Chronicle-Tribune: Economic Growth Council appoints new executive director

By CARL GINGERICH • Posted by the Chronicle-Tribune on January 17, 2022

Grant County Economic Growth Council named a new executive director who has been focusing on improving communication between the council and the community.

Executive director Charity Bailey expressed her excitement at the appointment and stated that she holds numerous goals for her time with the organization.

Bailey came into the position with goals to improve outreach and communication with members of the community, but her main focus is to improve the relationships that the economic growth council currently has and to make new relationships in the future.

“It’s a lot of responsibility, and I feel the weight of that responsibility on my shoulders, but it’s good,” said Bailey. “My biggest thing I want to accomplish is just education about what the Growth Council does and really kind of simplifying that so anybody in the community could know what it does and it’s crystal clear.”

Bailey addressed numerous rumors that her focus on education of the Growth Council is intended to fix for community members.

“Since I’ve been back, I’ve heard a lot of rumors. One is, ‘We don’t know what the Growth Council does.’ The second is, ‘Aren’t you competition with the Chamber.’ The third one is kind of that big one that ‘You only help with the big businesses,’” said Bailey. “I’m fixing the education piece, so hopefully people know more about what the Growth Council does by the end of the year.”

Bailey stated that the Grant County Chamber of Commerce and the Growth Council serve separate roles in the community. Bailey expressed that she enjoys working with the President/CEO of the Chamber on projects, but both organizations should be able to work collaboratively as well as independently.

Regarding the third rumor, which involves community members believing that the Growth Council focuses more on big businesses moving into the community rather than established small businesses run by local business owners, Bailey said it was a false claim. She also addressed the idea that the Growth Council only focuses on Gas City and Marion, which she also stated was false.

“On one hand, the Growth Council existed at a time when manufacturing was at the height of our economy and those business owners became heavily reliant on the Growth Council,” said Bailey. “Our publicity and our media are going to focus on them because we have to highlight what we do, and it’s always those businesses because they’re the ones that reach out to us.”

To fix this issue, Bailey plans to communicate with all businesses in Grant County, regardless of size, and encourage them to connect with the Growth Council for any needs they might have to better their relationship and bring issues to the forefront of the conversation. This approach is meant to add to the existing relationships with larger businesses by also aiding and highlighting smaller businesses in the community.

Former executive director Tim Eckerle stated that Bailey has proven her prowess in economic development and will continue to lead the Growth Council in a positive direction in the upcoming years.

Eckerle reflected on his first interactions with Bailey and how she came to be the next executive director after months of conversations about her aspirations and future plans in Grant County.

“Over a period of three months, Charity and I had lunches to try and figure out what she wants to do when she grows up,” said Eckerle “She had been a stay-at-home mom and had done other things. The Growth Council currently didn’t have a position open, but during those conversations, a position did become available and she was a natural fit for it.”

Bailey stated that at the university level, she was unsure what her path would be in life. However, after the conversations with Eckerle, she realized her passions for communication with local businesses and for aiding business owners in the county.

Her road to becoming executive director was not a traditional route. She began her career with the Growth Council in 2014 and left the organization in 2017. However, she was recruited again a few years later as the Senior Director for Economic Development Services, which gave her the foundations needed to pursue the role of executive director.

Bailey expressed that when she rejoined the Growth Council, she expected two other members to take the executive director position upon Eckerle’s retirement. However, once those two members left the organization, she was approached by the administration with the prospect that she might be awarded the position.

“(The senior director) job was more in-line with what I wanted to do versus what I was doing, so it made sense to come back,” said Bailey. “We knew Tim’s retirement was on the table, but we didn’t know between me, Tim and the board how it was going to all play out. I had no idea that I was going to be the director, so it was never completely on my radar.”

Bailey is currently planning to continue the programs and projects that Eckerle started, including projects such as the Charm grant, as well as introducing new projects that will bring new businesses into the area and improve businesses that are already cemented in the community.

Bailey also wants to focus on the universities and schools in Grant County to focus on developing education alongside economic development. She also plans to focus on the available sites in the county that show promise for economic development and could provide new opportunities for business owners and the community in the future.