Young Professionals of Paulding County upcoming event at Puckerbrush Pizza

Young Professionals of Paulding County upcoming event at Puckerbrush Pizza

PAULDING, OH – Are you a young professional who lives, works, or worships in Paulding County? Consider checking out the next Young Professionals of Paulding County event, Tuesday, August 30th at 6:00 pm at Puckerbrush Pizza located at 117 E Merrin St Payne, OH. On Tuesday, the group will hear from Economic Development Director, Tim Copsey, and have a chance to network and make new connections. Pizza and drinks will be provided.  Contact Kristen Schilt at office@pced.net to RSVP or check Facebook for more details.

Business & Industry Appreciation Banquet on Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Business & Industry Appreciation Banquet on Tuesday, November 1, 2022

We appreciate and thank you for being a member of the Paulding County Economic Development (PCED) Investment Team!

The PCED board of directors and staff invite you to attend our upcoming Business & Industry Appreciation Banquet on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, at Grant’s Catering in Antwerp. Social Hour will be from 5:30-6:30 pm and dinner will be served at 6:30 pm.

As a membership benefit, you have access to two complimentary banquet reservations. Please RSVP here by October 11th: https://forms.gle/foB7HZ49C1jW343G9 . Additional tickets can be purchased for $30. Payment can be taken ahead of time or the night of the banquet.

Feel free to call the office at 419-399-8295 with any questions or to RSVP.

Next guest on Paulding County Business Weekly: Double D Dairy Bar

Next guest on Paulding County Business Weekly: Double D Dairy Bar

Hear it here! Next up on Paulding County Business Weekly, we’ll learn about Double D Dairy Bar. We’ll hear from Vicki Mewhorter, owner, and Tami AuFrance, manager. Enjoy an inside look at their ice cream and sandwich service business and understand the history of the store and how this ownership developed. We’ll explore the historical significance of the new sign and learn about this great Paulding County business and how it has become an economic importer right in Melrose, Ohio!
Thanks to Ohio Means Jobs, you can tune in Tuesdays & Thursdays at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. or listen online at my1027.org/paulding-county-business-weekly. Paulding County Business Weekly is also available in podcast form through Apple, Google & Spotify. #pauldingcountystrong

Paulding County Economic Development Board sees positive outlook

PAULDING – The Paulding County Economic Development (PCED) Board met this week with all board members present.  John Kobee, President of PCED Diamond Investment Member Antwerp Exchange Bank, and former PCED Board Chair, was invited to update the board about the bank.  Kobee spoke on current events with the bank branches in Antwerp, Payne and Harlan, IN, and shared some incite on current banking conditions.  Kobee also shared what it means for the bank to be an active community participant and investment member with the PCED office.  The group agreed in whole that this collaboration is beneficial to both parties and all the residents and communities they serve.

PCED Director Tim Copsey then updated the board on office business.  Copsey announced the Small Business Innovation Center, which is a small business incubator office space managed by the PCED office, is at capacity.  The eight finished offices are all currently being rented.  Discussion with the board followed as there is still room for two additional spaces to be developed.  The board approved estimates be obtained to develop these last two spaces.  A determination from the board of how to move forward will take place upon receipt of the estimates.

It was shared that private membership investment into the PCED office is up 13.5% over the 2021 record year.  At this point in 2022 there have been 31 new investment members added to the roster.  Copsey asked the board to continue providing investor leads for the office to follow up on and add as potential opportunities to add even more members in the future.

Discussion took place in regard to the strategic plan for Paulding County.  A draft of decided goals was recently presented from the board.  Copsey presented some possible tracking for reaching those goals to the group.  Pertinent discussion followed and a decided forward path was developed.  This path will tie into future director presentations to the board and will be monitored for depth of value in the future.

Copsey shared that it has recently been agreed by all three county community improvement groups in the county (Antwerp/Payne/Paulding County, Paulding Village & Oakwood Village) to collectively meet and share some thoughts and ideas.  This has been discussed in the past but this was the first time it was suggested by the groups themselves.  A near future date will be set for the discussion.

The regular business agenda followed including:

Board consent for Copsey to attend the upcoming annual Ohio Economic Development Summit in Dublin, OH October 4-6.

Banquet update for the annual event to be held at Grant’s Catering in Antwerp November 1, 2022

Financial Committee update to discuss current budget and projections.

Executive session to discuss future salary and benefit packages for new and existing office employees.

The board will meet again in a regular meeting on Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Paulding County All CIC Meeting Success

PAULDING – Collaboration continues to be the theme in Paulding County and this week was an exciting culmination of that.  For the first time in many years, and perhaps ever, the three county Community Improvement Corporations (CIC) met jointly around the same table, in the same meeting, to discuss moving Paulding County forward together.

Members from the Antwerp/Payne Paulding County CIC, Oakwood Development Corporation (ODC) and Paulding CIC followed an agenda developed by county Economic Development Director Tim Copsey.

“Since I began in this role it has been a goal to get all three of these powerful entities together to possibly work collaboratively.  They all do tremendous things in their own local areas and each are represented on the county Economic Development Board, but beyond those meetings there isn’t any sharing of thoughts or discussion.  There have been some obstacles in the past, but little by little members have changed, philosophy has changed, and maybe even some old burned bridges have been mended or rebuilt.  We would like to think our office had a little to do with that, but however it happened, we are excited for this positive meeting and momentum,” stated Copsey.

Copsey shared about how the Northwest Ohio Regional Economic Development (NORED) group works with area county economic development directors meeting and sharing ideas; shared the same about the Northeast Indiana Regional Growth Partnership; then updated the group on a recent meeting with eight area economic development directors from Steuben, Dekalb, Allen and Adams Counties in Indiana and Williams, Defiance, Paulding and Van Wert Counties in Ohio.  It was noted that if these collaborative meetings can work why not our three entities working together right here for the overall good of Paulding County?

Lively discussion followed about the possibilities but it was quickly noted that nothing would happen without funding.  The discussion then turned to the Land Reutilization Committee and Paulding County Area Foundation Director being invited to see if there might be further collaboration involved to get projects rolling together.  There was also in-depth discussion about establishing fundraising event opportunities to develop seed money.

The excitement was enough that there is already a follow-up meeting scheduled for the group to meet again in August to review initial thoughts and decide how to develop a collective plan forward.  For more information or questions about any of the CIC groups in the county contact the PCED office at 419-399-8282.