{"id":38068,"date":"2013-05-03T07:29:53","date_gmt":"2013-05-03T12:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=38068"},"modified":"2013-05-04T08:19:05","modified_gmt":"2013-05-04T13:19:05","slug":"new-county-economic-development-position-created","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2013\/05\/03\/new-county-economic-development-position-created\/","title":{"rendered":"County development position created"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong><\/p>\n

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

Economic development has taken on even greater priority in Van Wert County with the hiring of a part-time business outreach coordinator by the County Board of Commissioners.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sarah Smith, the newly-hired county business outreach coordinator, works at her desk on Thursday. (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sarah Smith was in her new office on Thursday and will work with Van Wert Economic Director Cindy Leis to bring needed jobs to the county.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Thad Lichtensteiger stressed that Smith\u2019s hiring is not meant as competition to the existing economic development efforts, but to provide additional development efforts for the county. In fact, he said the commissioners would work hard to ensure that Smith\u2019s efforts are coordinated with those of Leis and the Ohio State University Extension development program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this will be the best of all worlds,\u201d Lichtensteiger said of the county\u2019s adding new economic development efforts to the existing development program.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Todd Wolfrum added that the increase in county permissive tax revenues has allowed the county to have more flexibility in bringing on an economic development person at this time, although because Smith was hired as an independent contractor, he said the county would keep costs down by not paying out health insurance and other benefits for her.<\/p>\n

The commissioners did acknowledge that, with the local economy still more than a little shaky, the added expense of a county economic development person is not \u201cperfect timing,\u201d but also stated that the move is \u201cconsistent with the commissioners\u2019 commitment to the growth of the county\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lichtensteiger said having a county development person should be a priority for the county. \u201cWhen I ran for county commissioner, I said economic development is Job 1,\u201d Lichtensteiger said. \u201cIt seems silly to say this is a priority and then not give it extra funding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The newly created position will be responsible for targeting businesses in the surrounding areas that might be interested in expansion opportunities available in the Van Wert County. In addition, Smith will head local efforts to assist the county\u2019s villages will developing economic opportunities and exploring other potential development through targeted visits and cold calls.<\/p>\n

Lichtensteiger added that Smith\u2019s energy and creativity would also be an asset in providing more communication between the commissioners\u2019 office and township and village government.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s always been about Van Wert County, what\u2019s best for the county,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to working with Leis and learning from her experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a release from the commissioners\u2019 office, the county initiative is aimed at helping Van Wert County \u201cassert itself in the very competitive market for jobs and economic growth, while still retaining the hometown atmosphere and quality of life that the residents of the county have always enjoyed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lichtensteiger said the commissioners would meet with the County Economic Development Advisory Group\u2019s executive committee next week to complete the final details of the collaboration between Smith and Leis\u2019 office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor Economic development has taken on even greater priority in Van Wert County with the hiring of a part-time business outreach coordinator by the County Board of Commissioners. Sarah Smith was in her new office on Thursday and will work with Van Wert Economic Director Cindy Leis to bring needed jobs to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 11:07:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38068\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}