Berks County Connection Podcast
Learn how Berks County government works with the County Commissioners, County Controller, and other row officers.
Berks County Connection Podcast
Community and Economic Development
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Berks County Controller Joe Rudderow sits down with Berks County's Director of Community and Economic Development Director, Pamela Menet.
Hello, I'm County Controller Joe Ruttero here for another episode of County Connections. Uh it's always great to be back in front of the viewers and to talk about local government. And today I am joined by Pam Mennett, who is our Director of Community and Economic Development. Hello, Pam, and welcome.
SPEAKER_02Hi, thank you so much for having me.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. This will be a great, great um chance to catch up with you. You're doing so much in the community uh for Berks County, uh, and and I can't wait to let you share that with the viewers today.
SPEAKER_03Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Um always just trying to get a little sense of um how how offices in the county developed. Uh I was kind of curious if you knew uh what year the um your office, the Office of Economic Uh Development, Community and Economic Development, excuse me, um became part of the county.
SPEAKER_02Sure. Um so the county for many years has has received community development block grant funds, so federal entitlement dollars directly from the federal government to the county. So there has been an office to facilitate the use of those dollars for many years, going back to the mid-90s and probably even before that. And so the position itself has morphed a little bit. Um those funds are now administered by our county redevelopment authority. And so when I came on board with the county about five years ago, the position itself was director of community and economic development, bringing together those two concepts and understanding that there was more that was going to be happening than just economic development.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01So you're kind of the quarterback, if you will, of uh, I think I'm the quarterback, the coach, the linebacker. I yeah. Might do a little blocking and tackling there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay, well, apparently that's uh a family thing from what I understand. So congratulations. But um it's a it's so important, you know. Uh and and are you saying that I guess counties have have kind of refocused on the importance of that in their counties and and have decided to put this level of emphasis on it?
SPEAKER_02Sure. Um and in Berks County, um, I previously worked for the economic partnership uh for Berks County. And as a private nonprofit, our job was to go out and pursue business attraction, business retention, and really provide business support services to our Berks County businesses. Um and as a result of that, there's always a lot of conversations going on about um the fact that we needed an economic development strategy for Berks County. And so the commissioners felt very strongly that the county resources would be what were utilized to implement the plan. And so it should be county-led plan. So coming on board five years ago, one of my very first tasks um given to me by the commissioners was to actually uh create and then ultimately implement an economic development strategy for the county.
SPEAKER_00So did you so was that something that became more evident as you were talking with people, and maybe folks from outside the county are coming in and they're asking you what your strategy is, and you're like, uh yeah. That's a great that's a great realize that maybe there was a lot more going on outside uh the county that we really had an opportunity to kind of define uh how to move forward with economic development based on the folks coming in and looking at Burks County, because it's very competitive when you look at our neighboring counties and you look uh up to the Lehigh Valley and you see what's been done there, and then you look to our west and you know you get off the 81 corridor and you look at uh everything that's starting to change out there, and maybe then you're saying, hmm, we're right in the middle of both of these. Eventually it's gonna come either from one, from the east or the west or the north or the south, it's coming.
SPEAKER_02Is that kind of the I have always referred to Berks County as the keystone of the keystone state. So um when I first um started um working in the field of of business attraction and retention for Berks County, um, it really was about location, location, location when businesses were looking for their next spot. And it very quickly morphed into workforce, workforce, workforce. That has now morphed into and been joined by things like quality of place. So what you what you'll find as a department, what we now focus on is the entire gamut of economic development from the viewpoint of community development, land use, workforce development, and bringing all of those things together so that we truly have a cohesive strategy for Berks County.
SPEAKER_00So it's the old where we where we live, where we work, where we play.
SPEAKER_02That's right.
SPEAKER_00That really is the the whole package, if you will, right? So people obviously, and and I would say uh younger generations are more passionate about that that work-life balance. Uh we're probably from an era where it's uh put your nose to the grindstone and you keep doing what you're doing, and it eventually you'll lift your head up and it'll be time to retire. Uh I think the younger um uh residents of the county and just younger people tend to feel um that, you know what, um I'm gonna work hard, but I also want my uh same amount of uh downtime or play, if you will, or whatever that is. So that's great because if you don't change um with the changes, then you won't attract too much, right? Right.
SPEAKER_02And and uh young professionals now have skill sets that are portable. You know, the whole concept of remote work was very foreign to many of us um just a few years ago. And with the uh pandemic coming about and having people actually working where they live and needing those resources where they live, it became very important for us to take a really close look at that. And in fact, um one of the departments um that I work with, our our uh workforce development board, actually is just completing a Burks Workforce 2030 study. And the real importance of that is to have a true understanding of what the post-pandemic workforce looks like, because it looks a lot different than it did before.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I and realistically, um and I I I I don't I don't want to certainly don't want to minimize the effects that COVID had on on not only our community but the Commonwealth and the rest of the country. Um but if there was any silver lining, and I'm not suggesting that that, but I think the advancement in technology um I think we might have eventually gotten to the teams meetings and the Zoom and all, but it it really happened a lot quicker uh because of that. And and I think trying to figure out how do we keep working, yet we can't go into an office um you know structure, if you will, but we can work remotely. And and that technology, I think, because of COVID, it's probably advanced probably five to ten years quicker than it probably would have naturally had that not happened. Right. That would be my my hunch, right?
SPEAKER_02And really our adoption of that technology. Because if you would have told me even five years ago that the majority of the meetings on my calendar for the week would be virtual or this thing they call hybrid, um I would have said, no, that that's not happening. Especially working in community and and economic development where it is about relationships.
SPEAKER_00Sure. So you're you're gonna potentially be talking with somebody who wants to look at Berks County that doesn't necessarily have to fly here from another state right away. I mean, eventually you want to get them here, right? You want them to fall in love with what we've all fallen in love with, but that those initial steps of kind of tire kicking and those types of things, you can do that via uh Teams. Yes, right? So it saves them money, it saves you money, plus it saves you the time. Um I'm sure you're getting a lot more done because of that instead of the travel time from this physical meeting to that physical meeting when all you have to do is, you know, maybe take a couple minutes between one Zoom meeting or Teams meeting and jump onto the next. That's right. So I, you know, you probably can cover more ground um today than you did, you know, just believe it or not, five or six years ago, right? Right. It really was a game changer. Um and it's exciting to know that um the counties embraced that, and I know that um those challenges um, you know, that was a very challenging time for the board of commissioners and for the county to figure that out when most of us did not know what was happening. Right. And really started to realize the seriousness of what was happening. And so um, you know, kudos to the Board of Commissioners at at the time, uh, and certainly um the IS and all the other people that embraced this technology. But um so who was your getting back to my question, so who who was the first director then of the um economic development?
SPEAKER_02So uh so ironically, the very first director that I worked with, um, and at the time I was the community development director for the city of Reading. Okay. And I uh the first community development director I worked with at the county was Ken Pick, who is now the director of our county redevelopment authority. Um so so we've got a lot of longevity and a lot of institutional history here in Burks County. Um Tom McEwen also played that role for a while. Tom McEwen ultimately went on to become the director of our county industrial development authority. And so Tom actually still sits as a member of our county planning commission. Oh, yeah. So we're really privileged to have folks. You know, I talk about institutional knowledge, I look at that as critically important because I think as the as the pendulum kind of swings in terms of things that we focus on, knowing from whence we came is always very important.
SPEAKER_00Without a doubt. And that wisdom, and it really is, it's board wisdom that helps to um really identify, hey, we've been down this road before, and you know, let's tread carefully here, or maybe we've been down this road before, and now this is a better time to go down this road, and maybe there's something there. Yeah. Um so so then um well, then we'll get into the structure. So you're you're how big is your team? And then explain explain uh the connection between some of those other agencies that you work very hand in hand with.
SPEAKER_02Sure. So um community and economic develop development office is very small. So there is an economic development coordinator. I'm joined by Derek Harris, um who's who's been with me for several years and is really just wonderful at some of the day-to-day functionality of what we need to do in economic development. Um, but community economic development oversees the workforce development board, the county planning commission, and the department of agriculture. And then we act as the liaison to that industrial development authority and the county redevelopment authority. So, and you may ask, how are those particular departments connected? And one of the things that came out of our Imagine Burks economic development strategy was identifying focus areas and the interconnectedness of those focus areas. For example, one of the areas being talent, one of the areas being land use and permitting and infrastructure. So having these department heads work very closely together, agriculture, um 80,000 acres of Berks County, and now we're over 80,000 acres, is permanently preserved farmland, critical piece of our agribusiness community. Um, workforce development, dealing with talent, figuring out how we do things like bringing disconnected youth into our labor force as our workforce continues to age, working with the Planning Commission on the permitting and the land development review process, and working with our municipalities to figure out how we have an appropriate place for all of the things that we need in the fabric of Berks County, whether it's industrial, commercial, agriculture, um, and and housing. And that came out as well in our Imagine Burks plan.
SPEAKER_00So it helped to reinforce some things that and maybe some validation, like, hey, we're we're we've got a good plan in place because it's kind of reinforced, some of it reinforced that, right? Yes. Because with everything you've mentioned, how important it is to the economic success of not only Berks County, but any county. But you know, you look at agriculture, for example, and the importance of that to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Berks County, and then you look at the commitment of preserving farms. And we, I think, lead the state or we're darn close to it. I think we're uh us in Lancaster tend to jockey back and forth. Uh but uh across the country, even, I think Berks County's um way up there, if not the leading.
SPEAKER_01We are.
SPEAKER_00So that is awesome. And uh and and I think your study also revealed the importance and how much the agricultural industry brings to our community and the Commonwealth.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. Um under the Imagine Burks plan, we knew we needed more empirical data about agriculture. And so we actually launched under the Imagine Burks umbrella a plan that's called Growing Burks, which is our agriculture economic impact in Burks County. The reason that was so critically important was because it was really time to begin to quantify the impact that it has on our economy. And on a regional economic basis, agriculture contributes over one billion dollars to that regional economy. That's a big number.
SPEAKER_00We no longer have to scratch our head and say, I wonder if it does. We can say it does. And and the opportunity is still there's there's still more opportunity there, right?
SPEAKER_02There is, there is. And we're seeing incredible diversification uh on our farms, so there might not just be single-use farms anymore, and it might not just be poultry or dairy or cattle, and there's a mix because we also have to figure out what's the financial sustainability for our farming community, because it's only getting more difficult.
SPEAKER_00Right, right. You know, um, and I and I would imagine, too, that there's got to be some un underlying um attempt to uh continue to um reveal the beauties of Berks County, because for so many years that felt like it's just a pass-through. People are going from the Leye Valley to Lancaster, right? We need them to stop visit with us a little bit. And and I think that that's got to be part of the vision too. How do you how do you continue to try to, you know, get people to really explore Berks County? And and um uh because I do think a lot of people sometimes are in a in a rush to go somewhere else, and they've got a lot right here. Uh and hopefully our neighboring counties will will start to take a little bit more time and and stop, but certainly as it continues to um develop uh as as uh the county hopes it develops, right? Um it'll bring people here naturally that'll get a chance to raise their families here.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yes. So also as part of our our plan, um we adopted the Greenway Park and Recreation Plan for Berks County. Another reason why it's so critically important is to preserve our natural resources, but also to be able to provide those accessible public spaces for people to go and recreate. Whether it is passive recreation or active recreation, we have so much of it. We needed to quantify it, we needed to commit to it and prioritize it. And one of the things that we've actually done with some of our Imagine Burks implementation is to fund various Greenway grants throughout Burks County for things like trail connections, for accessibility to um um our recreation areas. We think that's critically important, and it's a reason for people to be here.
SPEAKER_00Well, uh it's without a doubt the younger, the younger generations do want to be out. They want to be out being able to bike or the that connectivity. Um and to be honest, um I think as counties figure out where that makes sense and where they can embrace that, that will bring people because it's nice to be able to go, well, you know, I'm gonna go up to the uh the DNL Canal Trail up in Lehigh, because people in Berks might only get up there a couple times a year, but hopefully people up in the Lehigh Valley would then say, Hey, I'd like to come down and and you know hit our trails, right? And it just it'd be good economically for merchants in the area. It's just great to be outdoors, and I think it can make a place a destination place. Um I think Blue Marsh gets a lot of attention during the year, and it's a it's certainly a resource of the county, but um people know about it and and so maybe it's not new to a lot of people. Right. Um I've often thought you know it'd be neat if you could um, you know, Lake Annelani up up in in Maiden Creek Annelani area, you know, is uh it it's a it's beautiful. You're allowed to fish along there. It's the it's the reservoir for the the city of Reading. Um so there's reasons why, but you know, you often look at it and think, boy, it would be so cool if they would allow you to canoe on it or or or not have a non-motorized and and who knows, maybe one day they'll embrace that. I I don't know all the challenges behind it. But that, you know, I I know a lot of people like to go there and fish. Right. You know?
SPEAKER_02And and I think also what you're speaking to is that range of activity that's available to people. And I think that diversity of our placemaking is very important because it's not just arts and culture, it is our natural resources, it's it's the activities themselves, whether it's the fishing or the biking or the hiking. All of those things come together so that there truly is something for everyone here.
SPEAKER_00Well, and then really when you look at from an entertainment or an arts point of view, Jazz Fest has been very successful. That comes to Burks every year. Um and I'm sure there's other things that are that that maybe one day will develop and continue to draw people here. Um I really think that the um uh I think there's a lot of unique opportunity. I think that that's the same in the city of Reading as well. Um and you know, uh you you look forward to working with those visionaries, right? That that see um uh have a vision uh and they they kind of create that picture, you know. It's kind of like Bob Ross, uh the painter back in the day, where he's like, well, right now we're gonna add some clouds, and you're like, I'm not sure what he's doing there. And five minutes later you're like, this guy's got a masterpiece built, right? Yeah. And and that's part of it. Like we don't always see the beauty of something until it's completed. Right, right. And but it took someone to have the vision to know that's what they would like to see. And and and I know that you spend a lot of time getting that input. Yeah. Right. So it's it's uh hopefully we're building a beautiful masterpiece a little at a time. And I I suspect that that's what the Imagine Burks, the idea behind it is. Let's have a vision and let's see that vision and adjust as we need to adjust.
SPEAKER_02Oh, so uh what you're saying there is very critically important because um, you know, I I was told early on, you know, you're gonna do a plan, but you it's a plan that's gonna sit on the shelf. And I said, no, it's not gonna ever leave the edge of our desk. And it's got to be a dynamic plan. When we start something and it doesn't go well or it fails, we need to regroup and figure out what comes next. What is happening in our community on a on on a daily basis that would change the focus of what we're doing? And so we've been very conscious to not only get um citizen input, but certainly uh local government input, input from our partner organizations, nonprofits, volunteer organizations, because it's so important to make sure that we adjust along the way.
SPEAKER_00Well, and and we want everyone rowing in the same direction, right? And and I think that that I don't I don't want to and so there um when you talk about planning and county planning and having that vision, and now you have to go out and you want you've got to meet with all the municipalities because you want them to understand what what your vision is, and you're and you're certainly hoping that they share your vision. It makes it a lot easier. Um and but that's how critical each of the components of the municipalities and boroughs uh are to the county, right? We all have to be rowing in the same direction. And and I understand the uh the um the autonomy of those uh having been on a board of supervisors.
SPEAKER_02One of our seventy-two municipalities, right, right.
SPEAKER_00And and you know, sometimes you're you know, it makes sense, other times you're not sure, but I think when people have a vi when they can when they can visualize the vision, uh it goes a lot easier. Because um what somebody says and what what you know what they're projecting, you you've got to get everyone on the same page. Um because maybe somebody's hearing a word and thinking something else, and you're like, well, that's not exact that's not at all what I'm thinking.
SPEAKER_02That's right.
SPEAKER_00And so having the ability to sit down with those community leaders and to kind of work through that so that they can say, well, I don't know what you mean by that. You say, oh, well, this, this, and oh yeah, that sounds great. Right?
SPEAKER_02And so we also think it's very important to make sure that we use data and that a lot of what we're able to present are um data-driven um kind of basis so that our local municipalities can make informed decisions. Right. So that's very important too.
SPEAKER_00And I and and you know, each of the communities, uh, you know, each of the municipalities and boroughs they're answering to their citizenry and and what they want. And, you know, um and so they have to be mindful of that as well. But I have always found that um, you know, the data helps support it. If that's what your residents want, um people can get behind it. Um, you know, I know that the um you know, we won't get we don't have a lot of time left to get into it, but just speaking about the desire for rail uh and and what impact that could potentially have economically and and the positives about that. And I know that the Schuylkill River uh rail is is alive and you know, um, and I think that there's uh continued push for that to to develop and and we're all hopeful to see uh how that unfolds. But it would be nice. I mean, you go to so many communities outside of the Commonwealth if you do any type of traveling and everything, and you know, for example, um not often, but from time to time I get to Chicago. Well, I fly into O'Hare, I can take the train all the way downtown. I just have to know where to pop up, right? Right. And it's easy, it's safe, and you know, and it's nice. Um, so in 40 minutes I can take a rail from the airport right to downtown, take care of business, and do the same thing going back. And so having that as an option versus having to either take an Uber or a cab or or some other way of getting to the town, it's nice to have that option.
SPEAKER_02I think that and I think passenger rail is a wonderful example of that county cooperation, you know, partnering with Chester and Montgomery. I mean, there are some conversations that are happening now that really are unprecedented in terms of regional cooperation. And I think uh the county leadership of of all of those counties has really um led the effort to work side by side.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's exciting. It really is. Um I can tell you that uh as always, it's fascinating and great, and thank you so much for for spending the time. We're we're getting low on time, believe it or not, and I haven't even really gotten any of the questions I wanted to ask. So why don't I do this? Um, Pam, uh any any uh thing that you would like to share with the viewers at this time of things coming up or anything that you'd like to highlight uh if you take a minute or so to share, uh that would be great. So our viewers, our viewers know what's going on.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. So the Imagine Burks Economic Development Strategy has now become the Imagine Burks Comprehensive Plan for Berks County, and we are working on that, all of our departments working together. We're doing community outreach right now. So please, if you go onto the county website to the Planning Commission page, you can take a very brief survey. It's important that we truly capture what is important, what is meaningful to our residents of Berks County as we're moving forward. And then in the spring of next year, you're gonna see us launch a series of uh regional municipal meetings, bringing together municipalities, resident school districts within planning regions to really talk about what's important, provide that data that I that I made reference to, and really help municipalities and regions start to think about what they want to be and what gets included in that comprehensive plan, which is our guiding policy document for the county.
SPEAKER_00So it truly is uh a participatory, you want that involvement, you're seeking that involvement. You want you want to hear what those communities are looking for.
SPEAKER_02The good, the bad, the ugly. All of it, Joe.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's that's great. And uh well, Pam, I really, really enjoyed it. I'll have to have you back because we didn't even scratch on any of this. Uh really, I mean, it was a pleasure once again. Um, and I will I will have you uh back in the future to further tell us more about what's happening in the county from an economic and development point of view. Thanks. So with that, I want to thank you again for spending a little time with your county controller. Uh I look forward to the next episode of County Connections, and thank you for watching.