Chuck Huestess helps Bladen County grow

ELIZABETHTOWN – Although Chuck Heustess is content to stay incognito, you can find a trail of the impressive record of work that he has done in promoting the economic development in Bladen County.

Some like him. Some don’t. One thing all can agree on is not only the volume of his work – but the tenacity in which he brings projects to fruition.

The Committee of 100, which was incorporated in 1995, held its annual banquet recently at Cape Fear Vineyard & Winery located in Elizabethtown. According to Hayes Petteway, the Committee’s primary objective is to assist Bladen County Economic Development Director Chuck Heustess with recruiting industry to Bladen County.

This brings a visibility and a transparency to just a few of the good things that are happening in Bladen County’s economic development and gives insight as to what is on the horizon.

“I facilitate a lot of stuff,” Heustess said. “The Committee of 100 is a grassroots organization. The group in the mid-90s actually built the first two speculative buildings ever built in the county. However, over the years as the cost of construction went up, the amount of money that you generate a year from the memberships to the Committee 100 just aren’t enough to sustain the county building program. We continued to carry on the Committee 100 and fundraise and then allocate money to different projects.”

Heustess said that the thing that really excited him about this year’s meeting was the introduction of the two foreign companies coming to invest in Bladen County.

“MST’s going to be a really impactful project,” he said. “It has the potential for a lot of growth and investment in the county. Really good wages, and that project actually went to the spec building that was the first speculative building ever built by the Committee of 100.”

That first building was four walls, a roof and no floor. The first company that came in bought it from the Committee of 100 and they were Bladen Industries. It was a cabinet manufacturer out of the State of Maryland and when they moved to Elizabethtown.

Not only is MST-Bar coming into Bladen County, but also Vector Technologies is coming to the county. Both are foreign companies ready to pour their resources into Bladen County.

“If you look historically and if you look from the standpoint of a very rural community, this is very unusual,” Heustess said. “A lot of counties our size may not attract a company like these one every four to five years. Now, we have given our sales a huge advantage over most rural distressed communities because over time, partners like the Committee of 100, Bladen’s Bloomin’, the County, Four County Electric Membership Corporation and their zero-interest loan program, Golden Leaf having funded grants; we just have a lot more product than most rural counties.”

To date, the building projects from Bladen’s Bloomin’ with the help of those programs has completed 34 projects in the last 25 years.

“Most communities will only build a speculative project if they have a program to build at all, will only build one, maybe every three-five years,” he said. “Right now, the only available building is industrial incubator three here in the Elizabethtown Park – and we have a client that we are waiting to see if they are going to relocate here. We are also sending it away to other businesses who are looking for a similar size building.”

Most companies are not automatically going to think of going to a rural county such as Bladen. So, how does this happen that all of the buildings are filled with businesses and why are there other potential businesses finding out about this community? Heustess is a key component to this happening as he has one specialty tool in his toolbox that can be used to build a successful community.

Marketing.

Heustess’ background and his degree is marketing, advertising and public relations. With this man at the helm, they don’t spend a penny in marketing. And yet, they have been not only praised for their forward thinking and out of the box creativity, but they have a proven track record of success.

“Economic development is all about product development,” Heustess said. “80% of projects across the state are looking for a building. Bladen County would be higher than that as far as the companies that are looking at us. The best way to market yourself is to build a new building.”

The buildings that have been built are ready and accessible, and if they are the right fit, the possibilities are endless.

“Both of these companies (MST-Bar and Vector Technologies) are foreign direct investment,” Heustess said. “MST is a Canadian company and technically Vector Technologies is an Australian company, but they are really a global company. When they start looking at the United States, they are typically looking at several states.”

The path to where they end up starts with them contacting the Department of Commerce at those states. At that point, they will give the Department of Commerce the site or building requirements that they have. Bladen County is fortunate to be a part of the North Carolina/Southeast region which is 20 counties in southeast North Carolina and that entity which also happens to be located in Elizabethtown because of the location in the center of those 20 counties. They keep up a database and a website on buildings. As the projects come to the State, they look at what the projects are and they match them up to product in the county.

“The way this actually happened was that both companies contacted EDPNC (Economic development partnership of North Carolina),” Heustess said. “They inquired about suitable facilities in North Carolina. Our buildings were recommended and then, once our buildings are recommended, it’s us against whoever they’ve identified in multiple states that have product.”

The options of coming to Bladen County are many. According to Heustess, companies can be a big fish in a little pond and can garner more personal attention, the proximity to Fort Bragg in order to hire some very skilled exiting military veterans, a close tie to the East Coast and a location to not only Raleigh, Charlotte and Wilmington, but also the Virginia military bases as well as other large cities that can be reached easily all year around.

Other exciting projects that came to light in the Committee of 100 meeting was the continued partnership with Cape Fear Valley Health and two very important announcements to both Bladenboro and Clarkton.

“It’s just becoming very difficult for small independent pharmacies to make it,” Heustess said. “There are a lot of rules and regulations about how everything has to be handled. They’re not able to buy drugs at the same price as compared to big volume buyers like Walgreens, CVS, Walmart and the hospitals.”

Mark and Rebecca Hester of Bladenboro have fought these ever-increasing walls to scale in addition to having a building that still is susceptible to flooding. That, of course entails moving product to higher ground, remodeling, having to amend hours in addition to storm damage cleanup.

“The first drugstore we lost was over in Clarkton,” Heustess said. “When they closed, they just announced that they were closing. That has been very difficult on the citizens of that community. We partner with Cape Fear Valley over there on their health care facility. Bladen’s Bloomin’ owns their facility and in Clarkton we lease it to them. Cape Fear is talking with elderly customers who could go right downtown and get their medicine. You’re talking about your economically distressed clients that travel is not as easy for them. With socioeconomic struggles come health struggles as well.”

In any pharmaceutical outlet, both the pharmacist and the pharmacy itself has to be licensed and that in itself can cause problems for independent pharmacies that are closing up shop. The license for the Clarkton location was let go, so just moving in was not an option.

With a new pharmacy in Bladenboro, it opened up a partnership under one Cape Fear Valley Health umbrella to run pharmacies in both towns.

“We started discussion between Cape Fear Valley and Bladen’s Bloomin’ and Mark and Rebecca Hester,” he said. “Cape Fear Valley is going to be acquiring their facility and they will be running the pharmacy for a short-term out of the existing facility.”

Bladen’s Bloomin’ is going to build a new pharmacy in the downtown area above the flood plain. It’s going to be located somewhere near the square.

“We think we have the location about figured out,” Heustess said. “All of that is not completely locked in, but it will be near the square. Cape Fear Valley will be running that pharmacy themselves. Rebecca has committed to working with them in the transition, but for the long term it will just become a Cape Fear Valley staffed facility.”

Even though they initially lost the pharmacy in Clarkton, the plan is to put in a drive-thru in the Clarkton medical facility and have drugs delivered at least daily to the Clarkton facility. There will be a pharmacy tech there that would be linked to the Bladenboro pharmacy with video counseling.

On another note, discussing the new medical facility that is in the Elizabethtown Industrial Park, Heustess said that the building is finished and completely ready to go. As soon as housing begins to be constructed, Cape Fear Valley’s plan is to move into the facility.

“They just want to see the rest of the development starting,” Heustess said. “They’re going to have to make a large investment in beds, furniture, equipment, X-ray, Ultrasound, hiring new staff and they wanted to make sure it was looking like a finished development.”

One of the things that catapulted Heustess, Bladen’s Bloomin’, the County and the town of Elizabethtown into the dimly lit spotlight for the past few years was an impasse on policy and procedure and the failure to be able to negotiate common ground. As a result, pretty much all projects that involved Bladen County and the town of Elizabethtown came to a standstill. The question from so many now is, “where does it stand today?”

“The issue has been settled on paper,” Heustess said. “Truthfully, we’re still working through some of the issues about how the new development is going to take place. I can tell you that the town board members have renewed a commitment to working with Bladen’s Bloomin’ and the County to make things happen as absolutely as efficiently as they can. They’ve committed to being partners with us on the development and working on things up front to be part of the planning process.”

Some of the problems that surfaced at the beginning of the feud are still not quite worked out, and solutions are not quite on the same page yet, but the renewed cooperation between all sides and the fact that industry is coming in is a very good sign.

“Now, there are still some issues that we’re having to work through as far as things that are in place,” Heustess said. “These are administratively hindering or slowing down the development, but the commitment we have from the town commissioners and elected officials is that they are going to get those things resolved and they want to see things like this day care expansion. All those slots are a big deal to the families here, but unfortunately there are 20 on a waiting list. So, how quick can we get that expansion built so that those families have day care and they can go to work and have confidence that their kids are in a good place?”

Bladen County is at a place where they are seeing a light at the end of a tunnel and the problems of the past were nothing more than a speedbump. The compass is pointed to it’s true north and the entire community is heading toward a better place.

MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF COMMITTEE OF 100

Expanded a speculative building in the Bladenboro Industrial Park in 2009, the facility now occupied by Marlowe Farm, LLC.

Built a 2nd shell building in the Elizabethtown Airport Industrial Park, now home to Sioux Bee Honey, which imports and blends honey for commercial use.

Helped finance 11,000 SF incubator building in the Elizabethtown Airport Industrial Park, now home to Aramark Uniform Services, Inc.

Helped fund the transition of the NCDMV Call Center to the Elizabethtown Airport Industrial Park, creating 150 new jobs in Bladen County.

Helped finance 20,000 SF industrial speculative building in the Bladenboro Industrial Park in 2005, which was expanded to 49,200 SF in 2014 and was home to Carrol Poultry until their water discharge needs exceeded the capacity.

Contributed to the construction of the Industrial Incubator building at the Elizabethtown Airport Industrial Park, now home to the EDC offices, Cape Fear Winery corporate offices annex, and Military Vehicle Sustainment.

Contributed to the construction of the 10,800 SF Industrial Incubator III building at the Elizabethtown Airport Industrial Park in January 2009, now home to Del-Ton, Inc.

Contributed $10,000 to help provide incentives to bring the Carolina Retread/Black’s Tire facility to Clarkton.

Contributed $15,000 in 2012 to be one of the sponsors of the 17,610 SF Industrial Incubator IV in the Elizabethtown Airport Industrial Park, now home to Del-Ton’s machining expansion.

Contributed $5,000 to Bladen Community College to help fund their new Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) facility. The facility is key to BCC’s endeavor to train our workforce for the science and technology jobs of today and tomorrow.

Helped fund the effort to Master Plan the Elizabethtown Airport Industrial Park to make the park more marketable and quicker to develop in order to meet the demand of today’s economic development clients.

Contributed $15,000 for the Elizabethtown Downtown Business Incubator and $15,000 for Incubator V in the Elizabethtown Industrial Park.

Contributed $15,000 for the Bladenboro Downtown Revitalization Project.