Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk-Line: Tom Demmer, Lee County Industrial Development Association

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Talk-Line: Tom Demmer, Lee County Industrial Development Association · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We are a quarter past the hour. This is Tuesday,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: It's February eighteen, the year is twenty twenty five, and
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: it's time for another informational edition of Tukline. Here at
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  Speaker 1: am fourteen sixteen FM ninety five one, wixent, Good morning.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: I'm Steve Marco. Time to chat with our good friends
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: from the Lee County Industrial Development Association. The executive director
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: of the Lee County Industrial Development Association is live with
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: us in studio this morning to give us first of
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: the year news and information. I guess we can say
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: happy New Year. It still counts, that's right, because we
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: haven't chatted with this gentleman for a while, and we
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: should be getting him back in here more and more
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: because things are becoming more active in this area of
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: the Souk Valley. Our dear friend Tom Demmer is with
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  Speaker 1: us here at am fourteen sixteen FM ninety five one.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us.
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  Speaker 2: Glad to be back, Steve.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: It is time, I guess first of the year. We
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: like to get these organizations in to kind of take
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the wraps off of the brand new year. Tom twenty
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: twenty four, very interesting year as far as your organization,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: as far as business, as far as you know, economics
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: concerned here in our normal and Illinois area, Can you
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: kind of give us kind of a little backup view
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: at the good things in twenty twenty four that you thought.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's a great idea. You know, a
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: lot of times we see a big splashy announcement of
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: something new and we start to see a project going
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: on and then we sort of file it away at
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: our memory and you know, go on, right and so yeah,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: you know, you think back over the last year some
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: of the projects that we've seen come to fruition. You know,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Dixon Gateway is little more than a year old. You know,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: those those businesses have only been in operation for just
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: over a year right now, and so you think about
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: all that's that's sort of a normal part of the
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: community now. You know, it's it's busy as trafficking and out,
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: you know, people grabbing lunch or filling up with gas,
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: things like that. All of those things opened really within
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: the last year, and so a really significant amount of
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: work that happened there. And then you know some of
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: the projects that are that are in process too, you know,
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: the with the YMCA recently having opened, and you know,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: not just the building being completed, but the ability to operate,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: the license to be able to operate there. It's great
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: to see places like that filling up, you know, of
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: course cases and Chipotle ands, and Fairfield has not done yet.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: That's right, that's right. So the Fairfield they broke ground
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: midyear last year, and you know, even just driving by
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: this morning, there's about twenty five trucks out there, you know.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: In the frigid colting, working through this frigid cold, trying
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: to get that structure up.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they certainly aren't there making great progress on that.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Of course, the True by Hilton opened at the end
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: of twenty twenty four, so you know, folks are staying
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: overnight there already, and you see a good amount of
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: traffic driving by that place too. And so I think
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: you know a lot of those, you know, a couple
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: of those projects that were in process in twenty twenty four.
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  Speaker 2: Now we'll like, for Fairfield's sake, well we'll compete and
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: complete in twenty twenty five, starts to be operational there.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: I think we'll see a couple more too, you know,
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: it's those announcements they are soon to come. No breaking
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: news this morning, can't take the reps off ye, but
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: good process, good progress there. And then you know, south
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: of the interstate then in the industrial park too, two
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  Speaker 2: new projects there that began in twenty twenty four and
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: are still underway. That is the new facility for Banel Industries.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: So Banell is building a new about one hundred thousand
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: square foot facility behind kind of behind the Rainer building
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: next to where Nikore is there in the industrial park.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: And then right at the front of the industrial park,
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  Speaker 2: Sewer Equipment Company bought an open lot and is building
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: a warehouse there too. So two of those two local
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: businesses needed, you know, good problem to have. They were
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: growing too fast, expanding too much. They needed some more
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: square footage. And so both of them were able to
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  Speaker 2: find a good fit for them and open lots in
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: the industrial park.
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  Speaker 1: Which is good because we're seeing new construction. We're not
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: seeing you know, the takeover of the old facility from
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: rain by Rainer was great for their fit. It really
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: was great for the fit. But it's always nice to
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: see new construction going on and new buildings erected.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: It is really nice to see that, you know, they
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: can kind of get exactly what they're looking for and
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  Speaker 2: I think it's also a good testament to our area
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  Speaker 2: that we don't have a lot of vacant buildings. You know,
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: I get a lot of calls from people who are asking,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: you know, do you have a building I can go into,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: And you know, I wish I could say yes and
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: bring them in here, but the answer is no. So
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: you know, you think of some communities who, you know,
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: maybe they lost a couple of big employers or you know,
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: things closed down, whatever it was, and sometimes they have
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: kind of the white elephant of you know, a big
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  Speaker 2: vacant building that nobody's in and maybe it's deteriorating a
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: little bit. We really don't have that here. So if
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: you do need more space, the good thing is we
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: have we have land, and so we can we can build.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: We have space for it. Yes, sir, you know, it's
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  Speaker 2: in a playned industrial park already, so you're not out
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: on your own little island. So that's a that's a
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: good thing. But it is kind of interesting to see
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: so little industrial inventory across our kind of I eighty
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: eight corridor.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Added, I guess incentive to Tom came last year with
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  Speaker 1: the announcement of the new acreage that is available in
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: the new acres that are available through that. You know,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: was it a donation that was made by the.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: So there was there was a two pieces of yeah,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: two pieces of that on one side. So the land
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  Speaker 2: along Bloody Gulch Road that's kind of behind Walmart quality
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: in there's sixty five acres there, and the City of
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: Dixon purchased that sixty five acres from the False family
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: and then in conjunction with that, the False family then
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: donated an additional forty acres that's over on the west
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: side of Bloody Gulch Road that kind of sits between
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: where Gateway is and where Overlook Gardens is. So there's
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: a forty acre, it's a there's a big ravine that
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: kind of runs through. Yeah, real dense, it's kind of nice.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: So they donated that part to be a Bloody Gulf Park.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: That'll be a that'll be you know, not developed, it'll
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: just be a park. And then the sixty five acres
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: behind Walmart that is for development. And so we're working
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: with a lot of different visions about you know, that's
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: a lot of land, yes, and so kind of thinking
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: through you know what, maybe there's a mixed use that
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: can happen there. You know, a couple of different types
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: of things. We've been talking with developers and engineers about
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: how you might lay out an area like that and
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: you know, where would you put a retail? You know,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: where would you put a restaurant? Where can we put
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: some housing there? Some things like that. So there's really
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: good options on the table. And to be able to
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  Speaker 2: have control of that large a piece of property so
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: close to our existing development is really really a nice
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: thing to have.
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  Speaker 1: And Tom, it is through your area, through the Lee
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  Speaker 1: County Industrial Development Association that all of these contacts are made.
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  Speaker 2: Then is well, you know, so we we work on
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: that a lot in conjunction with the city. So we
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: kind of have a little you know, a group of
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: us who meets you know, the city manager, the mayor,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: you know, the you know, our engineer, city attorneys, people
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  Speaker 2: like that. We kind of come together Chamber of Commerce
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: and all kind of collaborate on those things. And so
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: it kind of depending on what type of project it is,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: maybe a different person will take the lead on that,
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: but sure we coordinate very closely. I think we have
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  Speaker 2: a good a good partnership across organizations where everybody can
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: kind of bring something to the table.
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  Speaker 1: Well you and you did mention that you your self
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: received phone calls from businesses looking to locate here in
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  Speaker 1: our Soft Valley area. So I'm sure that your organization
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  Speaker 1: is one of the first that they see on the
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  Speaker 1: list that they contact in order to you know, find out.
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  Speaker 1: You know, we do.
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  Speaker 2: We get a lot of calls and emails and we
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: we're part of a statewide network where we get done
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: these project requests that get published and then we fill
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  Speaker 2: out very very detailed responses to you know, every possible
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  Speaker 2: thing they need, all the utilities they need, the type
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: of building, the zoning, you know, all kinds of things
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: that they help. So then that it goes back in
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: some of those cases to people called site selectors, who
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: are kind of a consultant that a business will hire
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: to help them find a place to locate. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: weigh all the pros and cons of different different communities,
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  Speaker 2: different pieces of life, and you know, different proximity to
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  Speaker 2: maybe customers or different markets.
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  Speaker 1: So you too, Tom will will put them in touch
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  Speaker 1: with opportunities like the TIFF programs, things like that. Then
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  Speaker 1: you mentioned zoning in your.
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  Speaker 2: Conversation, that's right. Yeah, So we work on you know,
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  Speaker 2: zoning either through the city or the county depending on
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  Speaker 2: where it's located. The incentives that happen locally, so the
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: TIFF would be one, the Leogal Enterprise Zone is another one.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: And then also we work to bring in the State
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: of Illinois for incentives they might have, so a job
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: creation tax credit, special tax credits that exist at the
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: at the state level. So yeah, we kind of help navigate,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: you know, a project like that through all these various
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: different things. And you know, even sometimes if it gets
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: to to you know, rubber hit hits the road, work
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: with I DOT to you know, improve the roads or
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: put a turn lane in or you know over on
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: the east side of the county, extend the railroad service
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  Speaker 2: that might come in there. So yeah, a lot of
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: those pieces just fitting those together. If you're a project,
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: you've got to deal with one hundred and fifty different
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: you know angles there, and so a lot of what
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: we do is, you know, try to bring all those
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  Speaker 2: things together, coordinate it, tell them what they're eligible for,
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: you know, and help bring it to a successful conclusion.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Well, and that's what we saw in twenty twenty four.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Obviously with a lot of business opening up, especially in
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: the southern portion of Dixon. But this is the Lee
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: County Industrial Development Association. We're going to take five minutes
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: of news at the bottom of the hour, but when
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: we come back, Tom has some information concerning Lee County.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: You know, we always think about Dixon as being the hub,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: but there are other areas that Tom is working on
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: that he wants to talk about today in Lee County.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Some projects, as Tom mentioned, that are working their way through,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: so we're going to talk about that. And Tom also
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: has a special event coming up on the calendar that
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: he also wants to share with you. Tom Denver is
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: with us from the Lee County Industrial Development Association. He's
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: our guest on the eight fifteen talk line today. We're
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: going to take five minutes of news at eight thirty,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: be back with more from Tom on WYX and stay
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: with us. We continue our conversation today with the executive
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: director of the Lee County Industrial Development Association. He is
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: lied with us in studio for his first of the
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: year report to us here at w YX, and we
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: always love to have him on board. We'll probably have
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: him on board a couple of more times obviously during
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: the year to give us updates on the progress being
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: made in business across our not only Dixon area, but
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: across our Lee County area. And this is what we're
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: going to emphasize, whether our good friend Tom Demmer in
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: this hour or I should say, in this portion of
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: our program here at AM fourteen sixteen FM ninety five one.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Good to have you here for.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: The extra time. Happy to join you, yeah, and.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Thanks for sticking around with us today here at w
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: YX because Tom's going to take the wraps off of
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: an important event coming up that he wants to tell you.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: But but before we do that, we were talking off air,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: you know about you know, the business you know, and
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: the excitement of you know, ushering in new business, and
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: you know the work that the Lee County Industrial Development
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Association does in that regard, you know, in order to
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: again interest business, to give especially the new interests that
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: you talked about, you know that make the phone calls
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: to Lee County Industrial Development and want to know more
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: about our area and possibly to open new facilities here
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: in our Stock Valley area. Your experience too. We talked
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: about this off air too. With the State of Illinois
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: as are state representative for many many years. I kind
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: of put you in line with you have to get
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: all your day and the state is part of it, right.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: The state is part of it. Yeah, you know for
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: some of the incentives that are available, some of the
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: grants that help fund the infrastructure that's available. You know,
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: one of those grants that we're working on right now
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: the application period right now is a grant that we've
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: spoken with the Illinly Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: on and they have a program to support infrastructure investments
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: in what they call megasites. So these are sites that
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: are available for industrial development that have a thousand or
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: more acres in them, so very very large sites, places
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: that could really accommodate a large industrial project. And so
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: we in conjunction with the City of Rochelle, have been
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: developing a site that's just south of Rochelle. It's mostly
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: in Lee County, so between Stewart and Rochelle, just south
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: of the county line that we call the dual rail megasite,
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: and it's over one thousand acres. It has it's directly
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: served by the City of Rochelle Railroad today, which is
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: a short line railroad that connects to both the Burlington,
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Northern Santa Fe, the BNSF and the Union Pacific the up.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: So really a good thing for a large industrial project.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: You know a lot of times they're happy with just
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: one railroad. To have access to both of those is
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: a very very attractive thing. It's also the City of
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: Rochelle has a water tower built right in the middle
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: of it today, so they have sewer and water service, electrical, gas, fiber,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: all those kinds of things you need. We are working
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: this with the State of Illinois on this grant that
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: will bring three million dollars in to extend the City
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: of Rochelle Railroad further to be able to increase the
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: overall system capacity, so the number of cars and length
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: of trains that they can accommodate on there, as well
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: as extend it to open up additional parcels to be
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: directly rail served. And so it's a you know, it's
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: one of those kind of foresight, those planning things that
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: you really want to be able to do before a
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: project lands. You know, ideally you get some of that
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: stuff taken care of before and and it really makes
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: that site even more attractive. You know, it's allows it
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: to accommodate larger rail users. And we have a couple
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: of projects right now that are looking at property in
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: the area who would be very very large rail users,
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: just very heavy piece of their business is Rael, and
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: so we're trying to do kind of both of these
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: things accommodate them together. But it is a great opportunity.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: You know, today it's an unincorporated Lee County, an Alto township.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: It'll likely be annexed into the City of Rochelle. But
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: it's a good example of a partnership that happens between
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: Lee County, LCIDA, the Great to Rochelle Economic Development Corporation
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: in the City of Rochelle. We're building kind of new
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: regional partnerships and that's that's sort of ground zero for it.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: That's where a lot of the action is.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: Okay, so this is obviously gonna it's it's not gonna
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: happen overnight, you know, as you mentioned, and with grants,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: the way they're moving through the system, Tom, you know.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: We feel good about this grant. This grant, it's it's
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: specifically for a Lee County in Rochelle, so it's targeted
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: just for us. We feel good about that. When it's
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: a state funded grant. There are still a lot of
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: pieces to get together, but we think that we can
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: kind of move that process along. But you're right, these
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: things don't happen overnight. And even with a grant like this,
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: this is building on work that's been previously done. You know,
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: you're always kind of trying to do that of phases
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: at a time. You don't do everything all at once,
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: but you get you find some funding, you do the
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: next piece of the puzzle, You build up the capacity
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: a little bit, You kind of just strengthen your overall
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: attractiveness to a site. And we're already in a good
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: spot there and this will this will give us an
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: even further leg up. And when we're competing with you know,
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: states all around the country for some of these large projects.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: And the benefits to Lee County though, Tom, you know,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: come back from the businesses that build and the business
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: the industries that locate and these are these are larger,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: these are gonna be larger industries, right.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: Very yeah, very large. I mean we're we're talking with
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: some very very large projects over there, and so you know,
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: they create a lot of jobs, they pay property taxes,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: you know, they have high value buildings. I mean, these
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: are things that have a direct impact to you know,
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Lee County government, but you know, and then even better
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: to people all around the area who you know, maybe
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: have different career opportunities, you know, different different job options,
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: and maybe we can draw in additional people to come
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: and you know, move into our community. You're at additional housing.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: What what do you feel is the expected timetable on
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: this if you were looking at it realistically and wanted
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: to complete things and get all our ducts in line.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, we have one great over there that's
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: going to be breaking ground and probably may of this
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: year the second grant, I would say, we're probably about
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: maybe maybe about a year away from that one. But
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: I think there could be some interesting pieces that are
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: playing out during this calendar year.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Okay, all right, And obviously you know excitement and that
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: you see the people don't know about, you know, the
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: unincorporated areas and the outstretch into Lee County that that
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: we are working on, you know, in in developing as well.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: And here's a major piece of the pie in our
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: old county that again could offer some major opportunity.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: It really could. And you know another example of that
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: is you're always kind of you know, as we get
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: these project requests to kind of get an understanding for
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: what are the things that people are really looking for.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: You know, what's the kind of the commodity that distinguishes
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: you from other places. Over on the east side of
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: the county by Rochelle, it's the rail access that's the
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: unique piece there. We also have a lot of interest
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: over on the west side of the county near Nelson,
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: there's a big commed substation that sits at the intersection
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: of eighty eight and thirty right, and we have a
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: lot of interest over there from people who are very
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: large power users, so think of like data centers, places
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: like that that need a ton of electricity. There's a
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: lot of interest you know, over on that side looking
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: near that substation. And we we've had a lot of
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: projects over the last year or so who have been
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: kind of kicking the tires on that. So it's it's
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: not always what you think of, you know, oh, I've
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: got to be in this area where you know, traditional
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: industrial development has happened. Sometimes you have a niche user
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: who's looking for one thing in particular, and you know
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: it's kind of up to you to say, all right, well,
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: we'll figure out a way to make it.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Work exactly, and we do have the pieces in place
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: that can make it work through entities like the Leek
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: County Industrial Development Association. Time we're kind of up against
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: it as far as the clock is concerned. You wanted
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: to mention an activity coming.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: Up that, Yeah, this is a great This is our
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: second year of doing this. We're hosting a career fair
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: in conjunction with the Dixon Chamber and Dickson Public Schools.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: So on March twelfth, Wednesday, March twelfth, we have the
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: career Fair and hiring expo and in the morning, The
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: kind of neat part about this is in the morning,
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: from about eight to eleven, all of the high school
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: students Dixon and High School come through, so the freshmen
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: come through, sophomores, all of those students get a chance
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: to see dozens of local employers different career opportunities, talk
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: to somebody from those companies about, you know, what education
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: is needed, what training, what certificates, kind of envision how
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: they might pursue some of those careers. And then we
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: keep all those employers around and in the afternoon, from
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: noon to two, we open it up to the public
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: and people who are looking for a job right now
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: can come in, or if you're thinking about changing career
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: paths and you want to understand a little bit more
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: about you know, Okay, what do I need to do
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: to get into this world. But I think it is
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: kind of a good blend of both helping people envision
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: different careers they might be interested in, and then also
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: talking about job opportunities and kind of a in the
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: door that might be available today. So it's open to
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: the students in the morning, members of the public in
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: the afternoon. If any businesses want to participate, if you
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: want to set up a booth and be at a table,
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: you can sign out through the Dixon Chamber too.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Chamber that goes who discovered Dixon Dixon Chamber, Dickson Main
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Street go to there. Yeah, we've talked to our good
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: friends from Dixon Chamber about this event and it is
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: again partly brought your way by the Lee County Industrial
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Development Association. You're kind of connected onto bringing this all.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this has been a good partnership, the three of
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: us kind of coming together.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, So it's nice to see entities working together
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: to bring about an important activity like this that Career Fair.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: I believe it's on a Wednesday again. March the fourteenth
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: mentioned that screet Wednesday twelfth at Lancaster's Manger and that's
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: where it's going to be predominantly held right area at
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Dixon High School. That's where the meat potatoes will be
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: held for the students in the morning, for the public
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: in the afternoon. And obviously as we move closer to
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: that event, we'll learn more and more about it right
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: here on A fourteen sixteen FM ninety five one. But
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: it's co sponsored by the Lee County Industrial Development Association.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: A lot of excitement at twenty twenty five sounds like
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: it's going to be brewing, and it's not just in Dixon,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: but it's all across our county wide area. And that's
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: what we need to focus on, not just you know,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: the excitement with the projects going on here locally, but
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of activity going on across the entire
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: county and Tom is here to tell us about it
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: right here on AM fourteen sixteen FM ninety five to one.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: We'll make sure that we have him on board with
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: this when anything breaks. As far as you know, new business,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: new activity is concerned, Tom will be on board with
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: this right here on Wixen to give us the lowdown.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: But for now, sir, thank you for the opening report
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: of the year.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much. I look forward to another busy year.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Tom Dimmer from the Lee County Industrial Development Association our
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: guest today here at wix In. Here comes san Ra
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Mary's