The Shadow
COVINGTON, Va. (Alleghany Business Review) — Alleghany County Administrator Ken McFadyen says the region’s roughly 3,300 working-age adults who are not employed represent both a challenge and an opportunity as the Alleghany Highlands works to attract new business and strengthen its economic foundation.
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McFadyen, who joined the county last year after a nine-year career in Botetourt County, shared his outlook in a recent appearance on the Value Prop podcast with host Gene Mundy.
The Highlands’ labor force participation rate sits at approximately 50 percent for residents age 16 and older, about 12 percentage points below the state average. Meanwhile, roughly 500 job openings remain unfilled across the region, with 10 to 20 percent of those in manufacturing — the sector McFadyen calls the engine that brings outside dollars into the community.
“We need to do everything that we can to encourage them,” McFadyen said of those who are able to work but are not currently in the labor force. He pointed to credential programs at Mountain Gateway Community College, vocational training through Alleghany Highlands Public Schools and the region’s strong track record with the National Career Readiness Credential as pathways for connecting more residents to employment.
Approximately 1,500 people in the Highlands have earned the national credential, a figure McFadyen attributed in part to large employers such as WestRock having required it of applicants.
McFadyen, who holds a degree from Appalachian State University and spent roughly 20 years focused on economic development before returning to local government administration, defined his approach in five words: leveraging assets for greater prosperity.
Those assets, he said, range from the region’s educational institutions and recreational amenities — including Lake Moomaw, U.S. Forest Service lands and the Jackson River Scenic Trail — to its community organizations and, above all, its people.
But the administrator stressed that economic development cannot succeed in isolation. Housing availability, child care access, elder care and health care all play critical roles.
“It’s about building the community as a whole and lifting the community all at one time and paying attention to all of these different facets,” he said.
On the real estate front, the Alleghany Highlands Commerce Center now features two graded pad sites — one at eight acres and one at 14 — backed by a combined $10 million investment from local and state sources. McFadyen said his office is in regular communication with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership about next steps to make the sites fully pad-ready, meaning a company could begin construction immediately.
The city of Covington and Alleghany County operate a joint Industrial Development Authority that oversees the development of those sites, an arrangement McFadyen described as a key example of the alignment between local governments that the region needs.
That coordination extends to regular contact with Covington, Clifton Forge and Iron Gate, as well as the Roanoke Regional Partnership and VEDP staff, who McFadyen said visit the area frequently.
McFadyen also emphasized the role tourism can play in attracting unexpected investment. He recounted his experience as town manager in West Jefferson, North Carolina, where a visiting couple from New York so enjoyed the town’s arts district that they relocated a manufacturing operation there, eventually employing more than 350 people. That operation later changed hands to Black & Decker and then to GE Aviation, which now manufactures aircraft engine components in the community.
“The same can happen here,” McFadyen said.
Looking ahead, McFadyen said the Alleghany Highlands Economic Development Corporation plans to reach out to every business license holder in the city, towns and county in the coming months. The goal is to communicate the full range of small business resources available to help local entrepreneurs succeed.
“They, too, are as integral and important to this community as our large manufacturers and employers,” he said.
Child care remains a pressing concern. McFadyen acknowledged the community has made progress but said a gap persists, creating a barrier for parents who cannot enter the workforce without reliable care for their children.
With a population of approximately 20,000 across the city, towns and county, McFadyen said the Alleghany Highlands has the community assets and the alignment among its institutions to build a stronger economic future — but only if more residents are able to participate.
“This truly is a wonderful community,” he said. “I have been so blessed to have had the opportunity to come here.”
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Transcript (autogenerated by ai)
Ken McFadyen 0:00
And so the Economic Development Corporation, in the coming months will be reaching out to every business license holder in the city, the towns and the county, to communicate all of the small business resources that are available to them to help them succeed in operating their small businesses. And they, too are as integral and important to this community as our large manufacturers and employers. Hey,
Gene Mundy 0:25
Good morning everyone. Today, we’re talking about building the runway. What do we need to do in Alleghany Highlands before an investment or investor shows up and today, there’s no one better to kind of talk about that with than Ken McFadden, who is the Alleghany County Administrator, and he’s on the board of the Alleghany Highlands Economic Development Corporation. Good morning. Good morning. Thank you for having me. Yeah, well, welcome. We’ve been looking forward to the opportunity to talk to you for some time. And you know, if we can, let’s start off with, you know, maybe give everyone, you know, what’s your role in the county? How do you describe that?
Ken McFadyen 1:07
Sure. Well, the Board of Supervisors hired me last year to be the County Administrator, and so it’s a role that I prepared for about 25 years ago when I finished my education at Appalachian State, served as an assistant county manager in North Carolina, then a town manager, then I gravitated to economic development for approximately 20 years of my career, and as I’m maturing, I’m wanting to then return to administration. So last year, this opportunity here in Alleghany County presented itself, and I submitted my name and met with the board, and I’ve been very pleased and humbled to have been selected to serve as the County Administrator, and it’s great to be here.
Gene Mundy 1:53
You’ve got quite a background in Botetourt and a lot of success as well, if you can, you know, tell me what is the recipe that kind of leads to that success that you saw in Botetourt.
Ken McFadyen 2:11
Sure. Well, I think first we have to have an understanding of what we’re talking about when it comes to economic development. And I like to think of economic development in just a few words. It’s leveraging assets for greater prosperity. You know, if we can boil down what we do to maybe five words, or fewer than that helps us to understand it what we do on a day to day basis. So if we’re leveraging our assets in a community for greater prosperity, then in terms of economic development, that’s helping our existing employers to grow, to sustain their operations, to add jobs, to add investments, and it’s also about attracting new employers to the area, to bring the wealth from outside the area into the area, so that we increase our our wealth and prosperity from within as well. Okay,
Gene Mundy 2:59
what might be some misconceptions folks would have in our community about what economic development means. Sure, I think when we’re talking about economic development of working with our manufacturers and our primary employers, those companies that produce something here but sell it elsewhere, even globally, the time that it takes for a company to make a decision to locate in a community can sometimes be very fast, but then also at times, it can be a very long, drawn out process and for a community to prepare itself to work in that kind of economic development, of working with manufacturers to attract them here and to help them grow here, and especially for those that are already here, it’s a long term proposition, yeah,
Gene Mundy 3:47
there’s a lot of people in organizations in that pot that you’re, you know, that you’re kind of either talking about, yep, you know, the county has a role. Economic Development Corporation has a role. You know, local investors have a role, or local businesses, etc, you know, can you tell us, you know, where’s speaking to the county in the Economic Development Corporation, Kelly, what are their roles here that so people can understand, you know, what does, what do each one of those entities do for us?
Speaker 1 4:18
Sure? So the county, the board of supervisors and the county government has a legal authority to engage in economic development, in terms of developing real estate, providing financial incentives and other other types of support to companies to grow here that are already here, or to attract companies to locate here. So there’s that legal responsibility under the Code of Virginia, under county ordinances, to make strategic investments, to make budget decisions, to develop real estate and things of that nature. When it comes to the Alleghany Highlands Economic Development Corporation, that’s largely a marketing effort. If we’re not telling people what’s here, then people don’t know what’s here. And. From outside of the community. So it’s really a matter of promoting and celebrating the assets in this community. I mentioned assets earlier. It’s really all about promoting assets and celebrating those assets. And when it comes to this traditional type of economic development, of working with manufacturers, it’s celebrating those who are already here, creating jobs and creating prosperity, creating taxable income for the localities to then provide services to the community, with schools, with recreation, with cleaning the streets when there, when it snows, things of that nature, right?
Gene Mundy 5:33
You mentioned five assets. Can you just tell everyone? Tell everyone what those five assets might be, whether that’s sure, quick definition just
Speaker 1 5:44
Yeah, well, five words to describe what we do in terms of economic development. But assets can be anything. Our educational institutions here, right? Alleghany County and Alleghany Highlands, Public Schools is a tremendous asset for this community. Mountain gateway. Community College, in terms of workforce development, is a tremendous asset, the recreational amenities that we have in this community, Lake mouma, the US forest lands, the Jackson river Scenic Trail, Jackson river sports complex. These are all strong recreational and natural amenities that make this a wonderful place to be, our communities, our community organizations, our volunteer fire departments, our churches, our community clubs, our social circles, those are assets as well, because people need to relate to one another. You need to socialize with one another and understand and support one another. And then that too becomes an asset, probably our greatest asset of all, in any community, and especially this one is our people.
Gene Mundy 6:42
There lies the, you know, the whole purpose of this podcast, the value proposition is talking about those things that are, you know, resources or assets, but you know, again, things that we have, that we can that attract people, that attract, you know, organizations to come in here. And, you know, I would add to that, and we’ve talked about this before. You know, the cost of living in our community is extremely lower than a metro area like Northern Virginia, crime is relatively low here.
Gene Mundy 7:26
Buy a home, you know, comparatively lower. We’ll come back, maybe talk about, you know, housing in a bit, sure, but you know, I think again back to where we started with that is, you know, we do have quite a few premium resources and assets here to offer. You know, a business that wants to invest in our community, yeah, you know, we talked about them coming in your experience, and maybe not just here in Alleghany County. But what are some of the things that would push investors away, like, maybe they show some initial interest, sure, and then they change their mind. I mean, what are those kind of issues we’d have to concern ourselves with?
Ken McFadyen 8:11
You know, when investors are looking at any community to make an investment, and if we’re talking especially about manufacturing operations, they’re calculating several and in some instances, I’ve seen hundreds of factors in terms of evaluating which community they should locate an operation. And so when things don’t work out, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because we’re being evaluated on dozens, if not hundreds of factors. And so it’s always about the business proposition, the dollars and cents, the numbers, the figures. Does it make sense to locate in a particular community or not? But then at the end of the day, when all those things are equal, how does the community fit with the business? And how does the business fit with the community? Not every time when a business says, I’m sorry we’re not coming to your community. Is that a bad thing? That’s a learning experience, and it gives us practice for the next time. And ultimately, when it comes to this type of economic development, particularly with business attraction, bringing companies to a community, it’s those factors, but then at the end of the end of the day, it’s all about whether we fit. It really is it really is that simple. It is all about relationships.
Gene Mundy 9:28
You brought up resources earlier. We talked a little bit about housing. And you’re, well published. You know, you’ve written a few articles that come to mind. And you know, most recently this past summer, we had a housing Summit, yes, and I’d like to get your thoughts on, you know, on, on that, on one of the housings really affordable here, but there are some limitations, and how does that affect economic development? Sure.
Ken McFadyen 10:00
Sure it affects it in every way. But housing is not the only item that we need to address. Workforce development and training programs at Mountain Gateway Community College at Jackson river Technical Center, those are equally important to address other factors, including child care availability, elder care, availability, all those things weigh into our ability to succeed when it comes to economic development, access to health care is another big one that we need to pay attention to. So it really is not just about attracting a company or helping an existing company to grow and create jobs. It’s about building the community as a whole and lifting the community all at one time and paying attention to all of these different facets.
Gene Mundy 10:51
Yeah, you those are, those are major muscle movements you’re talking about. How do we as a community coordinate between, you know, what the county’s doing what the city’s doing, obviously, not forgetting Clifton Forge and Iron Gate. How do we, you know, what’s the mechanism that kind of synchronizes that effort so we’re not going off in different directions and maybe not using our resources to have the best advantage alignment. Yeah, alignment.
Speaker 1 11:25
I meet with Alan Dressler and Chuck Unroe And Mayor Persinger and Iron Gate frequently, communication, sometimes daily. And so we need to be in alignment in terms of local governments. We need to be in alignment with our public schools and with our community college, with our state and regional economic development partners. Alleghany Highlands is served by the Roanoke Regional Partnership, which is our regional economic development organization. There is very close alignment there with John Hall and his team at the Roanoke regional partnership, as well as with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership in Richmond. We communicate with their folks on a regular basis, and the VDP staff, they’ll be here in a few weeks for a meeting, and they’re here frequently. And so I think it’s important for the community you asked, you know misconceptions, perhaps, or what the folks typically not understand. It’s really another part of that is all the behind the scenes work, and I would describe that best by the alignment that’s required to make all of this work, not only with this economic development subject, but with community development and making this a place where people want to live and nurture their families and enjoy themselves.
Gene Mundy 12:41
You kind of go back to the assets and resources, you know, a lot of people have heard a lot about the pad site. We have the Innovation Park. You know, I know the city and the county have made some strategic acquisitions, you know, over the last couple years, for anybody that doesn’t know, can they give, give them a hint on, you know, the pads? How did the pad site? How did we get here? Sure, if you haven’t been to see the pad site, it’s impressive. I have, yeah, yeah, I’ve been there. A lot of people don’t even maybe know where it’s at
Ken McFadyen 13:21
So, and that’s okay, yeah, that’s okay. So the city of Covington and Alleghany County collectively, we have an industrial development authority that is organized under the Code of Virginia. The Code of Virginia allows localities to form these industrial development authorities to engage in real estate development for the purposes of economic development, and again, that alignment, that coordination, both the city and the county have come together to do that and to cooperate in terms of having this industrial development authority. It has its board of directors appointed by the city council and the Board of Supervisors, and that entity that Ida, Industrial Development Authority. It works to develop economic development, what we call product sites and buildings, to attract employers to the region, and also to help our existing employers to grow in the region. That’s you can really think of it as a tangible real estate entity that develops product to allow this community to succeed.
Gene Mundy 14:24
Quite an investment too. Yes, we spoke about that before we started, I think. And what was the figure between local state investment was quite significant
Ken McFadyen 14:38
to grade the two pad sites. It’s an eight acre pad and a 14 acre pad at the Alleghany Highlands commerce center to do that work, because we do live in the mountains. That work was expensive, yeah, and to this point it was. It’s a $10 million investment between local investments and state grant investments. And we’re in regular communication with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership that provides that state level funding on what the next investment will be to make the pad site what we call pad ready. And what that means is, can a company go to the pad to one of those two pad sites tomorrow and start construction, and that’s the goal of it being pad ready. Can construction on a building to create jobs and investment begin at a site tomorrow? And that’s always the goal that we drive toward,
Gene Mundy 15:31
And that’s everything from sewer to electric to utilities.
Ken McFadyen 15:35
Absolutely electric, water, wastewater, communications, natural gas, highway connectivity?
Gene Mundy 15:42
Yeah, that’s a big one, and it’s strategically located. Yeah, we’ve had a lot of conversations on the show, you know, we had Josh in from the Chamber of Commerce and Tourism, yeah, and a few other folks, and we talked about, you know, tourism as an economic driver. I just like to get your thoughts on how that fits into, you know, into the overall economic development strategic, strategy or scenario for for our community.
Ken McFadyen 16:11
Sure, I’ll tell a short story from a community where I served. In my career, I was town manager in West Jefferson, North Carolina. And if folks are familiar with West Jefferson, you know that it has a downtown Arts District, lots of art galleries and nice restaurants. And once upon a time, West Jefferson had visitors from New York that heard about the arts district, and they wanted to go visit all the arts galleries, art galleries and restaurants. And so they did. They came and they visited. But they also owned a manufacturing operation that manufactured saw blades. And the husband and wife enjoyed West Jefferson so much that they started a manufacturing operation right there in town called Oldham saw and they employed over 350 people, and they built a great big manufacturing operation to operate their manufacturing. And so an arts district brought a manufacturing operation to that town. They then retired, and they sold their company to Black and Decker that made other strategic investments, and then made that property available. And then General Electric purchased a property GE Aviation to manufacture aircraft engine components, and now that operation in that community, very much like the Alleghany Highlands, is one of the global leaders in aviation components, right there in that community, all because of arts, of art galleries, yeah, and that’s a tremendous story. And the same can happen here in this community. And that type of story is largely explained by tourism, by the ability to attract visitors to recreate, and then when they arrive, they say, Hey, this is a really nice place. And it’s even such a nice place that maybe we want to do business here. And sometimes that happens. So everything is important. And the Alleghany Highlands Chamber of Commerce, I think, is doing a great job with promoting the area, with serving our businesses and creating that network and that good feel of home and and so that too is another tremendous asset that we have in this community. Yeah, Josh has done a wonderful job.
Gene Mundy 18:18
And they and it just keeps, you know, kind of keeps getting better. So from your position, what do you see in the next five years? Realistic goals that sure the high, you know, the highlands, as as it into itself, you know, maybe not just the county, but for our whole community, yeah.
Ken McFadyen 18:41
So we have a population between the city, the towns and the county, of approximately 20,000 people. And within that population of roughly 20,000 people, approximately 8000 people work. Are engaged in the workforce, the adults who are engaged in our in our work, and here in the community, about 8000 people, but that leaves roughly 3300 people, adults who are not working. And so our labor force participation rate is approximately 50% of those ages 16 and above. And what that equates to in a real number is roughly 3300 people. Our labor force participation rate being roughly 50% is about 12 percentage points lower than the state average of about 62 to 63% so we have folks who are not working, who are not engaged in the workforce, who are not engaged in the local economy, who very much need to be engaged in the local economy and pursuing those job opportunities. Here in the Alleghany Highlands, we’ve got approximately 500 job openings at this time, and we’ve got roughly 10 to 20% of those job openings are in manufacturing, in those sectors of the economy that bring dollars into the community, that then our small businesses will circulate at our restaurants and other types of businesses. So we need to do more to attract more of our adults who are capable of working. Not everybody is, and we should care for those who are not able to otherwise care for themselves. I do believe in that, but for those who are not working, who are in a position to be able to we need to do everything that we can to encourage them to do so, whether that’s pursuing a credential at Mountain Gateway Community College, whether that’s a helping Alleghany Highlands public schools to then also perhaps even provide adult education or help our high school students to earn those vocational credentials, though that that is one area that needs to be very concerted focus for the highlands in terms of helping this community to continue to prosper?
Gene Mundy 21:02
Yeah, that kind of leads into my question I was going to follow with was, what do we need to improve on? But you know, to kind of linger on this point. Do you in your assessment that percentage of folks that aren’t working, is that due to, you know, lack of skills, lack of child care, unemployable because of legal issues? Do we know?
Ken McFadyen 21:34
We don’t necessarily know, and that’s okay, yeah. And I think any of those reasons is something that we can navigate, sure they are can be addressed, right, right? And you know the importance of child care. It’s not only important for children to have a safe environment in an enjoyable childhood. That’s not only important, but for their parents. If they don’t have the availability of child care services, then they’re not able to go to work, right? And if they’re not able to go to work, then they can’t earn the paycheck to help the family prosper and to be able to provide for their families. So child care, that is, it’s a huge issue. It’s an item that we have done well in this community, I think, of addressing, but we still have a bit of a gap that we need to fill. So then that’s then a barrier to increasing our labor force participation rate, yeah,
Gene Mundy 22:27
as we’re out of school today, those of us with kids at home, sure, yeah. So you know kindly to come full circle. You know, what message do you have for you know, members of our community, small business owners, what’s Ken’s takeaway message that you can share with us?
Ken McFadyen 22:51
Sure, the Alleghany Highlands is a wonderful community. I have been so blessed to have had the opportunity to come here to serve as County Administrator. You know, I lived and worked in Botetourt for nine years. Very happy with the career that I, that I had in Botetourt. I’m very thankful to the Botetourt community, but I’m very happy and honored to be here in the Alleghany Highlands. This truly is a wonderful community.
Gene Mundy 23:16
Yeah, so Ken, can you talk to us about, you know, the soft skills. What’s important for job seekers and employers in our community?
Ken McFadyen 23:25
Sure. employers seek employees who are employable. They’ve got the work ethic, they have the aptitude and the attitude to contribute to an employer’s place of business, and we’re fortunate in the Alleghany highlands that we have a higher number of folks who have earned a career credential than most communities, and it’s through the AC T, it’s a national organization that provides credentials, and it’s a National Career Readiness credential. And in this community, we have approximately 1500 people who have earned this credential, largely due to Smurf at West Rock and other large employers in the past and currently having required applicants to have a National Career Readiness credential. And so that’s one aspect of this community that we’re doing really well with that perhaps we can do more to encourage more people to earn that career readiness credential. And I would assume that would be of interest to anybody that’s, you know, really coming in, looking to set up a manufacturing facility or something, to that absolutely, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And that particular credential does evaluate one’s soft skills and employees. Soft skills, their work ethic, their willingness to work their willingness to contribute to an employer’s success, and then ultimately to their success. It’s, it’s credential that ways and balances an employee’s ability to contribute.
