Randolph County Progress Committee launches new website
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ The Randolph County Progress Committee has launched a new website designed to help attract new businesses to Randolph County. The address is www.edrandolphcounty.com.
The first or "home" page, according to Chris Martin, coordinator of economic development for Randolph County, is specifically targeted to site developers, consultants, and those companies looking to move or expand their operations. "I call it the five-minute-read page," said Martin. "We wanted to put our best features forward on that page, including our unmatched work ethic, our excellent workforce, and our advantageous transportation options." Martin says that when companies or consultants are looking at locations, they will first seek to see if the area can be eliminated for one reason or another so they can move on and look at other potential sites. Lack of proximate access to an Interstate Highway may be a one of those reasons. An unskilled workforce may be another.
There is a page for available industrial and commercial properties, one highlighting why so many companies call Randolph County home, a page for schools, and a page on chambers of commerce. "We have excellent schools and we appreciate what our Randolph County chambers of commerce do for our communities," said Nancy Crossland, chairwoman of the Progress Committee. "We have a page with links to the chamber websites, along with a photo log of people and events. We will continue to add information to the chamber page and all of the pages as we expand this work in progress."
There is also a page that highlights the communities of Randolph County with an opening photo of a sunrise over Cohen Complex in Chester. Martin snapped the photo along with most of the others included on the site. "I was out running early one misty Saturday morning," said Martin. "I was running down the south side path and I saw the sun through the tree on that misty meadow. I said … there is a picture!" The committee plans an individual PDF page for each community with bullet points provided by the communities themselves. For now, those villages or cities with websites are linked in.
There is a contact page with a greeting by Ms. Crossland. Another page lists Randolph County financial institutions with links to their websites. There are pages that highlight the history of Randolph County, a media page, transportation, utilities, workforce, and quality of life. "These two pages are extremely important," said Ms. Crossland. "More development decisions are made based on workforce and quality of life than any two other factors. We believe when you look at what Randolph County has to offer with our excellent workforce and our unique quality of life, we will win some of those decisions."
There is a search function on the site along with many photos of people and places in Randolph County, plus a direct link to Illinois Tourism South. You can even obtain a current Randolph County weather forecast on edrandolphcounty.com.
"Without breaking the bank, we wanted to build a site that our citizens can be proud of and one that will help attract companies to our community," said Martin. "I think we have accomplished our goal while being fiscally responsible," added Crossland, "and we will continue to enhance our site as we move forward."
The Randolph County Progress Committee has supported helping new small business start ups and expansions in the last year. The group co-sponsored a recent class with the SBDC in which six participants learned what it takes to start and operate a business. The committee has included a page on the new website that lists contact information for the Small Business Development Center at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
"The new site is another tool in our tool box as we seek innovative ways of growing the Randolph County economy," said Martin. "We are also looking at other technology allowing cost-efficient ways of competing with the major metro areas. We thank our commissioners, our Randolph County mayors, our village and city councils, and the people of Randolph County who continue to support us in these efforts."