Representatives from the Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce, including a number of elected officials and business representatives, gathered in Columbus at the State House on Wednesday morning for their Chamber of Commerce Legislative Day.

The Chamber had separate sessions on transportation and economic development with representatives of various state agencies, such as ODOT, Ohio Development Services Agency (ODSA), Appalachian Partnership for Economic Growth (APEG) and others, before coming back together for a lunch with keynote speaker, Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor.

LEDC executive director, Dr. Bill Dingus, emphasized the link between the two panels, noting that much of the recent attention that Lawrence County and the surrounding region have received from industrial and manufacturing interests has to do with the confluence of highways, rail systems, and river access that the area offers.

Dan Mooney, Lawrence and Scioto regional president of Wesbanco, also mentioned transportation facilities in his presentation on recent economic development in the county.

Mooney talked about The Point industrial park, and it’s “excellent road and rail access,” as well as the development of a river port, and how that has helped create approximately 700 new jobs since the industrial park’s creation.

Mooney also discussed how the developments there, and at other LEDC locations, have helped transform attitudes in Lawrence County and surrounding communities, making people in the area feel more hopeful about their future. “For Lawrence County, the LEDC has helped foster a positive feeling (about the future),” Mooney said. “Lawrence County is definitely on an upward climb.”

Mooney also noted that, since its formation, LEDC has grown from around $1 million to $40 million in equity, and worked on projects from the industrial to smaller scale projects like purchasing and cleaning up four abandoned gas stations, multiple abandoned homes, and even a hotel. “All to help advance the community,” Mooney said.

APEG Associate Director Mike Jacoby and Assistant Director of the southern region Katy Farber, spoke about their agency, and how it could serve, in Jacoby’s words, as “a gateway to JOBS Ohio at the regional area.”

Jacoby called the LEDC’s real estate developments “impressive” before discussing a new sight readiness grant initiative that could help prepare some of those properties for use by job creators.

The grant would provide state dollars at a two to one ratio for every local dollar spent on site surveys and due-diligence studies. Jacoby also discussed talent acquisition programs that could help companies “recruit the talent they need.” Farber said that for her part, it was exciting to see the development occurring locally.

“Some days it’s a challenge to keep up with what is going on in Lawrence County,” Farber said.

She explained that the JOBS Ohio funds made available through their department were not always restricted by the same statutory requirements of other state funds or grants, so you can ask, “What does this project need?” and find funding for it through them.

Other projects they could help fund include grants for workforce training or capital equipment needs. They also represent some statutory programs, such as job creation tax credits.

While this gets a little tricky in our area, with employees drawn from, and travelling to jobs, across the Tri-State, there are ways to quantify the number of Ohioans employed and reward that.

The new Braidy aluminum development planned for Greenup County, for instance, requires around 37 percent of the employees to be Kentucky residents for Braidy to receive tax credits.

Matt Peters, assistant director of the Ohio Development Service Agency, encouraged folks to come to his department specifically for small projects. While there is always competition for the large fund grants, he said, there isn’t always the same competition for projects at the $250,000 funding level.

“If you have a small project,” Peters said, “don’t sit on it.”

Jason Wilson, director of the governor’s office of Appalachia, discussed funding for education and training to help move a workforce experienced in coal related industries to the new industries our region hopes to attract. “We understand the history, the culture, the background (of Appalachia),” Wilson said. “We get it.”

“Our goal is to bring resources to your hometown… to your region,” Wilson added, noting that they’ve had “tremendous success” in bringing resources to the county already.

He, too, drew the link between transportation and economic development. “Many of our projects are not what you talk about with your family,” he said. “It’s not cool.”

But, he explained, roads, road access, sewage, water, broadband, and other infrastructure needs are important. “They’re not cool, but they’re necessary,” Wilson said.

He said that while much of the focus is on large projects, they are also working to foster innovation. “Historically, many of our people worked for someone,” Wilson said. “At the mill or at the factory.”

Many of their programs work to “put the opportunity in their hand to be business owners,” he said, and to keep that innovation at home.

“People from southern Ohio can be the next scientists, the next engineer,” Wilson said.

Dingus expanded on that, saying that one of the areas that he would like to see the region focus on is research and development into the use of carbon fibers.

“We believe the future of the country is in carbon fibers,” Dingus said. “We want to move into the research of this. We really see carbon fibers as one of the better things we should be working on.”

Dingus again brought the conversation full circle on transportation and development, noting that HWI will be using the river to transport raw materials via barge from both China and South America, and that another business at The Point is looking at growing their electrical generator business on a scale that would require some of their new, larger products to be shipped via barge because of the sheer scale.

During the keynote, Taylor focused on regulatory reform, tax reform, and addressing the drug addiction crisis gripping the state.