by Isabella Carwile | Jun 5, 2025 | Business Advisory Council, Business Expansion, Community, Events, PCED Office, Shoutout, Workforce
Paulding County Economic Development Press Release June 5, 2025
LATTY – The Paulding County Business Advisory Council (BAC) gathered for their second quarter meeting last week. It was the first meeting since the school year ended. This second quarter meeting is always scheduled in conjunction with Teacher Boot Camp to allow teachers to join in the meeting. The hope is that with more educators being introduced to local business leaders, more collaboration will take place in the future.
The group met at the Latty Mercer Landmark facility. Their newly expanded facility and state-of-the-art conference room allow enough space to host all participants. The meeting brought in 17 guests for the meeting.
Introductions were made before the group was updated about the current Teacher Boot Camp agenda. Mercer Landmark was the 12th business stop of 13 scheduled during the three-day tour. Tours during the week were provided at all three county schools, Paragon Tempered Glass, PC Hospital, North American Stamping, H.E. Orr Company, Robert’s Manufacturing, virtual tour at Cooper Farms, Baughman Tile, Vantage Career Center, Mercer Landmark, and Haviland Plastics.
Monday opened the camp at the Western Buckeye ESC office and included 10 different business/social service group presentations on site. The Paulding County Commissioners, PC Engineer, Limitless/PC Workshop, PC Sheriff Department, First Financial Bank, OSU Extension, OhioMeansJobs, Wessler Engineering, and Foundations Behavioral all presented on day one. In addition, Ashland University had a representative introduce information to get all the teachers signed up so they could receive CEU credit for participating in the camp.
Moving past the boot camp discussion, Paulding County Economic Development (PCED) Director Tim Copsey facilitated discussion about the Business & Industry Career Day Expo held in April. Great thoughts were shared by the group as to how the intent of the day needs to be more clearly identified. Are we looking at this event as a career hiring event, or just an informational day for students to learn more about employment opportunities in the county? It was decided that more discussion will need to take place to determine that answer. However, new thoughts were shared in regard to resume building and exchange, soft skill preparation for discussion, eye contact and communication, attire, and overall presentation. This could provide better interaction between the schools and local business leaders.
The discussion then turned to the Vantage Career Center Adult CNA healthcare program. Now that high school students can be included in this adult instruction program, the county is looking at ways to include the students who have the desire to attend this training during the summer. This would allow employment opportunities in areas with local healthcare providers during the summer months as well as the school year. Adult Director Angie Fahy provided scheduling updates with the group and then how they can potentially fund the student fees. The group is excited to see this program move forward for the first time, to see how it can be built upon in the future.
Information was provided for the county fair that started this week. Businesses, colleges, and schools have the opportunity to set up a booth in the business buildings at the fair and promote themselves. It’s a great opportunity to market or interact with the general public. The interest in these spaces is up, and more businesses than ever before have reached out, so space is limited.
The attendees from the local schools and colleges each provided updates as to their interaction with local businesses. Indiana Tech and Northwest State both shared upcoming meeting and opportunity dates, as did representatives from the Wayne Trace HS STEAM Center.
The next meeting will be held on August 13 at the PCED office. For more information about the Paulding County Business Advisory Council or how to get in contact with the group, please reach out to Jessica Stechschulte at the economic development office at 419-399-8295 or office@pced.net.
by Isabella Carwile | May 15, 2025 | Business Advisory Council, Community, Jobs, PCED Office, Shoutout, Workforce
Paulding County Economic Development Press Release May 15, 2025
PAULDING – Representatives from the villages of Antwerp, Cecil, Grover Hill, Haviland, Oakwood, and Payne gathered for the Q2 Paulding County Mayors Association meeting this week at the Paulding County Economic Development (PCED) office.
Following introductions, the group was introduced to Nikki Reese, the new Economic Development Director from the Maumee Valley Planning Organization (MVPO). Reese is replacing Will Burns at the office, who recently retired. Reese shared that she grew up in the West Unity area of northwest Ohio before attending Wittenberg University. Her studies led her to the Darke County area, where she engaged in watershed studies and grant writing. The opportunity to come back to Northwest Ohio, in a similar role, enticed her to this position. She shared the low-to-moderate income studies with each village and expressed how individual studies can be provided with the help of MVPO for future designated projects.
Hans Rosebrock, with the Mannik & Smith Group, introduced himself and shared information about all the resources they have and can provide for the villages. With the many arms of engineering, environmental studies, surveying, planning, and project implementation, their team can be a full-service provider to small communities.
Village of Payne Mayor Lora Lyons then provided a brief presentation to the group about how the village is using some Chat GPT features in letter writing, project planning, and graphic design. She shared some other features, including the development of new digital file documents from older existing hard copy documents, and they weren’t sure where they originated. This led to an interactive conversation about the possibilities of taking multiple village zoning codes and overlaying them with each other for a county comparison. This could help guide further discussion on getting closer to comparable zoning around the county. This could also be done with township zoning. With the growing use of artificial intelligence, all in attendance agreed this would probably not be the last discussion on this topic.
PCED Director Tim Copsey updated each attending community on their current open land bank projects and where the land bank is in bidding out the new round two projects. Copsey also shared that if there is a list of homes in each community that the Land Bank should be aware of for purchase and rehabilitation that each village should provide a list of those homes to the Land Bank committee.
by Isabella Carwile | May 15, 2025 | Business Advisory Council, Community, Events, Jobs, PCED Office, Workforce
Paulding County Economic Development Press Release May 15, 2025
PAULDING –The Paulding County Economic Development Office hosted a Business Advisory Council (BAC) Steering Committee Meeting this month. The state mandated committee consists of bringing together a diverse group of local leaders, educators, and business professionals to collaborate on initiatives connecting educators and county students with local businesses and career opportunities.
The committee reflected on the recent Business and Industry Expo event. Participants shared success stories and brainstormed ways to make next year’s event even more impactful for students and employers.
The discussion took some great discussion twists and turns as participants collaborated on new thoughts and shared potential ideas for new ways to connect educators with business leaders and encouraged a deeper commitment to workforce development and community growth.
Recognizing the importance of early career engagement, attendees expressed new strategy thoughts to involve younger students and foster more hands-on learning experiences. A key discussion emphasized that introducing students to career opportunities at an earlier age can broaden their mindset, helping students realize the many diverse career paths available within the county.
Discussions then turned to the implementation and scheduling for the upcoming Teacher Bootcamp, a dynamic program designed to help educators earn their CEU hours while gaining firsthand knowledge about Paulding County businesses and local industries through guided business tours. Spots are still available for anyone in the northwest Ohio region hoping for CEU credit through Ashland University.
Another point of focus was the planning of the STNA Summer Program. Conversations centered on overcoming challenges in securing a certified instructor for the STNA training. Angie Fahy, Adult Education Director at Vantage Career Center, shared thoughts on available funding opportunities that could help cover the costs of STNA classes for students. A key component in this would be finding as much scholarship money as possible to overcome any financial barriers. All information discussed will be explored further to identify the best option to help launch the STNA Summer Program this summer.
The full BAC meeting will be held on June 5 at 1:00 PM at the Mercer Landmark conference room located at 14170 State Route 613 in Paulding, Ohio. For more information, please contact Jessica Stechschulte at 419-399-8295 or Office@pced.net.
