Economic development director will be kept busy

LISBON - If federal stimulus money is awarded to create the position of Columbiana County economic development director, the person hired for the position will have a very ambitious task ahead of them.

According to the application, the director's goals would be to bring eight new businesses to the county and 125 jobs over a two-year period. And not just any business will do but ones that would pay a minumum of $15 per hour.

The development director would also be expected to help generate another 75 jobs during that period by helping a minimum of five existing businesses expand.

No easy task for a local economy that has been losing manufacturing jobs for the past five years and a county where the unemployment rate hit 14.7 percent, the highest since 1982.

"We understand those are pretty significant goals, but I think any goal can be attained. We just have to be aggressive," said Penny Traina, chairman of the board of county commissioners. "We want to show the state we are serious about the position."

The money for the position comes from $446,000 in stimulus money awarded to the Community Action Agency in the form of federal Community Services Block Grant program. The CAA is seeking permission from the state to use some of the stimulus money on behalf of county commissioners to reinstate the economic development director position abolished in 2001 because the last director was unable to obtain enough federal and state grants to continue paying for position.

County Port Authority Chief Executive Officer Tracy Drake has served as the somewhat de facto county economic development director since 2001, helping commissioners when possible, but the port authority is a separate organization with its own governing board. Commissioners want a director they can work with directly and pursue grants the port authority wouldn't be eligible to seek.

Approximately $311,229 would be used to fund the economic development director position until October 2010, which is deadline for the expenditure of all stimulus money, although an extension may be granted by Congress. In addition to aggressively going after bringing businesses to the county, the director would also apply for state and federal grants for other projects, a portion of which can be used to pay for the position. In this way, the director would again become a self-sustaining position.

An economic development initiative board would be created to hire the director and oversee his or her efforts. The members would include representatives from the county and local government, business leaders, social service agencies and the community. Traina said the board would set the salary and conduct the job interviews.

To help pay for the position, commissioners are considering having the CAA also serve as administrator of the federal housing rehabilitation grants the county receives. The CAA is expected to charge less for administering the programs, allowing commissioners to apply the savings to the economic development director. Once the position is self-sustaining, the director will take over administration of these grant programs.

The CAA is also committing stimulus and non-stimulus funds for up to two years toward the director position. The county engineer's office is donating office space as well as phone and Internet service, along with infrastructure planning services.

The same application also seeks permission by the CAA to use $100,901 in stimulus money for the CAA to hire someone full-time to write grants and develop a better system to report program outcomes to its board and the public. The idea is for this position to also become self sustaining using the portion of grants that can be spent for administration.

The CAA is also wanting to spend $30,096 of the stimulus money to expand the farmer's market program to serve not only poor seniors but non-elderly households. The program provides $50 in coupons to income-eligible recipients, which can be redeemed at participating local farmer's markets.