Dec 19, 2002 By Steve Ostrosky 4 min read

WAYNESBURG – Officials with the Greene County Industrial Development Authority confirmed Wednesday what the county commissioners announced last week: that the county has made the first principal payment on a bond issue for Meadow Ridge Industrial Park. During a meeting of the authority board, Don Chappel, executive director, said the county made the $195,000 payment before the end of November to meet the required Dec. 1 due date.

Chappel said the authority put up as collateral 25 acres of property in Mount Morris that housed the former Humphrey mine portal. When that property is sold, the proceeds of that sale will first go to paying back the county, he said.

“In addition, if we are able to sell any property in Meadow Ridge before the Consol site, we will pay the county back with that money,” Chappel said.

A total of $850,000 in bonds for Meadow Ridge infrastructure costs were issued in 1997 and the GCIDA has been making interest payments on the bonds twice a year. The authority was unable to make the first principal payment, but the Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania provided all of the interest payments.

In other business, special projects coordinator Bert Menhart updated the board about the progress of the child-care grant that has allowed for parents to take computer classes while their children are in the same school being supervised.

Menhart said 122 children are enrolled in the child-care program at one of the three sites – Carmichaels, Jefferson-Morgan and Waynesburg Central high schools – with 60 parents taking at least one class this fall.

“We’ve doubled our enrollment, and the spring is looking busy,” he said. “One class is already filled, and we are looking to increase our enrollment this spring.”

The board voted Wednesday to hire Scott McCracken as an assistant group leader, which Menhart said was the 27th job created through the grant. Chappel said the authority will apply for another child-care grant to keep the program going early next year.

Meanwhile, board member Joe Simatic inquired about the future of the ongoing reclamation of the Mather gob pile after learning that only $200,000 remains of the $1.6 million in state Growing Greener money that paid for the first phase of the project. He said he did not want to see the best weather months of 2003 wasted because the contractor, Mather Recovery Systems, will have to move off the site until funding can be restored.

Chappel said the next Growing Greener applications are due in early February, and funding announcements will not be made until late spring or early summer.

“There will have to be a shutdown. That’s just the way it’s going to have to work,” he said. “We will work with DEP if we are approved, and we will find out about the process to keep it going, but it is quite possible that there could be a two- to three-month lull.”

Chappel said he hopes to have the application for phase two funding in to the state no later than Jan. 31.

The board also voted to become an associate member of Community Agile Partners in Education (CAPE), which will work with the GCIDA on several grant initiatives. GCIDA Chairman Dr. Charles Rembold, who sits on the CAPE board, said CAPE’s focus has shifted to more economic development activities. He said the GCIDA is working with members of the organization to locate an office in the EverGreene Technology Park.

Rembold said CAPE recently received grant money for distance learning equipment, some of which he hopes will be earmarked for EverGreene.

In reorganization matters, the board re-elected Rembold as chairman and chose Simatic as vice chairman. Sheila Barger, whom the county commissioners appointed last week to another five-year term on the board, will once again serve as secretary-treasurer.

The board will continue to meet the third Wednesday of the month at 8:30 a.m. in the authority’s conference room, located on the mezzanine of the Fort Jackson Building.