The question reportedly came approximately 14 seconds after the meeting was called to order.
“Other communities seem to be landing projects,” Callahan said while reviewing a newspaper article about a neighboring county’s manufacturing announcement. “Why aren’t companies choosing us?”
Sources confirmed several staff members briefly considered answering honestly before instead opening a PowerPoint presentation titled Regional Competitive Positioning Update.
Economic Development Director Lauren Perez then carefully explained, for the twentieth consecutive quarter, that the community currently lacks:
Available industrial product
Rail access
Competitive utility capacity
Interstate proximity
Workforce
Spec buildings
Site readiness
And, in some cases, actual sites
Perez also reminded the board that the organization’s marketing budget was reduced last year after concerns over “unnecessary travel” to industry conferences where company decision makers and site selectors attend.
“Economic development is highly competitive,” Perez explained while advancing to Slide 47. “Most projects require infrastructure, speed, workforce availability, certified sites, and long-term product development investments.”
Board members reportedly responded with several thoughtful follow-up questions, including:
“Can’t we just market harder?”
“What are they doing that we’re not?”
“Have we tried LinkedIn?”
And “What exactly does shovel ready mean again?”
Tensions increased slightly after Perez mentioned the county still has a 14-month permitting timeline and unresolved litigation surrounding its only viable industrial park.
The atmosphere reportedly worsened after one board member suggested the community’s economic development challenges may stem from “negative perception,” despite the county spending the last decade publicly opposing nearly every proposed industrial project at standing-room-only commission meetings.
Another member proposed commissioning a new logo and tagline to “refresh the brand,” prompting several people in the room to nod thoughtfully as though typography alone could overcome the absence of developable property and three-phase power.
Witnesses say the meeting reached peak strategic momentum when Chair Callahan asked whether the county could “maybe get one of those billion-dollar battery plants,” before immediately expressing concern about traffic, water usage, building height, noise, and potential changes to community character.
By the end of the meeting, the board had successfully identified 26 reasons companies were not selecting Brookfield, none of which involved the community’s decades-long resistance to infrastructure investment, industrial zoning, or economic growth generally.
At press time, the board was reportedly preparing to launch a new task force focused on transformational competitiveness, expected to begin immediately after completion of a six-month debate regarding the purchase of updated directional signage for the industrial park that still does not exist.
