Thursday, March 29, 2012

Money Saving Incentives for Businesses - Energy Forum – April 18th, 2012

The Frederick County Business Development and Retention Division and the Office of Sustainability and Environmental Resources would like to invite Frederick businesses to participate in the 1st of a series of Money Saving Incentives for Business fast pace mini conferences. The 1st event will focus on Energy Savings. The event will be held on April 18th, 2012 at Mount Saint Mary’s Frederick Campus, located at 5350 Spectrum Drive Suite A, Frederick MD, 21703 from 8:30am – 10:30am. This event will provide valuable information to Frederick businesses about the benefits of using sustainable energy, as well as the upside of “green” installation projects.

This event will allow Frederick business owners to meet with local leaders of the energy industry, by rotating through several stations to learn about sustainable energy options. Topics include:

• Saving money on your electricity bills by joining an electricity coop: Joe Tabeling, CQI Associates
• Low-cost and no-cost ways to finance solar power installations: R. Brent Eskay, SolarCity
• New electricity rebates from Potomac Edison: Lucas I. Cade, FirstEnergy
• Finding a verified contractor for green projects: Michelle Liefke, Leafkey.com and Lisa Orr, Office of Sustainability and Environmental Resources.

The Forum is free to attend. Frederick businesses that would like to participate need to register by Friday, April 13th. You can register by clicking on this link: http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=7huirfdab&oeidk=a07e5qh09q053302348

Monday, March 26, 2012

FMH Open Doors For Business Visit

Tom Kleinhanzl, President and CEO of Frederick Memorial Hospital and Ken Coffey, Vice President and (Cheif Development Officer (CDO) were hosts for the weekly business visit held at FMH.
Mr. Kleinhanzl shared their recent improvements, which included the completion of the new "Wing C", and future plans for the hospital.
The hospital's core mission is acute care and there has been a 9% increase in patient enrollment over the past three years. There are approximately 1,700 re admissions a year. Mr. Kleinhanzl touched on how 40 millions dollars were spent on things such as new beds, the new parking garage, major physical renovations within the hospital and other routine expenditures.
The hospital is rated a level six out of seven on the IT scale involving electronic medical records, which ranks the hospital in the upper tier of new technology for hospitals.
According to Mr. Kleinhanzl community involvement is the key and giving back to the community is one of the ways the hospital accomplishes this goal. The hospital provides free blood work and radiology to the Mission of Mercy. Benefits given to the local community are in excess of 21 million dollars.
The hospital currently operates independently and does not see a need to merge with any other hospital in the future. Both Mr. Kleinhanzl and Mr. Coffey feel the future outlook for the hospital is bright.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Frederick County Bank Host Weekly Business Visit

Frederick County Commissioners Blaine Young, David Gray and Kirby Delauter along with Frederick City Aldermen Kelly Russell, Karen Young and other County and City officials met with executives from Frederick County Bank for a business visit. The meeting was to discuss the open lines of communication between the bank and the County and City.
Frederick County Bank has five branches in the Frederick area and just celebrated ten years of doing business in Frederick this past October. Mr. William R. Talley Jr., Executive Vice President attributed the bank's success to "making and building relationships and treating people the right way". Mr. Clark Briggs, Assistant Vice President also added he feels that Frederick County Bank is an example of a "true corporate citizen" by consistently giving back to the community. One of the ways the bank give back to the community is through the volunteer efforts of its employees. There are 72 full time employees working for the bank and together they compiled over 400 community volunteer hours.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

County officials visit historic Bjorlee Museum

Frederick County Comissioner Paul Smith and County Manager Dave Dunn met with Maryland School For The Deaf Superintendent James Tucker at the historic Bjorlee Museum at the Frederick campus. This visit is part of the new weekly business visits initiative that the BOCC started last month. Also present at the meeting was Acting Director Helen Riddle of the Frederick County Business and Retention Division and Heather Gramm Business Development Specialist for the City of Frederick.
The school was established in 1868 and the museum was opened in 2008. The school is comprised of two campuses. One is located in Columbia while and the other in Frederick, with total enrollment of 492 students. The Columbia campus opened it's doors in 1972. The school uses a public school curriculum and offers a high school diploma.
Approximately 2/3 of the students live outside of Frederick County. Student enrollment is typically 450-500 students and Superintendent Tucker feels that is a goood number so there are no immediate plans for expansion.
The school consists of 65 acres and has 275 employees. It is also the 16th largest employer in Frederick County.
Superintendent Tucker was awarded the Lifetime Educator Award in March of 2011 at the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce 8th Annual Live Here-Work here awards ceremony at the Weinberg center.

Monday, March 5, 2012

County and City Officials visit Interfaith Housing Alliance

Frederick County Commissioners President Blaine Young, Paul Smith along with Alderman Karen Young were accompanied by Helen Riddle of the Business Development and Retention Division of Frederick County and Heather Gramm of The Frederick City Department of Economic Development, on a business visit to the Interfaith Housing Alliance. The contingent was hosted by President Patricia Motter and VP of Business Development Travis Hardmon. This meeting was set up as part of the BOCC's weekly business visits conducted by Business Development Specialist Sherman Coleman.
IHA has been headquartered in Frederick for the past 21 years. They are responsible for 1100 housing units. Their focus is on rehab and smaller development. They directly address workforce housing for teachers, firefighters, policemen, first responders and seniors.
The Alliance has been at it's current location for 12 years and operate with a staff of 12 full-time employees and two part-time and most recently two interns from Hood College.
Finacial assistance is acquired through corporate funding, government support and donations.
For more information about the IHA visit their website www.interfaithhousing .org

Friday, March 2, 2012

Weekly Business Visits Off To a Soaring Start

The BOCC’s new initiative for conducting business appreciation visits weekly kicked off in February with two exciting business visits. These visits are to continue throughout the year and are organized by Sherman Coleman, Business Development Specialist for the Business Development and Retention Division of Frederick County.

The first visit was conducted at the Sheriffs’ Youth Ranch in Frederick County. President of the Board of County Commissioners Blaine Young along with Commissioner C. Paul Smith,, joined Business Development Advisory Vice-Chairman Drex Ryberg and Acting Director Helen Riddle and Business Development Specialist Sherman Coleman for a tour of the facility and adjoining property. They met with Executive Director Mark Grover who has held that position for the last five years. Mr. Grover explained how the ranch that was purchased back in 1974 and sits on 204 acres of land. The site is licensed to house 18 young men, but currently has 11. The youth ranch is geared toward helping troubled youth become productive members of society. The focus is on preparation for the residents to be able to become more educated and distance themselves from a checkered past.

There has been tremendous success and with an average GPA of current residents at 3.24 Mr. Grover takes great pride in what his facility has been able to contribute to the Frederick community and the help that the Frederick Community has provided to the facility.

The second visit was held at the Frederick Athletic Club and the participants were BOCC President Blaine Young, County Manager Dave Dunn, BDAC Vice-Chairman Drex Ryberg and Business Development Specialist Sherman Coleman.

The visit and tour was hosted by Herman King. Mr King was just recently named Camp Director of the facility. The facility was built in 1999 and was opened in 2000. It is owned and operated by Mr. Jeff Neuman. The facility is 24,000 square feet which includes a full size basketball court. The facility has nine employees which includes a personal trainer. A child care center is on the premises and is managed by four individuals. Membership is just above 2,500 and the facility will host its annual Stu Vetter basketball camp which runs April 22nd through July 29th.

For more information about the Frederick Athletic Club or the Stu Vetter Basketball Camp, contact Jeff Neuman or Herman King at 301-668-1919.