assembly. We will be discussing the information from Rotary’s recent Young Professionals Summit.
- Our annual Rotary Birthday Luncheon will be held on THURSDAY 2/16 from 11:30-1:30. The luncheon will replace our weekly Tuesday meeting on 2/14.
- Please let Micah know if you are planning to attend the District Conference in April.
- More details coming soon regarding our upcoming Reverse Raffle fundraiser.
Happy $
- Mark your calendars for Trip Durham’s program on May 16th. Neill McNeill from Fox8 News will be our speaker.
- Ben Wooten shared the Charitable Foundation at ARMC recently hosted the Blizzard Blast and he celebrated the NCSU basketball win over Duke.
- Micah celebrated surviving a “near crash” on the interstate earlier today.
- Kathleen Patterson announced the opening of a new boutique in downtown Elon – Simply Oakes. She encouraged everyone to stop by and check them out.
Member Spotlight – Dan Seiler
- Dan moved to NC in 1993 and started his own cleaning business that same year.
- He obtained his EMT certification after high school.
- Where would you most like to max out a credit card? Alamance Country Club Pro Shop
Next week’s member spotlight – Stuart Sioussat
Peter Bishop – City of Burlington Economic Development Manager
Mac Williams has served as President of Alamance County’s Chamber of Commerce since January 2005. Mac has a daughter who is a sophomore at Furman and his youngest daughter is a senior in high school. Mac was born in Elizabethtown, NC but grew up in Laurinburg. He is a graduate of UNC.
Mac introduced our speaker Peter Bishop who is the new Economic Development Manager for the City of Burlington. Peter is from Ohio and a graduate of University of Toledo where he earned a degree in Philosophy. He previously served as the Economic Development Manager for Currituck County where he helped start a Rotary club.
The City of Burlington added the economic development role as a way to better support the Chamber of Commerce’s efforts.
Peter shared the benefits of Alamance County for future companies/businesses:
- Alamance County has the lowest cost of doing business in the state of NC.
- We offer a diversity of products.
- Two major highways connect here.
- Future expansion of regional airports will make travel to the area easier.
- Corporate tax level is lowest in SE US.
Alamance County’s unemployment is currently 5%. Raleigh, Asheville and Charlotte all have levels below 4%. As labor markets tighten in those markets, Alamance County will be even more attractive to future businesses.
Peter shared offering prospective businesses incentives to come to Alamance County is a necessary evil. Cities have to offer incentives in order to compete with other communities.
He hopes to collaborate vs compete with the other smaller markets in Alamance County such as Mebane and Graham.
Card Drawing
David Moore did not draw the winning card. The pot is currently $292 and continues to grow…
The meeting was adjourned and we all stood to recite the Rotary Four Way Test.