Entrepreneurs and employees, political leaders and policy-makers, average Joes and Josephines gathered at Delaware Technical & Community College (DTCC), Owens Campus, on Oct. 26 for the 12th annual Sussex County Today & Tomorrow Conference.
The mix was most appropriate, as this year’s conference centered on the importance to the county’s success of individual effort from people of all walks of life.
Or, to put it another way, “Sussex County Prosperity — It’s up to you!”
Owens Campus Director Dr. Ileana Smith emceed, introducing County Council President Finley Jones to get things going.
“We do plan for the future,” Jones stated, defending his colleagues in county government. “Some you might not think that, for what you read in the papers, but we do.”
He pointed to the county engineering department’s success in planning sewer capacity for the long haul (out to 2025), and the county’s $17 million per-year contribution to public safety for a growing population.
Jones kept his comments short, soon making way for DTCC President Orlando George.
George noted Delaware Tech’s responsibility to support Sussex prosperity by providing training to match local workforce needs. With 89 percent of all graduates going straight to work, and 85 percent of all graduates working in their fields of study, he said the stats told him the college was using its resources effectively.
He recognized some of the various luminaries in attendance — Jones and Council Members Dale Dukes and Lynn Rogers, County Administrator Bob Stickels, state Treasurer Jack Markell, Attorney General Jane Brady, local legislators Sen. George Howard Bunting, Sen. Robert Venables, Rep. Joe Booth and Rep. Tina Fallon, state Commissioner of Elections Frank Calio and several local mayors, including Dagsboro’s Brad Connor.
George recognized the important role they played in Sussex County’s continued prosperity but said it was essential average citizens contributed, too.
“Every individual must play their part,” George stated.
Smith borrowed the “perfect storm” expression, which often appears in its negative connotation. (For instance, a pressure system of low taxes, rapid population growth and real estate development, coupled with rising costs, generates the whistling winds of a government struggling to meet new demands.)
“But I use (perfect storm) in the positive sense, to describe the exciting alignment of new opportunities for economic development, on many fronts,” Smith said. “When forces align, strength and effectiveness are multiplied.”
Smith noted a University of Massachusetts study released just one day before the conference (Oct. 25), titled “Decent Work in America” study, which pegged Delaware as No. 1 in the nation for job opportunities, job quality and workplace fairness.
Relating workplace environment to broader economic issues produced results less concrete than numerical ratings, but researchers were able to form some correlations.
From the Web site at www.umass.edu/peri/: “States ranking high on the list generally have faster economic growth and lower poverty rates, and conversely, states at the bottom of the list tend to have slower economic growth and higher poverty rates.
“This suggests that anti-poverty strategies focused on creating decent jobs [is] viable as well as desirable…”
Delaware Department of Labor’s Ed Simon, the director of labor market information, provided harder statistics — forewarning and forearming conference-goers.
He described Sussex County’s current situation and how things will likely develop over the next 25 years.
The local economy has a lot going for it, with low taxes and a generally favorable cost of living, Simon pointed out. Housing prices are still relatively affordable in central and western Sussex, and the county is blessed to have beaches and a good climate, he said.
All of these factors continue to make the area attractive to retirees and second home buyers, he said.
There were concerns, though. Simon noted virtually nonexistent unemployment and strong job growth, but also low wages and an “overabundance of temporary and seasonal jobs.”
Poverty rates outpace the state, at more than 11 percent overall. These are the working poor, Simon indicated. Children (ages 0 to 17) account for less than a third of those 18,700 individuals.
The county is suffering “brain drain,” with many youth migrating away from the area, and there are supply problems in the labor market, he said.
Other concerns include a rather homogeneous mix of industrial enterprises, many small businesses but perhaps few with significant resources, transportation issues, rapid population growth and “soaring” real estate prices in the eastern county.
As a bottom line, people will be moving west over the next 25 years, Simon pointed out.
• Looking at historical population growth over the past 25 years, virtually the entire population increase has been from newcomers migrating to Sussex County, he continued.
• Population growth is forecast to continue, at a slightly less blistering pace year to year, over the next 25 years.
• The age 55-and-up demographic will grow nearly three times faster than the age 15-to-54 demographic.
• Opportunities — more jobs for teachers, more jobs in healthcare (particularly elder care), transportation-related industries, social services and leisure time/recreation (jobs at restaurants and golf courses, for instance). Top-paying jobs in Sussex County — legal, management, healthcare (practitioners) and technical. Or, by industry sector — (1) transportation and utilities, (2) government/education (cross-referenced with management positions) and (3) finance, insurance and real estate.
• Challenges — job growth will be strongest in leisure and hospitality jobs, but those are the lowest-paying jobs. Health and social assistance, the second fastest growth sector, would offer Sussex Countians better wages. However, wholesale and retail would be the third fastest-growing job market, with the second-lowest wages.
The figures show the manufacturing sector somewhere at the middle of the pack, as far as wages, but the bell curve camouflages 8,000 workers in food production (primarily the poultry industry) who earn an average $26,300 a year.
Simons concluded on an up note, reiterating the county’s benefits. He suggested there will need to be more emphasis on job training and education, and a careful review of what residences were built and what services offered.
He also referenced a potential Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) study and noted how important it could be for Delaware and its counties.
Delaware Economic Development Office (DEDO) Director Judy McKinney-Cherry prefaced her presentation with some cautionary remarks.
“We do not own the market on technology and innovation,” McKinney-Cherry said, pointing to the recent boom in Chinese patents. “We have a globalization that will affect us.” However, she considers these developments another opportunity to “take the bull by the horns.”
She offered a few details about the CEDS initiative.
From the Web site (deep within www.delaware.gov, or www.state.de.us/dedo/ceds): the CEDS study “considers the unique needs and interests of distressed areas within the state.”
Delaware could qualify for federal funding assistance for regional economic development projects and programs, if the CEDS is approved by the U.S. Economic Development Administration.
McKinney-Cherry said the CEDS would give DEDO a better idea of which projects individual communities would be most interested in, and which companies would best complement those communities.
“Where there are gaps in infrastructure or education, where there’s one big employer and maybe that area needs more, smaller businesses,” she elaborated.
Chuck Wolfe, Claggett Wolfe Associates, covered another possible tool — a county business resource portal. This could be used to: (1) develop and implement a virtual Web-based resource portal, (2) populate it with local and statewide resources and service providers, and (3) create links to regional and national networks.
Wolfe suggested a tiered system, with the public-access tier covering training fledgling entrepreneurs up to a more business-to-business second tier. The highest tier would offer advanced resources for developed entrepreneurs — access to venture capitalists or the services of intellectual property rights attorneys, for instance.
Smith introduced three local success stories and Bill McGowan of the University of Delaware presided over group discussions. From time to time throughout the conference, audience members fielded questions, submitting their responses via cordless touchpads as part of an audience response system, à la ARS Technologies, and the response popped up on the big screen in Microsoft PowerPoint.
On a related topic, McKinney-Cherry asked what factor people thought was most important in facilitating the success of new, high-tech startups in Sussex County.
The response was pretty well chopped up, but 30 percent felt providing a welcoming and supportive environment was most important. Another 24 percent felt a ready workforce, trained in math and science, was most important.
Going back to Simon’s statistics, audience members weighed in on how to best offset the likely trend toward more lower-paying jobs. The majority (39 percent) favored a tax incentive to businesses (which could then offer higher wages), followed by a subsidy for initial housing purchases (21 percent).
The most important factor in keeping Sussex County attractive for retirees? A clear majority – 44 percent — said keeping property taxes low. Quality of life came in second, at 20 percent.
The most important factor in making Sussex County attractive to young workers? An overwhelming majority — 56 percent — said affordable first homes. The next highest response was excellent education and preschool, at 13 percent.
Delaware Tech has posted much of this year’s Today and Tomorrow conference on the internet, at http://scttc.sussexcounty.info. Most of the information is presented in Microsoft PowerPoint (PPT) format, but free PPT viewers are available at www.microsoft.com/downloads.