Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureau
March 2014
15
RDA Happenings
In early February I attended the International Economic Development Council
(IEDC) Leadership Summit. Continuing education is an important aspect of
maintaining a leading edge Economic Development organization (EDO). And in
order to maintain my certified Economic Developer credential, I’m required to attend
several training seminars over a three-year time period.
One of the things I gained from the summit was a session entitled New Metrics
for Economic Development. Several years ago the Economic Development
Organizations (EDO’s) were challenged on measuring performance.
The IEDC group entitled Economic Development Research Partners (EDRP’s)
Kent Heermann conducted research over the past three years, and published a report entitled
President, Regional
Development Association
of East Central Kansas
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOC. of EAST CENTRAL KANSAS
The Regional Development
Association of East Central
Kansas (RDA) is the lead
economic development
organization for Lyon
County and the Emporia
area. The four members
of the RDA are the
Emporia Area Chamber
of Commerce, Emporia
Enterprises, the City
of Emporia, and Lyon
County. The RDA is located
with the Emporia Area
Chamber of Commerce
and the Convention and
Visitors Bureau at the
Trusler Business Center,
719 Commercial, Emporia,
KS 66801. Kent Heerman
RDA President, can be
contacted at 620-342-1600
ext. 16, or heermann@
emporiakschamber.org.
“Making it Count Metrics for High Performing EDO’s” which was issued at the
summit. The IEDC’s metrics goal was to measure the EDO’s performance relative
to efforts and resources, reflect on work that is under the influence of EDO’s rather
than factors out of their control, begin to show the impact of an EDO’s work on its
community, highlighting best practices in the United States. The top four metrics
most EDO’s use are job creation, average annual salaries as compared to the local
community and industrial sector average salaries, tax base created, and projected
and actual taxes generated.
The report narrows the potential list of metrics from 1,000 to 139 metrics. The
report suggested that the stakeholders/investors collaborate with the EDO’s to
develop a reasonable number of metrics. In the future, the RDA will incorporate
more of those suggested metrics.
On the flight back to Kansas from the west coast, I was reading the February
2014 Southwest Spirit magazine. On page 18 I read an article on Treg Charlton.
Treg and I first met five years ago when we began visiting about the possibility of
CVS Pharmacy locating in Emporia.
Back in 2010 at the RECON2010 Expo in Las Vegas, he shared with us that he
was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
He was living in Kansas City prior to that but was moving back to Cleveland, Ohio,
to be closer to his family. His attitude was upbeat and indicated he would continue
working as long as possible.
This past year we stopped by the CVS booth, speaking with a CVS
representative. He shared Treg was not at their booth; however, later that day was
his retirement party. I mentioned to him to pass on our congratulations and best
wishes.
Back to the Spirit article on the Southwest flight, the article indicated that Treg
started his second job as a co-spokesperson for the CVS annual campaign to raise
funds for ALS research. In 2012 the CVS annual campaign raised $5,000,000. The
following comment from Treg really resonated with me “For some reason I still have
my voice. I think the message was for me to use it.” I am really lucky to have had
Treg Charlton as a part of my life.
Speaking of the CVS Pharmacy, I emailed my contact as to when the Emporia
store opens. They indicated in early March. It is a wonderful improvement to the
12th & Merchant Street corner.