by Don Steen
Friday was a big day for Spencer County Economic Development, the successor organization to Lincolnland Economic Development Corporation and former lead economic development organization. The county has since hired RJL Solutions to serve in that role, and represent county government with regard to READI grants and similar issues. However, SCED still drew a large crowd of community partners for its 2025 annual meeting, and its leadership is charting a course for co-existence and cooperation with other organizations dedicated to promoting Spencer County.
That journey begins with its incorporation as a 501(c)3 under a new name, Grow Spencer County. The resurgent non-profit organization is already leveraging its community partnerships to make its own mark on county development.
This year’s annual meeting was hosted and catered by The Recipe, itself a successor to the former Back 9 Grill. The new restaurant is owned by Global Source Capital Management, which is also planning a transformative next few years for Christmas Lake Golf Course.
Joseph Gwin of Global Source Capital announced that in addition to improvements to the golf course after Labor Day this year, plans are underway to begin construction of single-family homes near the 16th Fairway, as well as other developments.
That was welcome news for the crowd, as well as SCED Vice President Kathy Sigler, who announced her organization’s name change. She stressed that the new Grow Spencer County group would not be funded by the county government, but would instead work with local supporters to drive economic development in tandem with RJL Solutions and other local groups.
“We believe it is not the singular responsibility of one organization,” she said.
That wasn’t just an aspiration either, as there were a fair few big announcements to be made.
Scott McCaulley and Ryan Pike of Make My Move were present to explain their partnership with Grow Spencer County. The Indianapolis-based recruiter aims to help families relocate to communities more in line with their tastes, especially in light of the widespread adoption of remote work.
Make My Move has listed Spencer County as one such destination for interested households, and five applications are already in the process of relocating through this initiative. It’s not just the natural beauty of the area and the appeal of local communities drawing people in either.
Local organizations are chipping in to assist the new arrivals. Incentive packages for families relocating through Make My Move include $5,000, passes to Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari and one-year subscriptions to the Spencer County Leader.
McCaulley advised that in addition to the first five families, more are considering a move to this part of the state. The Spencer County page on the Make My Move website is available at https://www.makemymove.com/moving-living/spencer-county-in.
According to McCaulley, 205 households have relocated to Southern Indiana through Make My Move in the last three years, representing a total of 471 people. These included 153 school-aged kids. In addition to remote workers, nearly half had skills that easily lent themselves to multiple fields in the region. The average household income was $190,000.
“We’re very excited about this,” said McCaulley. “It’s economic development through people.”
Apart from new residents, Kevin Ault of Digital Resources announced plans to convert the former truck stop property at the intersection of Interstate 64 and US 231 into a data center. Talks are currently underway to ascertain whether sufficient power will be available, but Ault was confident on that front.
Read more on this story in this week’s issue of the Spencer County Leader!
Featured Image: A lot of networking took place at the Spencer County Economic Development meeting
Scott McCaulley gives a presentation at the Spencer County Economic Development meeting
