A recap of what went right and what could be changed about this year’s economic development summit dominated the conversation during the regular monthly meeting of the Anson Economic Development Corporation on Thursday morning.

Jennifer Joyner-Talbot, who headed up the planning of this year’s economic development summit, held in March, gave the AEDC an in-depth recap and shared results of a survey administered to 22 of the 84 attendees of March’s summit.

“I think it was very beneficial to the community,” Joyner-Talbot said. “We tried to have a broad range of topics.”

From the survey, she said that one thing that was heard again and again was that there needed to be increased support from county government. Of the 15 responses to an open-ended question regarding recommendations for future summits, 10 said they were disappointed at the lack of county government participation.

“The only disappointing fact is the lack of participation by our county government,” one respondent said. “The commissioners should have been there. Period.”

Another stated, “Their lack of participation gives us a true picture of the importance they really place on the growth of Anson County.”

“Concerned that only one commissioner was in attendance, and the economic development officer for the county was also absent, as was the interim county manager,” one comment read.

Joyner-Talbot said that many of the survey respondents also wanted what she called “marching orders.”

“People want something measurable,” she explained. “They want to see what has been done since March.”

South Piedmont Community College president Dr. Stan Sidor said that it may not seem like much movement is being made on the economic development front, but it is. “The dial is moving very slowly,” he said. “There’s a lot of growth in the farm-to-table movement, and with the agri-civic center. I think next time, we need to have very focused panels, and really show how we’re moving that dial.”

Sidor also requested that the AEDC create a subcommittee to develop ideas for panels at the next economic development summit, planned for September.

In other news at the May meeting of the AEDC, Wadesboro Town Manager Alex Sewell gave a brief update, stating that the town’s budget situation is looking better than it has in seven years.

Chamber of Commerce executive director Lynn Edwards said that the Chamber is still trying to grow its membership. She added that the Chamber will celebrate the grand opening of Habitat for Humanity’s store later this summer.

During the roundtable discussion, AEDC chairman Chuck Horne said that he, vice chairman Dan Scarborough and treasurer/secretary Dana Manness had attended an economic development presentation in Albemarle, which focused on what North Carolina may look like in 2050.

In rural N.C., Horne said agribusiness will probably continue to be the No. 1 job creator, followed by in-migration (people moving in from other states, usually to retire), manufacturing, tourism, and storage and transit.

Scarborough said that the trends given during the presentation had Anson as one of 36 counties that would lose population by 2050. “I think we’re way too close to Charlotte and have way too many resources for that to happen,” he said.

The AEDC also elected its officers for the coming year, with Horne, Scarborough and Manness staying in their positions, and Emmett Patterson, Fred Sparger, Janine Rywak and Kevin Thomas serving as the at-large executive committee.

The AEDC will next meet at 7:30 a.m. on June 18 at the Anson County Chamber of Commerce.