NEW YORK: An integration of Lawrence County’s chamber of commerce and economic development corporation is on the horizon.
The definite parameters of such a marriage are not yet known; however, a volunteer integration committee appointed by the boards of the Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce and the Lawrence County Economic Development Corp. has been sanctioned to proceed with the intermixing of the two groups.
Linda Nitch, economic development corporation executive director, said the corporation board of directors had passed a motion to integrate with the chamber, with the idea of securing grant funding for the move.
“I have not been privy to any negotiations that have gone on,” she said yesterday. “They’re telling us that Bob McCracken and I would stay on in our respective positions.”
McCracken, executive director of the Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce, said he, too, was told as well that his job would remain intact and that the two agencies would integrate.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “I think it will be a good thing for Lawrence County.”
“I’m out of the loop on this,” he added, as far as knowing any details being planned. “It’s all being done by the volunteer board.”
He was referring to the integration committee, which on the chamber’s behalf includes businessmen Justin Bruce, John Cournan, Frank Moses and Chuck Jackson. Representing economic development on the committee are Jonathan Bruce, Nick Paolini and Mark Tomaszewski. Lawrence County Commissioner Steve Craig is spearheading it as the facilitator.
Craig, recently re-elected to serve his fourth four-year term as a Lawrence County commissioner, had said during a pre-election interview with the New Castle News that getting the two agencies and the county’s tourist promotion agency to pull together and work for the same goal — to attract people, business, industry and jobs to the county — was his most important aim if he was re-elected. The process is well under way, he said yesterday, but the legalities and details are not all ironed out yet and the final results could be a few months from now.
