Greene board OKs workforce study, incubator plan
The Greene County Board approved two plans Thursday that commissioners said would help guide future growth in the county.
In 3-0 votes, commissioners approved a Barriers to Workforce Study and the Greene County Business Operations and Strategic Plan.
The business plan, prepared by Waynesburg University eHIVE, mapped out operations for the county’s new incubator in the Silveus Building on Waynesburg’s High Street.
“They have multiple strategic partners that they have received throughout the community,” said board Chairman Jared Edgreen. “They did focus groups throughout the community, got small businesses involved, so they have a lot of contacts, a lot of good information on how we move forward here.”
The county is taking one of the steps outlined in the study and working on a job description to hire a person to implement the plan.
Commissioners hope to open the incubator this summer.
“It’ll be a slow launch, getting someone hired and kind of building out the structure of what it’s going to be, pulling in those stakeholders,” Edgreen said.
The incubator has up to 16 offices on the upper floor, though the flexible floor plan allows for the spaces to be adjusted as needed, Edgreen said.
The workforce study, conducted by Camoin Associates, was targeted at looking at obstacles preventing people from seeking employment, or from living in the area, said Vice Chair Betsy McClure.
The two largest hindrances were education and transportation. Educational issues included getting students recertified and supporting non-traditional educational problems such as the Greene County Technology Center, said clerk Jeff Marshall.
McClure said she thought the study would complement the efforts already underway in the county.
“Before that was even identified, I think internally we had identified it amongst ourselves, and we’ve been working with our Career and Technology Center, and we’re also working on transportation,” she said.
The county’s plans also include the new transportation service approved last month in coordinator with Carnegie Mellon University.
Both studies were entirely grant-funded, commissioners said.