Orchard ED Board Wants To Be More Involved In Community

Orchard’s Economic Development Board (OEDA) is about to become more active than ever.

The board, formed years ago to oversee the Elizabeth Place Apartments project, has traditionally met once a year to approve the budget for the apartment building. However, Orchard is about to see a lot more involvement from the board.

“I think the OEDA (Orchard Economic Development Association) board wants to look beyond the Elizabeth Place,” said village clerk Brenda Harrison.

Kerry Wickersham, a board member for eight years, said that the OEDA board wants to become more involved in the community.

“About two years ago is when we kind of reformed,” said Wickersham. “Becky (Moser) and Kristi (Schutt) got off and other people came on. It started out we were doing the same thing, basically just having a meeting to go over budget with the Elizabeth Place. And just recently we decided that we’d like to do something more for the community because I don’t think the community knows there’s an OEDA organization that’s out there.”

The board’s priority is contributing to resolving Orchard’s housing weaknesses.

“At the last couple meetings we’ve been visiting about possibly some of the housing issues that are in the town and we know that the village is also looking into trying to develop more housing or doing something on that front,” said Wickersham. “What we would like to do is do some research for grants and see if there’s any way we can help out in that manner. One of OEDA’s weaknesses is that not many residents know they exist or understand what they do.

“Basically we just want people to know that we exist and that we’re willing to do what we can for the community,” said Wickersham. “And anybody who has any input we want to cooperate with the village and whoever else and help out where we can.”

According to both Wickersham and Harrison, the board is actively seeking out advice from other communities who have been successful with their associations.

“One of the board members is going to reach out to another community because their economic development association or district, however they have it lined up, has really made significant strides,” explained Harrison. “She’s going to try to encourage them to give us some information so (the OEDA) knows what direction they want to go. (The board) is also going to invite a lady, I believe she’s from Chambers, to explain what we can and can’t do.”

The OEDA board is filling an open spot. The current members are Kerry Wickersham, Lucy Ferguson, Angela Gray, Linda Risinger and Brittany Finch. The board also hopes to expand and include more members.

​"Right now we have a board and we have an open spot that we are filling,” said Wickersham. “We also discussed the possibility of adding members, maybe not to the board but just adding members, so we’re considering expanding more so we can get more input from other people in the community.”

The board will also hold more meetings, with another one coming up in December.

“We would like to have meetings more often,” said Wickersham. “We never really said how often yet but as we get more involved in some of these things we’d like to meet a little more often so we can keep up with what’s going on.”

Keep your eyes out, Orchard, because the OEDA is committed to becoming more involved, starting with the housing study and expanding to other areas.