Chamber president dreams of growth

The chamber of commerce will conduct a community survey.

By D.A. WILKINSON

VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU

WELLSVILLE — The Rev. Bruce Ballantine has a dream.

The pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church, in a message for Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year, spoke of it.

“I have a dream of a Wellsville where new businesses are opening instead of closing,” he said. “I have a dream of a Wellsville in which abandoned homes are rehabilitated ... or torn down and new ones built in their place.”

He also spoke of a dream of economic growth, which is likely to happen.

The minister is also the president of the Wellsville Area Chamber of Commerce, which is in an enviable situation: There’s a possibility of 4,000 construction jobs near the village of about 4,300 people.

But the chamber isn’t placing all of its economic plans on the proposed $5 billion coal-to-liquid fuel plant Baard Energy wants to build nearby along the Ohio River.

Chamber officials are working on a number of fronts. They are quick to point out a long list of other individuals and groups in the community who are also working toward a rebirth of the area.

Connie Bauer, the chamber’s treasurer, said 6,000 jobs were lost when the steel and pottery industries collapsed years ago and put hundreds of local residents out of work. “That really hurt,” Bauer said.

Now, chamber officials said, the village is bouncing back. Enrollment is up at the schools, and the village has a small industrial park.

The Rev. Mr. Ballantine said that he considered his work in the chamber part of his ministry.

“Jesus said, ‘Be of the world but not in the world.’ I think some people would do better to be more in the world. We’re trying to make an impact in the community,” he said.

Instead of placing all of its hopes and plans on the Baard project, the chamber is making a long-term plan. Questionnaires are going out to about 24 groups, as well as peoto about 24 groups as well as people ranging from village and school officials and workers, to churches, community groups and even the local St. Francis Animal Shelter.

People will be asked to name improvements they want to see, the village’s strengths and top problems, and what could be done to strengthen the community.

Some of the positives that have occurred in the community in the last decade include construction of a new high school, creation of the Buckeye Water District, the building of a river-rail-road terminal (that would be used by Baard), the razing of some unsightly buildings, painting some homes through the ministerial association, and the addition of a few businesses.

The responses will help create a vision statement, and a list of goals that can be prioritized in terms of importance, timing, and what realistically can be achieved.

The minister said that the results should be compiled by the end of the year.

In the meantime, the chamber will soon have a Web site in place. The site will have links to other chambers of commerce in Columbiana County communities, and links to attractions and facilities in the individual communities.

The goal is to help contractors working on the proposed Baard plant find materials or services during construction. But the site will help others in the community find services and activities.

wilkinson@vindy.com