[{"_1":2,"_99":-5,"_100":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,87],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6309297,"mediaKeyId","2413379-afbad3bca9a8da84f029829fe13893fc","parentId",2413379,"title","Kent County commission consolidates 2025 priorities, schedules speakers and approves March presentation","audioSeconds",387,"startMs",3653000,"endMs",4040000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2413379-afbad3bca9a8da84f029829fe13893fc&start=3653&end=4040","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2413379-afbad3bca9a8da84f029829fe13893fc/thumbnail_3653000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6309297/Kent-County/Maryland/Kent-County-commission-consolidates-2025-priorities-schedules-speakers-and-approves-March-presentation","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6309297-8b4eb144af1711a0668dee4147fff32f/orig.mp4?Expires=1771147485&Signature=MoH99K4jLu6kDNJlxbfNLLFBRiziSvosRuibhiGYHahzf8~hdQ0owK39CcmBrvIfBbafSz-jDAoal6mKrKBgrjfDA-K3sfhvppXS3AhLH5pxtRiEu7vJ5phckqJ2ErdJ~GDjsoSKglLjHrDQkWUJpLjCa2xvmcoXzYxxmTaeZiW~LtgIccQsXqBVQPuw9K-ipDYnTsPqTVvvb4LtW~9JmZQgMPNOjfZlL4GzwIkrU-lwNeR1DDrPD96LS545C4oFizmz8TxrCwB3H8EAxZAQBK3kHDUhSmzlBGucAwfCNwFqo8nTz-9NnqGdVqZoF2Iox-DkaFu0sn4nk~N-my3QAQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Kent County, MD","date","2025-02-26T19:13:39Z","article","The Kent County Economic Development Commission reviewed a consolidated list of member-submitted 2025 priorities, discussed meeting structure going forward and scheduled agenda speakers for upcoming meetings. Commissioners agreed to invite Cindy Ganther to present the annual real-estate review in March and voted to approve the January 8 meeting minutes.

Commission members emphasized giving each meeting time for meaningful discussion and suggested limiting most meetings to a single main speaker plus time for questions and topic discussion. The commission’s consolidated priorities list groups suggestions under economic development, tourism, workforce and housing; staff said the priorities will inform speaker selection and potential budget requests.

Members discussed development constraints tied to water and sewer capacity as a topic for a future speaker and asked staff to invite Dan Mattson, the county director of public works, to explain capacity, allocation and how those constraints affect project approvals. Staff provided project updates: the Village of Kennedyville public-works agreement had been reviewed by the county attorney and will go before the county commissioners; once approved it must be advertised for 30 days before developers submit letters of intent, a timeline staff said could take another two to three months. The senior housing project in Millington had begun site work, staff said, and silt fences and equipment were on site.

The commission also reviewed their business-visit program and HubSpot integration: staff said they aim for three to five in-person interviews monthly once timing allows and that HubSpot integration has been delayed because of staff capacity. Commissioners discussed ways to improve member engagement with existing communications (newsletter, social media and staff reports) and re-emphasized attending meetings in person where possible to enhance discussion quality.

Formal actions recorded in the meeting minutes included approval of the January 8 minutes, a unanimous motion to invite Cindy Ganther to present the 2024 real-estate review at the March meeting, and a motion to adjourn the meeting. No budget or land-use approvals were made at this meeting; several items were scheduled for future meetings or county-commission consideration.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","02.26.25 ETDC Meeting","oneSentenceSummary","The commission consolidated members’ suggested 2025 priorities, agreed to invite commercial broker Cindy Ganther to present Kent County real-estate trends in March, discussed water-and-sewer capacity and development updates (Kennedyville public-works agreement and Millington senior project), and approved minutes from January 8.","taxTitle","Kent County, Maryland","taxId",69327,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6309302,"Kent County staff report highlights proposed tourism funding cut, budget calendar and grants",124,2586000,2710000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2413379-afbad3bca9a8da84f029829fe13893fc&start=2586&end=2710","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2413379-afbad3bca9a8da84f029829fe13893fc/thumbnail_2586000.jpg","/articles/6309302/Kent-County/Maryland/Kent-County-staff-report-highlights-proposed-tourism-funding-cut-budget-calendar-and-grants","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6309302-10425b69bf9986923d1a053566766b14/orig.mp4?Expires=1771147485&Signature=dGErywu6Pq0qo7A8m7rysynhw0EP-FQO8c1QER6PDx1X2RUKr-Sj3fsEmfD13YyZFntOVkKg-io99XUOs1E1reAznG1myjBuHCNlwA8azCaR-okldkb6haLX8W4YQwFSaBc2gd5gOJ-xzA6euBE0tCzKvmQ9qAtgSAciJqacGLBpO0qGyEKRTsaGupTgWPezz8lyE3fYOCBVk7mkxCXP8NLaNOFLC~oE9pmm950FnjL56yMm9hAb7wQOdp7Ya7dD9M7ZC10UitBF97gv94wkyQr7Op9t8cHhcj7n2wCT3q1kZatKOa7FLGXPXbncNHZX0IBCdBkkLtv9nb6GwMiO9A__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","A county staff member reported that the Maryland tourism development board was facing a proposed reduction of about $6,000,000 and that the county would need to submit written testimony by the next day to meet the legislative timeline. Staff described the testimony process as time-limited and coordinated via the Maryland Tourism Coalition and individual Destination Marketing Organizations.

Staff reviewed the county budget schedule: the county’s internal work on budget documents is in process, departments present on April 1, and the county CFO, Pat Merritt, typically provides an overview for the county commissioners. Staff said a delay or extension was possible but emphasized the near-term budget calendar during a period they described as “budget season.”

Other items in the staff report included website work (the county is migrating agenda software to CivicPlus and updating the county’s business directory), a $5,000 printing grant for museum brochures for which the county had not yet received a decision, and active planning for an America250 event with a Kent County focus. Staff said the micro agricultural grant program was accepting applications due Friday, Feb. 28 at 5:00 p.m.; eight applications had been received as of the meeting. Staff also described the StartUp pitch competition at Washington College on April 15; the event is multi-county, entries are scored and finalists pitch, and the winner receives $4,000 with $1,500 for the runner-up.

Staff flagged procedural requirements and training: the commission must have at least one member certified in the Open Meetings Act; staff said one member already holds certification and offered to distribute a training link to the rest of the commission.

Separately, staff described ongoing business outreach and a business-visit program: staff said they had already completed eight business visits and aimed for three to five in-person interviews monthly once calendar pressures ease. Staff also noted an integration project to connect business-visit data to the HubSpot CRM, but said the integration had been delayed due to staff time and technical work.

A staff comment quoted at the meeting said, “We received a message last night … that the Maryland tourism development board is being cut by $6,000,000,” and staff said the county’s tourism partners were coordinating testimony and outreach. Commissioners asked staff to circulate talking points and work with the Maryland Tourism Coalition on a unified response; staff said the coalition and local Destination Marketing Organizations were handling coordination.","Staff told the commission that the Maryland tourism development board’s funding was proposed to be cut by $6 million and that written testimony had a narrow submission window; staff also reviewed county budget timing, pending brochure grant, micro-ag grant deadline, and the April 15 StartUp pitch competition.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":92,"_47":93,"_49":94,"_51":95,"_53":96,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":97,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":98,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6309306,"Delmarva Index presenter shows Kent County dashboards and finds local business sentiment weakened",2321,187000,2508000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2413379-afbad3bca9a8da84f029829fe13893fc&start=187&end=2508","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2413379-afbad3bca9a8da84f029829fe13893fc/thumbnail_187000.jpg","/articles/6309306/Kent-County/Maryland/Delmarva-Index-presenter-shows-Kent-County-dashboards-and-finds-local-business-sentiment-weakened","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6309306-bec2131239672452d8f94ae5e175758e/orig.mp4?Expires=1771147485&Signature=GRDKZeiCbwap5heqBjQdwKP8hpAdNCrhH19N~hyHkVmgi9WI0io8~fiSWbRxdOM5O89YFQa4DzohGQ3ONyO1W5NY6~OOM2u6pDxh16bfuoBQkUE0TKgTgwCOlvNLXm8~eDo1U3zRph5NTetjrqRg1MFFil~xQNHjf83MPYbh1d8CjIJrXGt6KefxQv8Zw-BqSDerOT2OMTSYUROScRq28ayxr9s0Uh8-CMg3WtnmuBNE-eeW4F5UkBRrM6W8XsBswapx87-TUQwB8TfWkmMHImBgZ47T3ptOFR~l~hMy1GdEmnEFLdmDh69w021Eqg9sDyG2sF9ip6el7XNT1-aMpQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Aaron Silva, GISP and project manager for Eastern Shore GIS’s Delmarva Index, presented the Delmarva Index’s Kent County data and interactive dashboards at the Kent County Economic Development Commission meeting. Silva said the site’s resources — the business sentiment survey, the Eastern Shore Economic Resiliency Toolkit, sales-and-use tax dashboards and a tourism dashboard — are available on delmarvaindex.org and that a redesigned website is coming in the next few months.

The presentation focused on the winter business sentiment survey and several county-level dashboards. Silva said the survey was conducted primarily in January and that Kent County accounted for 26 respondents, which he said represented roughly 16–17% of responses in the most recent wave. He summarized key findings shown in the county dashboard: 39% of respondents said business conditions in their county would improve over the coming 12 months (a decline from an earlier survey), sector-level sentiment trended downward overall, and 27% of respondents in the February 2025 wave reported feeling worse about business conditions in the year ahead.

Silva demonstrated how to drill into responses by company size, industry and geography, and he showed visualizations that flag top barriers to starting or expanding a business in Kent County — finances and funding, inflation and regulation — and sector-level impacts such as insurance, fuel, rent and payroll costs. He also explained the resiliency toolkit, which was developed with EDA funds, and the tourism dashboard’s use of Maryland Comptroller sales-and-use tax data adjusted by tourism “factors” assigned to categories such as hotels and auto rentals.

Silva pointed listeners to specific datasets usable for economic development work: the Maryland tax revenue dashboards (which use Comptroller data), a tourism dashboard with tourism-attributable adjustments, a Maryland manufacturing industry dashboard, and a transferable-skills dashboard that links occupations and projected employment. He noted the most recent fiscal-year tax data available on the dashboards was FY2023 and that the county-level tax dashboard showed total revenue for all industries for Kent County in 2023 at about $346,000,000 (as displayed in the tool), and that the team hoped to add 2024 Comptroller data soon.

Staff and commissioners asked for follow-up access. Silva said some dashboard panels are behind password-protected dashboards because small cell sizes can risk respondent confidentiality; he offered to provide login credentials for county staff. He also suggested commissioners contact him or staff for one-on-one walkthroughs to use the tools for planning and to combine the subjective business-sentiment data with objective fiscal indicators.

The commission did not take formal action on Silva’s presentation; staff said they will share the story map and consider additional one-on-one tutorials for commissioners and county staff.","Aaron Silva of Eastern Shore GIS reviewed Delmarva Index tools, including a business sentiment survey, resiliency toolkit and tax- and tourism-focused dashboards that staff said the county can use for planning; Kent County had 26 survey respondents and several datasets are behind a log-in for confidentiality.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Kent County commission consolidates 2025 priorities, schedules speakers and approves March presentation

Kent County staff report highlights proposed tourism funding cut, budget calendar and grants

Delmarva Index presenter shows Kent County dashboards and finds local business sentiment weakened