September 2022 PeADD Monthly Board of Directors Meeting

The Monthly PeADD Board of Directors Meeting took place at noon on Monday, September 12th and was held at the PeADD office in Hopkinsville and streamed on YouTube Live.  PeADD Board Secretary, Crissy Carter, chaired the meeting.

In PeADD staff reports, Angela Herndon, Regional Transportation Planner, discussed the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Report for which the PeADD office is responsible for updated annually and re-writing every five years with this year being a year for the re-write.  Angela spoke about the innovative ideas she had to update the plan and how to highlight the Pennyrile region in an effort to showcase the strengths and opportunities each county has to offer in the realm of economic development.  She stated that she is currently collecting demographic information for the plan, but hopes to have a draft ready for public review in by the beginning October and back to the board for adoption by the November board meeting in order to submit it by the deadline of December 1, 2022.

Hayla Swaw, Senior Staff Accountant, gave an updated on the Expanded Senior Meal Program Funding.  She stated that PeADD received over $1.5M for the program which is the second highest amount received among all the ADDs across the state due to high performance during the first couple of years of COVID.  She explained that Home Care Services will no longer be used to deliver Home Delivered Meals so that program will be able to provide other services as needed.

Sheila Clark, WKWB Director, mentioned that several workforce staff and board members had recently attended the Southeastern Employment and Training Association (SETA) conference that took place in Louisville, KY.  She went on to say that the WKWB will have a board meeting on September 28, 2022 at 10 am via Zoom to provide updates to the board.  Finally, she detailed that on July 1, the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet merged with the Labor Cabinet making it the Education and Labor Cabinet with Secretary Jamie Link residing over the cabinet and two Deputy Secretaries; one being Vickie Wise and the other being the familiar face of Beth Brinley who is coming back to the cabinet.  Sheila called Tom Sholar, Business Liaison, to the podium to discuss the many workforce activities taking place in the area in the next few months which included the following:

• Step Into A Job – Hiring Event on September 15, 2022 from 10am-3pm at The Bruce Convention Center in Hopkinsville.
• Rapid Response Event for PJ Clark Lumber Co. Employees on September 20, 2022 at 10 am or 1:30 pm at The Renaissance Center in Cadiz.
• Community Resource & Transition Fair on September 20, 2022 from 2pm-6pm at First United Methodist Church in Madisonville, KY.
• Muhlenberg County Expungement Event on October 19, 2022 from 12pm-4pm at Greater Muhlenberg County Parks & Recreation Sue & Brown Badgett Center in Greenville, KY.
• Muhlenberg County Job Fair on October 26, 2022 from 10am-4pm at Central City Convention Center in Central City, KY.

The guest speaker this month was Phillip Ross, a Cyber and Geospatial Analyst for the Kentucky Intelligence Fusion Center, located in the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security.  He discussed cyber security threats and the many resources available through the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security to assist local governments in keeping information safe before attacks occur.

Jason Vincent, PeADD Executive Director, mentioned the Pride of the Pennyrile Industry Apperception Event occurring September 22, 2022 at Lake Barkley State Resort Park and invited the board members to attend.  He went on to introduce new staff members, Aleasha Fowler, AAAIL Case Manager and Brian Jones, CED Community Development Specialist.  Lastly, he expressed his appreciation for the PeADD being one of three recipients receiving the 2022 Peggy Satterly Spirit of Kentucky Award given at the Governor’s Local Issues Conference in Louisville, KY in mid-August for the work on I-69 in the region.