Greenwood County’s efforts at developing a skilled workforce for major industry in the region took a significant step forward on Thursday, when officials unveiled plans for a dual-enrollment program that will enable students to earn a manufacturing production technician certificate while still in high school.
“Part of our industrial retention efforts are listening to our companies, and what they need, and what they say all the time is supporting the workforce challenges that they have,” James Bateman, business development director for the Greenwood Partnership Alliance, told guidance counselors from Greenwood County school districts 50, 51 and 52 during an informational meeting where the program — known as Greenwood Edge — was introduced at the G. Frank Russell Technology Center.
Students are required to have a recommendation from their school counselor to be eligible for the program.
The partnership of Greenwood County school districts and Piedmont Technical College is a sister program to the Greenwood Promise, which is providing seed money to cover tuition costs for the initial 24-student cohort.
That money, Greenwood Promise Executive Director Kris Burris said, comes from an outside grant and is not drawing from the near $5 million endowment set aside to cover gap financial aid for county students to attend Piedmont Technical College’s regular course offerings.
In subsequent years, officials say Greenwood Edge will be self-financed through private sector donations, grants and other means. If it’s successful, the model might even be expanded to address needs in other clusters.
“While we’re starting it in a manufacturing field, it can be duplicated in other fields such as nursing,” Bateman said. Manufacturing jobs comprise 26 percent of Greenwood County’s workforce.
February is also Career and Technical Education Month, which served as a backdrop for Thursday’s announcement.
The Greenwood Edge initiative launches in the fall and was rolled out Thursday to district guidance counselors by Piedmont Tech Associate Vice President Rusty Denning, Regina Washington, the college’s dual enrollment coordinator and Bateman.
High school students enrolled in Edge will get 12 credit hours by taking the following courses: Statistical Process Control, Basic Industrial Skills I, Introduction to Industrial Maintenance, Precision Measurements and Manufacturing Engineering Principles.
Piedmont Tech’s Manufacturing Technician Certificate has a $2,070 value.
Edge was born out of a five-year strategic plan developed by the Partnership Alliance in 2017 that included the creation of a human resources project. After meeting with focus groups that included representation from major manufacturers in the region and trips to other communities with similar initiatives in place, officials crafted a local version.
Denning said students who make it through Edge and obtain their certification will be guaranteed an interview for entry level jobs with participating companies: Ascend Performance Materials, Capsugel, Fujifilm, Greenwood Mills Inc. and Monti Inc.
Bateman said the allocation of slots for the initial 24 students was developed by dividing a high school’s population by the district’s entire student body. In that breakdown, the vacancies are: Eight openings from Greenwood High School, six from Emerald High School, four from Ninety Six High School, and three each for Ware Shoals and students who either are home-schooled or attend a private school in the district.
Creating a pipeline of factory-ready employees has been a key priority of county leaders and economic development officials. The top project to be paid for through the county’s eight-year, $85 million capital projects sales tax collection is the Upstate Center for Manufacturing Excellence on the campus of Piedmont Tech.
Construction on the $6.1 million facility is set to begin later this year. The 45,000-square-foot complex, will house machine tool technology, mechatronics and welding classes while offering flex space for employer-specific training.
In November 2016, Teijin, a Japanese company that specializes in carbon fiber production, announced plans to build a $600 million factory off Highway 246, creating 220 jobs. Greenwood County was able to lure Teijin partly through the promise of directly supporting the manufacturing sector through Piedmont Tech’s center.
Bonnie Corbitt, director of the G. Frank Russell Technology Center, said educators wanted to include attendance as an eligibility guideline so students learn the importance of meeting daily responsibilities.
“This is where attendance counts. Kids think they can be out eight days in a semester, and they can. They’re going to be fired,” she said.
Partners in Greenwood Edge include the state Department of Commerce, Upper Savannah Council of Governments, Lander University, Greenwood Partnership Alliance and the Western Piedmont Education Consortium.
Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Feb 8, 2018
By ADAM BENSON abenson@indexjournal.com
Article Link: https://www.indexjournal.com/news/breaking/greenwood-edge-to-prepare-workforce-for-manufacturing-jobs-in-region/article_2a1cb950-ec98-59da-a6bf-9e523dd0cad4.html
Cokesbury College planning for future with help from sales tax dollars
/in UncategorizedCokesbury College grew out of a grand utopian vision that began in 1824.
Built in 1854 and known then as the Masonic Female College, it offered women a chance to pursue knowledge for $40 a year.
Mount Ariel was renamed Cokesbury in 1834 after Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury, the nation’s first two Methodist preachers.
With a spot on the National Register of Historic Places, the college was also the second location added by the United Methodist General Commission on Archives and History.
“We’ve done a lot of work up there the last few years and we’re trying to continue that as we go forward” Rob Jones, chairman of the Cokesbury Commission, told the Greenwood County Council last week. “A lot of really important things have happened in the area around here, and it’s our job to preserve and maintain it.”
Jones said modern problems of upkeep and maintenance challenge the college’s caretakers to keep the property functional — although a 2017 economic impact study showed the site brings in more than $1 million yearly through weddings and support functions.
It’s also in line for $33,163 in capital project sales tax funds for the construction of modern restroom facilities.
Jones said other enhancements are being planned to ensure Cokesbury College remains viable.
“We plan at some point to acquire an exterior elevator to get people to the second floor. We do run in the black, at least for the last four years, however, our revenue is just enough to keep the doors open and get the bills paid,” he said.
Long-range plans include modernizing an old village store into an education center and upgrading freestanding chapel space to rent out as an events venue.
Jones also referenced a prior relationship between Cokesbury College and council — which provided about $20,000 a year in funding to offset costs in the 1970s and ‘80s.
“We would like for you all to consider in the future to maybe restore annual funding for Cokesbury College or some of the projects we have,” Jones said. Cokesbury is a real jewel in the Greenwood community and Upstate, but it takes a lot to keep it shined up.”
North Greenwood Industrial Park gearing up for tenants
/in UncategorizedA signature economic development project in northern Greenwood County is almost ready to accommodate tenants, as work to bring $1 million of infrastructure to the site is winding down.
In August, County Council voted to allocate $1.1 million for development of the North Greenwood Industrial Park on the U.S. Highway 25 North corridor, with the money going toward construction and engineering of an access road, sewer lines and signage.
The sign and utility lines have been installed, and county leaders said grading on the road is nearly complete.
It’s part of a larger vision for the property, which is also receiving $8.4 million from the capital projects sales tax approved by voters in November. Officials plan to develop a 31.7-acre parcel offering ready-made pads to businesses. Plans also call for the construction of a 100,000-square-foot spec building that can be presented to potential investors.
Putting nearly $10 million into a single piece of land is a significant investment, County Manager Toby Chappell said, but one that officials believe is necessary to ensure the region can stay competitive.
“We need product to sell. We can find companies, give tax incentives and all those things, but if they don’t have a place to build their facility and operate, the two are obviously interrelated,” he said. “Two, it is on a four-lane highway already, so logistically it’s very advantageous to us to put it there.”
The park is near major industries such as Colgate-Palmolive, Diana Pet Foods and UTC Aerospace Systems.
The non-sales tax funds are coming from three places: $600,000 from a state Department of Commerce Grant, $125,000 from Duke Energy’s site readiness program and $395,000 from the county.
Greenwood-based Satterfield Construction Co. was awarded the $866,540 construction contract, and Greenwood Commissioners of Public Works is receiving $55,000.
“If we’re looking to cluster industry together, this is the next logical cluster. And while the number is a lot of money, $725,000 of that is not coming from the county. I think when you look at all of those things together, now was the right time for us to make this move,” Chappell said.
According to a posting on the state Department of Commerce’s website, the property’s per-acre price is $7,500. It’s 29 miles from Interstate 385, 125 miles from Charlotte-Douglas International Airport and 52 miles from the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport. The nearest port is in Charleston – 183 miles away.
With on-site sewer handled by Ware Shoals, electricity is provided by Duke Energy, natural gas by Greenwood’s Commissioners of Public Works and telecommunications by CenturyLink.
Chappell said the industrial park is ready to host tenants “immediately.”
“I think that the Partnership Alliance is actively recruiting businesses to go into the park,” Chappell said. “I think a lot of things would be ideal in there. If you’re looking at heavy industrial, Ware Shoals has wastewater capacity available, I think being on a four-lane highway 28 miles from an interstate would be good for distribution, so it’s open to pretty much any kind of client.”
Greenwood Partnership Alliance CEO Heather Simmons Jones said having the park in the county’s portfolio has already begun to generate leads.
“We have had specific interests in the North Greenwood Industrial Park as it becomes more “pad ready” that prospects say would not have otherwise been there. Primarily, companies that we talk to are looking to be operational quickly and the stage of readiness that our park now sits in shaves months off the timeline for these prospective companies,” she said.
Greenwood County agrees to float $6.2M to buy 12 new fire trucks
/in UncategorizedIn an effort to modernize Greenwood’s aging fleet of fire trucks, the County Council on Tuesday to borrow more than $6 million for the purchase of 16 new vehicles.
The funds will be paid back by April 2022 through capital projects sales tax collections, but forces the county to take on debt — a prospect that didn’t sit well with council chairman Steve Brown.
“I’m not against fire service, but I have a real problem of going outside what we put to the voters. We didn’t go to them and tell them we were going to float $6 million worth of debt and buy 16 trucks at one time,” he said. “I never heard the need for 15 or 16 fire trucks when we were going through the process of setting up the referendum, and that would have been the time to bring it up.”
The master-lease purchase agreement with PNC Finance was approved 6-1, with Brown the only one against. Over the life of the plan, the county will pay $397,000 in interest, at a rate of 3.39 percent.
County Fire Coordinator Steve Holmes said 11 of the 16 vehicles will replace ones that average 29 years old and have a history of breaking down, creating safety concerns and swelling maintenance budgets.
Even with the new trucks in service, the county will have 22 vehicles with an average age of 18 years old.
“In 10 years, we’re going to have this exact same thing again, and what I’m trying to do is get us a base of trucks that will operate for a few years without maintenance costs killing us. I’m moving them all over the county to have trucks answering calls,” Holmes said.
Councilmembers offered an impassioned defense for Holmes’ request, acknowledging that the payment plan deviates from what was presented to voters in 2016.
“In the short time I’ve been on this council, I’ve come to believe that our fire service structure right now is somewhat of a pending disaster, and I am certainly as sensitive to anyone for breaking outside the initial intent of the capital project sales tax,” Lane said. “We have denied requests for us to deviate, but I don’t recall having a request to deviate that has been made from critical and essential services. And I’m frankly scared not to.”
Councilman Mark Allison agreed.
“I have watched hours of the coverage of the Hurricane Florence, and I can tell you that in 85 percent of the rescues I watched, it was a fire truck and a fireman pulling people out of the water,” he said. “This is the responsibility of government at its core.”
Holmes told the council that recently, a 1991 model truck that is in daily use had its dashboard fall out. After receiving a quote for $13,000 to replace it, he spent $450 to bend a piece of aluminum and bolt parts to it as a workaround.
“That’s literally what we’re facing every day,” Holmes said. “We’ve had them (firefighters) go into a station and get a truck that wouldn’t respond.”
Councilmembers Gonza Bryant and Robbie Templeton said they were troubled by the idea of rejecting Holmes’ emergency request, for fear of what it could mean to residents.
“I don’t want the fire trucks to stop on the way to my constituent’s house, and with those numbers, we’re going to have some problems,” Bryant said.
Our View: Nothing wrong with copying what works
/in UncategorizedIf it were school, Abbeville city and county might be accused of cheating, taking answers from Greenwood city and county’s tests.
But in this case, we’d prefer to think of it as Abbeville government following Greenwood government’s lead in taking steps for its future.
In particular, note that following Greenwood County’s success in levying an additional penny in sales tax to fund a variety of capital projects, Abbeville County set about mirroring the methodology deployed by its neighbor. Come November, Abbeville County voters will decide whether to tack on a penny sales tax for its own list of projects.
Must-haves or wishes? That’s what the voters will decide, but the team appointed to explain the projects and field questions about them has done a commendable job. Voters will not be able to say they didn’t know what the tax is about or what it is intended to fund.
Abbeville County also saw the promise in Greenwood Promise, having established its own version of the program aimed at ensuring dollars are available for graduating high school students’ college tuition. As with Greenwood Promise, the Abbeville program will make funds available to all students graduating from private, public and home-school settings. Good move there as well.
And now, the City of Abbeville is poised to put before its voters a referendum that would let them decide whether restaurants can sell alcoholic beverages on Sundays. The two-pronged referendum, if approved, would simultaneously let voters decide whether beer and wine currently sold in retail outlets could also be sold on Sunday.
Several years ago, Greenwood County voters gave the go-ahead to allowing restaurants to serve adult beverages on Sundays. Come November, Greenwood County voters are most likely going to have the same opportunity as its Abbeville city neighbors, giving a thumbs up or a thumbs down to allow retailers to sell beer and wine on Sundays.
If anyone thought this a criticism of Greenwood’s good neighbors, that would be incorrect. Again, we think Abbeville — the city and county — are taking note of what is taking place around its borders and merely borrowing good ideas and mimicking good processes.
That’s not cheating; that’s borrowing from successful playbooks.
Upstate Center for Manufacturing Excellence receives grant
/in UncategorizedA $1.5 million federal grant announced March 28 by the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA, a department of the Department of Commerce) will provide essential gears in the funding machine that will bring to fruition Piedmont Technical College’s planned William H. “Billy” O’Dell Upstate Center for Manufacturing Excellence (UCME) on the Lex Walters campus in Greenwood.
The $15 million construction project is being financed through state funding (25 percent), the Greenwood Capital Project Sales Tax, passed by voters in 2016 (40 percent), and this the EDA grant (10 percent), with the remainder paid by PTC.
“This grant moves us closer to groundbreaking on this important workforce development resource for the region,” said Dr. Ray Brooks, president of PTC. “The fact that voters of Greenwood County supported the penny sales tax referendum to help finance the O’Dell Upstate Center for Manufacturing Excellence reinforces our confidence that this public-private sector initiative reflects both the practical needs of industry and the will of our visionary citizens.”
In addition, the Piedmont Technical College Foundation is continuing to raise funds to assist the College with costs for equipment and furnishings for the Center. Those interested in donating can do so online at www.ptc.edu/online-giving.
“This important project would not be possible without generous support from all of these partners,” Brooks said. “We are excited to see progress continue toward making the Center a reality.”
“Ensuring that every American in the workforce has the skills to succeed in the face of stiff global competition is a top priority for the Trump Administration and our President,” Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a news release. “Giving Americans the option of developing new skills in their own communities will help fuel further economic growth.”
Commerce officials estimate that the project will create 86 jobs and generate more than $16 million in private investment.
Named in memory of longtime Upstate Senator Billy O’Dell, who passed away in 2016, the Center will feature state-of-the-art equipment and resources to support PTC’s advanced manufacturing workforce training programs, including welding, machine tool technology, and mechatronics. The Greenwood Partnership Alliance, a public-private economic development partnership, has estimated that manufacturing jobs comprise more than 26 percent of the county’s workforce, so the need is evident.
City paving the way for more cycling, walking opportunities
/in UncategorizedIt’s a question city planners field more than almost any other: What’s being done to make Greenwood a friendlier place for cyclists and pedestrians?
“There is a surprisingly strong cycling community here in Greenwood. Behind sign permits and plat approvals, the most emails and phone calls I get are from cyclists asking what we are doing as far as bike lanes,” City/County Planner Josh Skinner said.
An ordinance working its way through the City Council seeks to provide an answer by requiring any new developments to include bike lanes and connect future sidewalks to the existing network.
Both policies are taken from a city-approved 2015 Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan and an updated countywide comprehensive plan.
“The whole purpose of this ordinance would be to create a more interconnective city,” Skinner told the City Council at a Monday work session.
Local and statewide cycling groups helped provide input on the ordinance, Skinner said.
Creating new places to cycle and walk isn’t the only requirement under the policy. Developments with more than 12 parking spaces would have to install bike racks.
“While Greenwood currently lacks many on-road bicycle facilities, there are numerous assets and opportunities throughout the community that provide a strong base for facilitating a safe, accessible, and convenient bicycle network. Though Greenwood has a substantial network of existing sidewalks in the city center and in its traditional neighborhoods, gaps in pedestrian infrastructure and a lack of pedestrian intersection improvements limit overall connectivity and pedestrian safety and comfort,” the 2015 master plan concluded.
If adopted, the ordinance will partner with financing in place to enhance the city’s alternative transportation opportunities.
Of the $5.57 million allocated for various park and recreation projects through a voter-approved capital projects sales tax, $596,078 is earmarked to convert an abandoned railroad right-of-way from Mill Avenue through West Cambridge Park to Lander University’s Jeff May Complex into a bike path, connecting Lander to the Greenwood Mall.
Officials are also anticipating making improvements from Lander to Uptown Greenwood by paving a second right-of-way from Grace Street to Cambridge Avenue East.
Greenwood Parks and Trails Foundation President Billy Nicholson wrote in the application to the penny sales tax commission that an expanded trail system for pedestrians and cyclists could push the city into the minds of young families looking to relocate.
“Greenwood has the foundation and momentum to become a community where walking and bicycling are normal transportation and recreation choices,” he wrote. “Trails in other communities have been shown to be attractors for regional visitation.”
Ninety Six hosts mill reunion to raise awareness for mill site park
/in UncategorizedNINETY SIX — Right in the middle of Ninety Six’s most prominent residential neighborhood, the town is working to build a park that will honor its heritage.
Three decades after the Ninety Six mill closed its doors, Jo Ann Eichelberger is working to gather former area mill employees and their families for a reunion, to raise awareness about the Ninety Six Mill Park. The proposed park will be at the old mill site, along Duke Street.
“It’s the preservation of history,” said Eichelberger, head of the town’s parks commission. “The mills were the lifeblood of the people, and we just want to keep that alive.”
The reunion will be 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 12 at the plant site. Eichelberger said people from the Ninety Six Plant, Adams Plant and Sloan Plant are invited, along with Ninety Six residents and anyone who worked in textiles.
The 14-acre site will have live music, along with picnic foods and markers around the area to show reunion-goers what the park is planned to look like.
Part of a 2016 National Park Service grant had plans drawn up for the park, and the project is going to get $440,000 from the Greenwood County Capital Project Sales Tax.
Eichelberger said a $5,000 donation from the Self Family Foundation was used for state Department of Health and Environmental Control engineering drawings to fill in a pond on the site. Progress has been slow, she said, as the town has worked to get necessary permits and get the project underway.
“We’ve been trying to get funding,” she said. “We applied for an Eaton grant, but we didn’t get it.”
The proposed park would feature an amphitheater where the pond currently is, along with a gazebo on a raised slab of concrete leftover from the mill. Around the 14-acre site, Eichelberger said a walking path would give everyone a chance to get some exercise, even people with compromised mobility.
“The walking trail is great for exercise, and I mean even people in walkers can use the trail,” she said. “Even people in wheelchairs.”
The reunion, she said, will be a great opportunity to connect with people who were involved with the historic mill. It also lets people see what the park can provide for the area, and raise awareness about the project.
Part of the planned park will incorporate the mill’s original turnstile as a centerpiece. She’s still working to get the turnstile refurbished, but Eichelberger said the town is selling brick pavers that will go around the turnstile and can be engraved with people’s names as memorials.
Greenwood looking to hire penny sales tax manager
/in UncategorizedWith an $80 million portfolio to manage through the capital projects sales tax, the county plans to hire a full-time supervisor who will oversee the distribution of funds and provide an additional layer of accountability as the venture moves forward.
County Manager Toby Chappell said the position will be advertised within the next two weeks, and officials hope to make a hire by the spring.
The first installments are going to Piedmont Technical College, which is using $6.1 million from the one-cent sales tax levy to help pay for its Upstate Center for Manufacturing Excellence, a 47,000-square-foot facility to be on Emerald Road.
“My projection is the July payment will be the first payment outside of Piedmont Tech, so we will need that person in place,” Chappell said during a budget planning session this week.
In November 2016, voters approved a referendum authorizing a special penny sales tax to generate funds for 27 projects. Collection of the levy began in May 2017.
“I would like this council to have input on where that person fits within our organizational structure. I have grave concerns that they’ll be covered up by normal work. My first suggestion is they work for you and they’re not intermingled with another department where that department can cloud their responsibilities with other things,” council chairman Steve Brown told Chappell.
“That person needs to be 100 percent toward capital projects and not be subjected to outside influence,” he continued. “It’s important they have a channel to you, because a massive amount of goodwill needs to be created among these other people who are using these monies.”
Chappell and the council agreed the sales tax manager should not be a political appointee — which is outside the scope of state statute.
“That’s been my struggle all along is, wherever they are, accountability has got to be the first priority. You’re talking about $75 million, $80 million this person is responsible for. To me, there are only two places that make any sense. One is my office, and the second is engineering, but then you get into the issue of, between me and the employee, there is now a built-in filter,” he said.
Councilman Theo Lane likened the person to a company’s chief operations officer, compared to Chappell’s CEO.
“I would want to see that person look just like the county attorney, that you can walk right through that door and get an answer and vice versa, with nothing in the middle. That position has got to be laser focused. There doesn’t need to be any ambiguity. When we get about three years into this things, there are going to be so many things happening simultaneously,” Lane said. “When the chief operations officer walks in and says ‘We’ve got to have this and this and this,’ they know that comes with the blessing of the CEO and to me, that makes things so much more expeditious.”
Greenwood Edge to prepare workforce for manufacturing jobs in region
/in UncategorizedGreenwood County’s efforts at developing a skilled workforce for major industry in the region took a significant step forward on Thursday, when officials unveiled plans for a dual-enrollment program that will enable students to earn a manufacturing production technician certificate while still in high school.
“Part of our industrial retention efforts are listening to our companies, and what they need, and what they say all the time is supporting the workforce challenges that they have,” James Bateman, business development director for the Greenwood Partnership Alliance, told guidance counselors from Greenwood County school districts 50, 51 and 52 during an informational meeting where the program — known as Greenwood Edge — was introduced at the G. Frank Russell Technology Center.
Students are required to have a recommendation from their school counselor to be eligible for the program.
The partnership of Greenwood County school districts and Piedmont Technical College is a sister program to the Greenwood Promise, which is providing seed money to cover tuition costs for the initial 24-student cohort.
That money, Greenwood Promise Executive Director Kris Burris said, comes from an outside grant and is not drawing from the near $5 million endowment set aside to cover gap financial aid for county students to attend Piedmont Technical College’s regular course offerings.
In subsequent years, officials say Greenwood Edge will be self-financed through private sector donations, grants and other means. If it’s successful, the model might even be expanded to address needs in other clusters.
“While we’re starting it in a manufacturing field, it can be duplicated in other fields such as nursing,” Bateman said. Manufacturing jobs comprise 26 percent of Greenwood County’s workforce.
February is also Career and Technical Education Month, which served as a backdrop for Thursday’s announcement.
The Greenwood Edge initiative launches in the fall and was rolled out Thursday to district guidance counselors by Piedmont Tech Associate Vice President Rusty Denning, Regina Washington, the college’s dual enrollment coordinator and Bateman.
High school students enrolled in Edge will get 12 credit hours by taking the following courses: Statistical Process Control, Basic Industrial Skills I, Introduction to Industrial Maintenance, Precision Measurements and Manufacturing Engineering Principles.
Piedmont Tech’s Manufacturing Technician Certificate has a $2,070 value.
Edge was born out of a five-year strategic plan developed by the Partnership Alliance in 2017 that included the creation of a human resources project. After meeting with focus groups that included representation from major manufacturers in the region and trips to other communities with similar initiatives in place, officials crafted a local version.
Denning said students who make it through Edge and obtain their certification will be guaranteed an interview for entry level jobs with participating companies: Ascend Performance Materials, Capsugel, Fujifilm, Greenwood Mills Inc. and Monti Inc.
Bateman said the allocation of slots for the initial 24 students was developed by dividing a high school’s population by the district’s entire student body. In that breakdown, the vacancies are: Eight openings from Greenwood High School, six from Emerald High School, four from Ninety Six High School, and three each for Ware Shoals and students who either are home-schooled or attend a private school in the district.
Creating a pipeline of factory-ready employees has been a key priority of county leaders and economic development officials. The top project to be paid for through the county’s eight-year, $85 million capital projects sales tax collection is the Upstate Center for Manufacturing Excellence on the campus of Piedmont Tech.
Construction on the $6.1 million facility is set to begin later this year. The 45,000-square-foot complex, will house machine tool technology, mechatronics and welding classes while offering flex space for employer-specific training.
In November 2016, Teijin, a Japanese company that specializes in carbon fiber production, announced plans to build a $600 million factory off Highway 246, creating 220 jobs. Greenwood County was able to lure Teijin partly through the promise of directly supporting the manufacturing sector through Piedmont Tech’s center.
Bonnie Corbitt, director of the G. Frank Russell Technology Center, said educators wanted to include attendance as an eligibility guideline so students learn the importance of meeting daily responsibilities.
“This is where attendance counts. Kids think they can be out eight days in a semester, and they can. They’re going to be fired,” she said.
Partners in Greenwood Edge include the state Department of Commerce, Upper Savannah Council of Governments, Lander University, Greenwood Partnership Alliance and the Western Piedmont Education Consortium.
Enviva to invest $20M jobs, add 10 jobs at former Colombo plant
/in UncategorizedA Maryland-based company is acquiring Colombo Energy’s wood pellet plant in Greenwood County is making a larger investment than originally announced.
On Tuesday, the County Council approved an amended fee-in-lieu-of-taxes package for Enviva Pellets LLC, extending a tax abatement agreement by two years for a planned $20 million investment at the site located off Highway 246. With that investment, Enviva will add 10 jobs.
Enviva Public Affairs Director Maria Moreno said in January the company is purchasing the facility for $135 million.
“Enviva is a proven acquirer, and we are excited to bring the Greenwood team into the Enviva family. Our business is heavily dependent on our people and our relationships, and it will require all of us to grow the Greenwood plant into a world-class production facility,” Moreno said. “Upon the closing of the Greenwood transaction, Enviva expects to maintain as many as 80 full-time positions at the facility.”
Also Tuesday, the County Council approved a memorandum of understanding with the Greenwood Genetic Center on a plan to reimburse it for up to $358,283 using capital projects sales tax revenues as the campus moves forward with plans to install fiber optic cable and related equipment.
The proposal is one of 27 ventures to be paid for through an $85 million revenue stream collected over eight years through a special sales tax.
Clocking in at the 21st position, County Manager Toby Chappell said the Genetic Center made the decision to move forward with the work now — potentially opening itself up to not recouping the money in the unlikely event that the full sales tax collection amount is not realized.
“Greenwood County makes no guarantee as to when, or if, funds will be available to reimburse the GGC for this project,” the memorandum said. “The GGC is undertaking this project now at its own risk, understanding that Greenwood County will not indemnify the GGC for any liability, financial or otherwise, associated with the project.”