Weekly Louisa Rotary Club Meeting via ZOOM
This week’s meeting kicked off via Zoom with Chirs Jobe leading prayer. This week’s guest speaker was Amanda Clark. She is a graduate of Marshall University and The Economic Development Institutes at The University of Oklahoma and The University of Kentucky.
Amanda is the Kentucky Power External Affairs Manager.
She has been actively involved in community and economic development for many years. Before joining Kentucky Power, she was the Vice President of Operations for Ashland Alliance, the regional economic development organization for Northeast Kentucky.
Amanda is the youngest female elected to Ashland’s Board of Commissioners. She has served three consecutive terms. She chairs the Capital Projects Committee and represents the city on the Destination Ashland Team. Amanda serves on the board for TENCO Workforce Development, Ashland Housing Authority, Ashland in Motion and Pathways to Bright Futures. She is an executive board member for CMH 23, a regional television channel highlighting up-coming stars and tourism along the Country Music Highway. Amanda also serves on the advisory committees for the Highlands Museum and Discovery Center and the Career Services Center of Ashland Community and Technical College.
Amanda lives in Ashland with her husband, Brian and their two sons, Casey and Drew.
Amanda started off with a small presentation titled Economic Development 101. She wanted to show why Kentucky Power would be interested in economic development. Kentucky Power represents 20 counties in Eastern Ky. She stated that utilities are an important part of a coordinated business attraction strategy. Energy costs and availability are recognized as significant driver in site selection.
Amanda was asked if the Grid at Kentucky Power was stable and she responded, “The Grid is stable. Taking coal out isn’t affecting the Grids stability.” Amanda also stated that with Covid and so many working from home it now allows businesses to move headquarters out of the big cities and to locate and operate wherever and allow their employees to work from home. Therefore, to bring more businesses to the area will keep utility rates more stable and lower the cost. She said the Pacific Northwest has a much higher taxes, energy cost, and cost of living and a lot of businesses are looking to leave those areas.
