1. Impact Economics is a consultant of the planning team so that the concepts in the comprehensive master plan can be based on economic realities. This meeting will be used to review the data that has been gathered thus far and review the first wave of analysis on that date. The 128-page report will be posted to the website (bradfordplan.protocol80.com) for anyone who wants to read the whole thing.
2. The data sources for the report look at the timeframe from 2001 to 2004. The information gathered will allow us to compare local, regional and national data. The analysis performed will compare McKean County and the Nine County Region (6 counties in PA, 3 in NY) that surrounds McKean County.
3. The analysis performed will go from general to specific. It will categorize the segments of the economies into priorities. We need to understand what industries are important before we look at the whole of the business market. In general terms there is the industry targeting analysis. It divides industries into 8 major sectors and allows us to compare county levels of activity against national averages. The ‘region’ refers to the 9 county area and ‘local’ refers to McKean County.

1. Mining and Manufacturing are regional specializations. Manufacturing is unusually high. It is twice as concentrated in the region as the average for the nation (mining includes oil and gas extraction).
2. Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing are doing well regionally, but the county is doing less than the region. (62%)
3. Mining is a strength for the county but not for the region.
4. Utilities and Construction are low for both study areas.
5. Wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing are all low.
6. Retail trade is only 10% in the region (which is unusual since there is no major urban core), but the county is even lower.
7. Information is low. The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford isn't a research institution.
8. Finance & Insurance, Real Estate, Professional Scientific & Technical Services, Management of Companies, Administrative & Waste Services, Educational Services are all low or below normative levels.
9. Health & Social Services is low in the county.
10. Arts, Entertainment and Recreation have low economic output despite all the amenities available in the area.
11. Accommodation & Food Services, Other Services are about half of the national benchmark.
12. Government and Non-NAICS seem to have lower levels of engagement than expected.
13. The analysis of Regional Employment is similar to the Industry analysis.

4.  Ms. Devlin asked how activities related to tourism work in this analysis since they seem to fall in multiple categories. Mr. Tripp responded that once we get into more detail, we can pull fishing and hunting together with other tourism related activities to can create an industry cluster that can be studied for better data. He also commented that the data is based on how businesses categorize themselves. Businesses aren't counted twice, but in some cases they may have to choose one category over another if they are diversified.

5.  Productivity is key in international competition and an important economic factor to analyze. Another factor to review is the ‘Value Added’ amounts in different sectors. This analysis only counts what is added in your local economy. It doesn't count materials produced or extracted elsewhere. There are good value added sectors in the region and the county, but there is concern that mining and manufacturing have lower productivity than the country or the state. Natural Resources are not enough to drive the economy without value added services, which leads to the importance of human capital. These issues could be due to a higher average age (and thus higher average salary) of the workforce. This leads us to address career education structures and related issues.

6.  75% of the county employment is in 39 sectors, and half of the jobs are in 17 sectors. Although no sector accounts for more than 7% of the economy on its own.

7.  In doing further analysis, there are several questions that Mr. Tripp will attempt to answer. Are there any sectors that exist in PA and not in the county that should be considered for growth? Are there any related clusters of concentrated economic activity? Five clusters represent 30% of the jobs in the county. Can this area be a gateway community? This is a place that perhaps could attract knowledge workers that can be located anywhere and can be used to market the region.

8.  In the job analysis, the area overall lost jobs from 2001-2004. 23,383 jobs in the region and 3,101 jobs in the county were lost.

9.  The industry targeting analysis is used to try to understand how trends seen in the data can be used to benefit the local economy. It shows 22 Current Strengths (although general merchandise might just be from the ‘new’ Wal-Mart.) Now Mr. Tripp can run productivity numbers on the sectors that we care about from the results of the targeting analysis.

10.  There are not many up and coming sectors in emerging strengths, this might be a concern. There are some tourism sectors in the limited prospects category (hotels, food service). Truck transportation is low, but isn’t clear if this is a problem or not. Do many manufacturers have their own transportation? This also might have shifted because of oil and gas price changes.

11.  Committee members are strongly encouraged to discuss these issues on the website. There is a forum for this committee (Mr. Tripp made the first post already) and the report will be posted for in-depth review. Comments can also be made concerning other aspects of this process. It is hoped that the website can evolve into a marketing tool for the area when the master plan process is complete.

12.  There were some comments from committee members.

1. Ms. Devlin thinks that the 9 county region is the right group to be studying. She would be interested to know what shifts have occurred since 2004 – specifically from the opening of the casino, the changes in the oil & gas industries, and changes at the university.
2. Some data might be available from the McKean County training consortium.
3. Are there traffic counts for the main roads? That may help us to see trends or understand truck traffic in the region. Also, the proposed tolling on I-80 could have a huge impact on this area. It is possible that the casino developers did traffic counts that we could use. The possible expansion of Route 219 to 4 lanes could have an impact, too.
4. Adelphia is a company that has been decimated since 2004. This is probably not reflected in the data that we have. The glass plants have done some downsizing since 2004 as well. But at the same time a manufacturer of automotive glass has expanded.
5. There are new local workforce partnerships – Allegheny Hardwood, Energy Partnerships, Healthcare, Plastics, etc. They are regional partnerships. Mr. Tripp asked that this type of information be posted on the website forums so a list can be generated.
6. Kane Magnetics has shut down since 2004.
7. There is a study going on of 6 counties to look for ways that the counties can work cooperatively for economic gains. It looks at 3 counties in New York and 3 counties in Pennsylvania. The team is a combination of students from St. Bonaventure and UPB. The study is funded by a federal grant. It would be great to share information with this 6-student team. Mr. Tripp would like to meet with them soon.
8. It was suggested that the planning team should speak with the forest service at some point in the process.

13.  At the next meeting we should be figuring out what things matter to the companies in the critical sectors of the local economy. The members of this committee will be needed to help understand local companies better and to describe the particular situations affecting local businesses. Things like CEO personalities, local obstacles, etc are important to understand the whole picture.

With no further items for discussion, the meeting was adjourned. The foregoing constitutes the major items accepted by the attendees. If there are any additions or corrections to these minutes, please notify the Architect.

Respectfully submitted,

MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni, Inc.

Amy P. Maceyko, AIA, LEED AP