In the News

The phone calls come in every week from businesses looking to expand or move into Summit County:

Where can I find a 40,000-square-foot retail space? Do you know of any vacant warehouses near the interstate? Can you find us 100 reasonably priced acres in a commercial zone?

But the Summit County Department of Community and Economic Development has never been confident that it knew all the options to every question that came its way.

Now the office is applying a simple solution to an age-old communications problem.

Deputy director Scott Wagner is working to compile a list of contacts in every Summit County city, village and township — people who can receive weekly e-mails outlining specific business needs and know whether something in their community fits the bill.

The Summit County Business Partnership Lead Referral Initiative will ''address gaps in our knowledge about locally available property'' and speed up responses that can help grow Summit County's economy, Wagner said.

The current lead notification system has holes in it, he added.

The State of Ohio will provide leads to local chambers, but if an interested company calls a community directly, an unsuccessful inquiry can die on the vine. A more organized partnership will give other communities the opportunity to capture the business.

And while chambers often maintain databases of available commercial and industrial parcels, they can be outdated.

''Who better to know what is available in a community than the local community leaders? It is difficult to direct a client to a vacant building or parcel of land if we do not know its current status,'' Summit County Executive Russ Pry said.

The Department of Economic Development will contact local communities with company-specific needs, including zoning, land size, building square footage, and utility and other infrastructure requirements. In accordance with general lead referral practice, company confidentiality will be honored throughout this process.

For questions about the initiative, contact Wagner at 330-643-7769.