395 Seneca Street
P.O. Box 1127
Oil City, PA 16301
Phone:
814.677.4800
Fax: 814.677.7663
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The holidays
are just around the corner and that means shopping, decorating,
and spending time with family and friends. During this season it
is always important to remember our local merchants. A great way
to help out the local economy and get unique gifts for those on
your list is to shop locally. For the gift exchange at the
Northwest Commission, the staff was encouraged to purchase gifts
from local merchants in the eight-county region. There are many
wonderful items available, so be creative and help support local
business.
(Click on
thumbnail for larger image)
Denise
McCloskey Appointed to PEDA Board of Directors
Beginning in January 2008 I have been selected to serve on the
Pennsylvania Economic Development Association’s Board of
Directors. PEDA is the statewide association of local, state,
corporate, and non-profit economic development professionals.
The Association’s mission is to promote economic development
policies, providing leading edge economic development education,
and nurture an effective statewide economic development network
to foster the economic growth of the Commonwealth.
Northwest
Commission Orientation
The
Northwest Commission offered an orientation session on December
10th at the Cross Creek resort. This session was open
to both new and existing board members, legislators, and
partners. It included a presentation on each of the Commission’s
services and offered time for question and answers from the
attendees. Overall it was a great opportunity for everyone to
meet new staff members and find out what the Northwest Commission
is doing for the eight-county region.
(Click on the
thumbnail for a larger image)
Foxburg
Receives a $25,000 ARC Grant
The
Northwest Commission received a $25,000 Appalachian Regional
Commission grant to develop the Foxburg Revitalization and
Tourism Based Destination Plan. Recently a tourism and market
assessment was completed for Foxburg Borough. Foxburg and its
residents have enveloped the recommendations and would like to
move forward, but to do that a master plan should be developed.
The master plan will enable Foxburg to develop the area in an
orderly fashion. It will be a working document that will
delineate specific development activities with cost estimates and
site plans.
Welcome New
Staff
Garrett Carulli joined the staff of the Northwest Commission as
the Assistant Fiscal Manager. Most recently Carulli was an
Accountant for Matric Limited in Seneca. There he was
responsible for book journal entries, cash management and
invoicing, and financial analysis. Prior to this position he
gained 3 years experience at Northwest Savings Bank where he
served as a Personal Banker/Management Trainee, and then as a
Credit Review Specialist. Garrett is a welcome addition to the
Northwest Commission’s staff.
Vonda Caldwell
has accepted the position of Senior Administrative Assistant for
the Northwest Commission. For the past 5 years, Vonda worked in
the Clarion County Prothonotary’s office, prior to that she
managed an office in North Carolina for 11 years. Please join me
in welcoming Vonda to our team.
The Christmas season is a very busy time of year, but I encourage
you all to take the time and enjoy the true meaning of
Christmas. From everyone at the Northwest Commission, have a
happy and safe holiday season!
Sincerely,
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One Loan Closed
– One Loan Approved
-
In November,
the Northwest Commission closed one loan:
Ferraro
Enterprises, Inc. d/b/a Moe’s Southwest Grill
of Erie County closed on a $200,000 EDA/RLF loan to purchase
restaurant equipment. Eight jobs will be created within three
years.
Regenex
Corporation of Mercer County.
Microloan
interest rate reduced to 6%
At
the December meeting, the Northwest Commission’s Board of
Directors approved an interest rate reduction for the microloan
program from 9 percent to 6 percent, effective immediately. For
details on the eligibility of this loan fund, visit:
http://www.nwcommission.org/images/PDFs/MicroNew.pdf
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Doing
Business with the Defense Logistics Agency Seminar
A
representative from the Defense Supply Center Columbus (DSCC)
provided Training Knowledge Opportunities (TKO) training to area
businesses at a recent event sponsored by the Northwest
Commission’s Government Contracting Program. The Defense Supply
Center’s TKO training offered attendees the opportunity to learn
how to find open solicitations on the DLA Internet Bid Board
System (DIBBS), procedures for viewing and downloading
drawings, and how to submit quotes through the DIBBS quoting
process.
Here are some of
the comments attendees had for this training:
“The training
helped with the general understanding of the application and
implementation. It was a great informational beginning for our
company.”
“The seminar and
handouts provided were very helpful and will be great references
for the future.”
Resource
Spotlight: Federal Acquisition Jumpstation
http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/pub/fedproc/home.html
This
is a great resource that links you to a variety of internet sites
with federal procurement information. This page is designed to
provide the business community a central starting point to
quickly access federal procurement documents, and establishes a
"single face" for federal acquisitions.
January 16th
– Government 101 Mark Your Calendars!
To be
held
at the Northwest Commission, this introductory training
will provide an overview of how to do business with Federal, State
and Local governments. This half-day event will be for any
company who is looking to start working with, or would like to
refresh their memories about, the sites and certifications of the
federal and state procurement process. Topics such as set-asides,
bid leads, registrations, and how to work through government
opportunities will be customized for those companies
attending this
half-day training event. Speakers from the Small Business Agency
and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are scheduled. For more
information and to reserve your spot today, please contact Lori
Moore at
lorimo@nwcommission.org or at 814-677-4800 x104. Watch
our website for further details! Just go to the Government
Contracting section and click on the upcoming trainings link!
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ChipBlaster featured in German
article
German magazine
“Die Welt” chose ChipBlaster, manufacturer of metalworking
equipment from Meadville, for a story discussing exporting
operations of the U.S. companies benefiting from the weak U.S.
dollar. ChipBlaster was one of only five companies throughout the
U.S. that was interviewed by this prestigious magazine for this
article. Bryan Cramer, International Sales Manager, described how
the weak dollar has affected their export operations.
Cramer stated
that having the value of the Euro so strong against the dollar
and the recent boom of machine tool sales in Germany has allowed
ChipBlaster to offer the German and European markets a cost
effective alternative to the standard products of Europe. Most
recently, they were able to meet a customer’s price point because
of the lower dollar to Euro ratio. The
article was printed on Dec. 4 in “Die Welt” magazine and can be
viewed on
www.welt.de (German version only). For English version click
here.
CTD
Opens Trade Office in Russia
Effective Jan. 1, 2008, Pennsylvania’s Center for Trade
Development will officially contract with
Newbridge Group
to
provide export assistance services to the Commission's clients.
The Newbridge Group’s office is
located in Moscow, and the trade portfolio will include the
entire country of Russia. The Northwest Commission’s
International Marketing program is pleased to promote this latest
market and the numerous opportunities it has to offer. Beginning
Jan. 15, companies from the region will be able to submit
requests for this market. For further information, visit
Newbridge Group’s website :
www.newbridgegroup.ru.
For website
translation in English, look for the USA flag on the right side
corner in your screen.
Join the
Commonwealth of PA at the most important mining trade show in
South America: EXPOMIN ! April 15-18, 2008, Santiago, Chile
To
view the official brochure, please click
here.
EXPOMIN is the
largest and most important mining show held in Latin America with
920 exhibitors and 60,000 visitors expected in 2008. Chile has an
immense metallic and aggregates mineral wealth and a long
tradition of mining activity. This long tradition has made
Chile one of the largest and best developed mining sectors in the
world.
Chile is also
one of the most stable, low-risk countries in South America. The
U.S. and Chile entered into a Free Trade Agreement in 2004
increasing bilateral trade by 154% by 2006. In addition, the
relative strengthening of the Chilean peso has had a positive
impact on imports denominated in U.S. dollars.
The best
potential for PA exports
is related to the provision of machinery, equipment and
mechanical components for the stages of drilling, blasting,
transportation, processing, smelting, refining and packaging of
copper. This sector is characterized by a permanent incorporation
of the most sophisticated technology available for extraction,
processing and refinement of ore. Therefore, successful exported
products are those, which incorporate technology and enhance
production efficiency. If a PA company is already supplying
products or services to global mining giants such as Phelps
Dodge, Placer Dome, Anglo American, BHP or CVRD, it has a strong
potential in selling products to Chilean mining companies. The
great investments regarding energy consumption and production in
this sector in order to diversify the energy suppliers are
expected to materialized no sooner than 2009, so today companies
are looking for short term solutions rather than long term.
Deadline for
registration and participation in the Pennsylvania booth is
Feb. 8, 2008.
The first 10 eligible and registered companies will be accepted
and share designated space within a 63-square-meter booth.
For additional
information, contact Joe Burke by phone at 717-720-7366 or by
e-mail at
jburke@state.pa.us
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A draft 2009-2012 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) has
been developed. The next step in this process is a negotiation
with the PennDOT Central Office which will occur in January.
The West
Hickory Bridge project has been completed. The total project
cost was $8,615,000 which was on budget .
The project was let in January 2006 and was completed in October
2007. During construction, endangered mussels in the Allegheny
River were a concern and given special focus to reduce impact on
their environment.
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The MTAP fall computer training sessions have been
successfully completed. Between September and December, 16
courses were conducted in which 104 municipal and county
employees were trained. Overall, participants were very
pleased with the fall courses. According to client
satisfaction forms, 100% of the participants were satisfied
overall with the courses with 90% rating the courses as
“excellent.”
A MTAP
survey has been distributed to all of the municipalities in
the eight-county region. The aim of the survey is to assess
the constant technological needs and interests of
municipalities as well as to monitor interest in programs and
services the Northwest Commission may decide to offer.
Additionally, data collected from the survey will strongly
impact the courses selected for the MTAP 2008 spring computer
training schedule. New courses that may be offered in the
spring include Website Development and internet tools and
search methods.
Included
with the survey will be an application for internet
Connectivity and website Development grants. Municipalities
in need of financial assistance for broadband services and/or
a website should apply. Applications will be reviewed by the
Technology Advisory Group. Deadline to return the survey and
grant application is February 1, 2008.
If you
have any specific ideas or suggestions for MTAP training
programs, please contact Thomas Sanchez at 814.677.4800 x109
or by e-mail at
thomass@nwcommission.org.
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Broadband Mission and Strategy
The Andrew Cohill/Maureen Connelly presentation held November
14, regarding
regional broadband recommendations has prompted some
compelling questions and conversations. The most consistent
themes to these questions and conversations are:
· What
is the appropriate structure, scope and scale of last mile
connectivity solutions of a regional network?
· How
do we address these questions without duplicating existing
efforts?
· Is
there a risk of the public sector intruding upon private
enterprise and free markets?
These questions, and others, will drive and shape the ongoing
broadband and technology programs, initiatives, and
activities of the Commission into the foreseeable future. The
most definitive actions taken toward addressing these
questions to date include:
· Updated
the description of broadband and technology services for the
state: The Northwest Commission is engaged in systematically
evaluating and responding to the technology needs of the
region. Short-term programs seek to educate consumers,
businesses, and community leaders about technology; aggregate
demand for data, video, and voice services in underserved
communities; and; promote local, state, and federal programs
for expansion of existing service. Long-term programs are
oriented toward developing affordable and comprehensive
access to technologies that will drive sustainable economic
development, business attraction and retention, and
innovative community development.
· On
Wednesday December 19th the Technology Advisory
Group (TAG) will convene to consider a purposeful
restructuring of membership and re-orientation of effort. It
has been proposed that the TAG invite nominations from the
chief executive officers or other officials from the
following industries: Hospitals/Healthcare, K-12/Higher
Education; Coops/Utilities; Emergency Management, and; Local
Government.
· Convene
a group of Internet service providers, incumbent and
competitive local exchange carriers, cable providers, and web
based service and content providers that would meet parallel
to the TAG. Invite a representative of the parallel group to
sit on the TAG.
Broadband Outreach and Aggregation
The Bona Fide Retail Request Program (BFRR) continues to be a
driving force for DSL deployment in underserved communities
of Northwest Pennsylvania. BFRR programs are ongoing or have
been completed in several communities throughout the region.
For a list of communities, please visit
www.nwcommission.org/broadbandvision.
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The
Northwest Commission staff has met with the following
organizations to discuss the GIS Services the Commission can
offer:
·
Erie
County Department of Health
·
Meadville
Area Sewer Authority
·
Hempfield
Township, Mercer County
Northwest
Commission staff met with the Erie County Health Department to
discuss ways in which GIS could be used to help map some of the
data that the Health Department collects. After this initial
visit, Commission staff spent a day at the Erie County Department
of Health training a staff person on applications of GIS.
A Request for
Proposal (RFP) for the Regional Parcel Project has been developed
and sent out for potential bidders. The Regional Parcel
Committee conducted a Pre-bid Meeting on November 28, 2007 to
field questions from interested bidders. Proposals were due
December 7, 2007 and five (5) proposals were received. After
short listing the proposals, vendors will be invited to give
presentations the week of December 17th. Proposal
cost estimates and funding strategies/options will be discussed
before awarding the final contract.
Please visit the
improved Neighborhood GIS by going to
www.nwneighborhoodgis.com. The site is now being powered by
ArcGIS Server, a new Internet map server software provided by
ESRI. The Neighborhood GIS site is an interactive mapping web
site that is available to all 265 local governments in northwest
Pennsylvania.
Please contact
Matt Gilara, GISP - Manager, Regional Planning at (814) 677-4800
x102 or
mattg@nwcommission.org if you have any questions regarding
GIS/GPS services.
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