COLUMBIANA COUNTY Career center offers software to libraries

LISBON -- Area libraries are being offered free computer software their patrons can use to explore career options.
Columbiana County commissioners learned of the project Wednesday from Bruce Balogh, work force director for the county career and technical center.
Balogh said the CareerTek software is being offered to the county's libraries free as part of a public service effort by the career center's adult education arm.
Cost of installing the software will be about $800 per library, Balogh explained. There is no cost to libraries for accepting or maintaining the software, he added.
So far, two of the seven public libraries in the county, those in Salem and Columbiana, have expressed interest in getting the software, Balogh said. The career center has yet to hear from the other libraries regarding the recent offer.
The software was developed by a private company using a U.S. Department of Labor database, Balogh said.
Patrons at participating libraries will be able to access the program to explore nearly 1,000 careers.
The software uses a question-and-answer format to determine career-searchers' interests, capabilities, goals and educational level.
It then helps match them to suitable careers, for which it provides key information such as anticipated earnings.
Libraries in Columbiana County that are interested in the software could receive it as early as November, Balogh said.
Flooding problem
In other business, Commissioner Dave Cranmer said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will require that samples be taken from sandbars clogging a section of Little Beaver Creek near Franklin Square, an unincorporated community in Salem Township.
Responding to area residents' complaints that the creek frequently floods, county officials are investigating the possibility of removing sandbars that are partly responsible for the problem.
The federal EPA has noted, however, that that part of Little Beaver Creek is contaminated with Mirex, a carcinogen that entered the water decades ago through the operation of a former chemical plant near Salem.
EPA officials want to determine whether Mirex is in the sandbars needing to be removed, Cranmer explained.
If so, the material may require special handling, or EPA officials may ban disturbing it, he added.
County officials are awaiting more details from the EPA before deciding how to proceed, Cranmer said.
Repairs also may be needed for the county courthouse's clock tower.
Commissioners noted that the clocks in each of the tower's four sides give a different time.
Officials are looking into the potential cost of fixing the timepieces.