Phone number is key for business

The state needs to know what people want in their
communities.

By D.A. WILKINSON

VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU

SALEM — Got plans? Got a problem? Got an idea? Get a phone number.

That was the key advice at a Columbiana County Economic Development Workshop on Wednesday.

The event was sponsored by Salem Area Enterprise Development Forum at the Salem Community Center. David Nestic, the SAEDF chairman, said the program was mostly about education.

About 25 area officials and business people attended.

People in business may not know where to go to get help for development projects. Local elected officials may not know where to go, either, he said.

And both may find it hard to wade through the alphabet soup of government agencies.

Instead, Nestic said, “Get a number.”

And here it is, along with a name: Call (740) 439-2263 to reach Lisa Duvall, the governor’s regional economic development director based in Cambridge.

State officials joked that if people at the workshop came away with nothing else, they should come away with that number. Lists of other workers and agencies were distributed at the seminar.

Getting in touch

But Duvall can refer people to the various state economic development programs affecting Columbiana County.

Duvall said that the state needs to know what people want in their communities.

Brad Biggs, a business development representative for the Ohio Department of Development, said one person can’t do all the work.

“We have to be partners,” Biggs said.

Officials from ODOD, the Governor’s Office of Appalachia, and the Ohio Mid-Eastern Government’s Association, briefly outlined what they do.

State help can range from job retention for employers of 1,000 or more workers, state and local tax incentives, property tax exemptions, and exemptions on sales taxes for some purchases such as manufacturing equipment.

The state can speed up the needed state permits, help with road development, and offer insurance premium discounts through the state Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

wilkinson@vindy.com