The Huron County Economic Development Board's Strategic Plan has been endorsed at the committee of the whole level.
The plan will come before council for approval at January's regular meeting, and that goes hand-in-hand with the beginning of the budget process.
County C-A-O Brenda Orchard points out while they're not proposing changes to the overall budget for Economic Development, they are changing some of the lines within the budget, as well as some of the staffing around Economic Development.
Orchard says the Huron Manufacturing Association and the Huron Tourism Association will be most affected by the staffing changes because the county had previously provided staff to do administrative and support work for them.
She says those staff members will focus on true economic development issues like attracting new business and marketing.
Orchard believes it's never a good situation when a staff member has one foot in the proponent camp and the other in the funding camp. She says that situation creates a serious conflict of interest.
She wants the Manufacturing Association and the Tourism Association to be strong, independent organizations.
