City, county officials put out welcome mat for companies

The Ohio River is one of the county's most valuable resources, an official says.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
WELLSVILLE -- To say that this piece of riverside land is linked to the rest of the world is not an exaggeration.
Thanks to the nearby Ohio River, molasses from Louisiana and ore from around the world make their way to the Columbiana County Port Authority Intermodal Industrial Park.
Making the park their home are Barretts Minerals Inc. and Quality Liquid Feeds, the park's only tenants, so far.
Ton after ton of ore is delivered to Barretts via sea and river from such far-flung locales as Asia, Australia, Jamaica and Finland.
The Barretts plant, which employs 17 people, processes the ore for industrial use as talc, calcium, mica and barium sulfate.
The materials find their way into products such as golf balls, talcum powder, chewing gum, dishwasher and refrigerator parts and automobile parts.
Quality Liquid Feeds, which employs about 20 people, receives the Louisiana molasses, which is used in the animal-feed industry.
Anticipate more tenants
Port authority, county and local officials say they believe improvements already made and scheduled to be made to the facility will draw even more enterprises to join Barretts and Quality Liquid Feeds.
That's just fine with Todd Salvato, Barretts plant manager.
"There's power in numbers," Salvato said of the prospect of more business neighbors. "We're pretty isolated now. Sometimes our employees don't feel as though they're part of something."
Salvato said Barretts wants to expand. The company, which is part of a group owned by New York City-based Minerals Technologies Inc., hopes eventually to add more employees, processes and buildings to its Wellsville site.
Aiding that goal will be the port authority's plans to build a new dock nearby and to install on it a sophisticated cargo-handling system.
"We're very happy to be here," Salvato said. "People have a good work ethic."
Wellsville Mayor Joe LaScola would like to see more local residents have a chance to prove that.
LaScola has watched over the years as the port authority has poured millions of dollars into the site to rehabilitate it from industrial ruins.
"They've done a super job," LaScola said. "We're in high hopes of having more industry move in there."
'Great addition'
County Commissioner Jim Hoppel said the park "has been a great addition to our county. It will mature into a profitable area. In the next few years, it's really going to expand," Hoppel predicted.
He agreed the site is relatively quiet now, with only two businesses operating there.
But he defended the money and time that's been spent rehabilitating the old site.
It's a case of investing now to reap profits later.
"That's being proactive," Hoppel said. "We're guiding where business is going to be," he added.
The Ohio River is perhaps the county's greatest natural asset and probably its most underused, Hoppel said.
"I don't believe the county has ever used the potential of the river until now," he said. "We're sitting on a gold mine down there."