When Greene County residents walked into the public meeting, they were handed 10 pretend $100 bills, said Robbie Matesic, executive director of Greene County Economic Development.
“This is really a demonstration of the fact that if you are the county official, you have to decide how county tax dollars are spent,” said Matesic. “So, here’s $1,000. How would you invest it if you were the county?”
The Greene County Planning Commission is drafting a new comprehensive plan, to be put in place early 2019. The plan, containing goals and strategies for the county to work toward within the next decade, will be based on the priorities of Greene County residents. The Planning Commission hosted several public meetings in the last three weeks to determine those priorities.
Matesic said after careful focus group research, the Planning Commission established six pillars for the new plan: Business and Industry; Grow and Protect County Assets; Workforce and Education; Mobility, Transportation and Infrastructure; Quality of Life and Local Government. From these pillars, 25 goals for improvement were established, and the Planning Commission is now trying to decide what is most important for the development of the county.
Matesic said the meetings have been surprisingly well-attended. She said she thinks people see this as “a unique moment in history.”
A lot has changed in Greene County since the last comprehensive plan has gone into effect – especially in areas relating to industry and technology. And the county is still changing, she said.
“You’d have never thought that 10 years ago, the critical element was going to be expanding reliable high-speed internet service across the county,” Matesic said. “And now it’s essential. It is the utmost essential piece of infrastructure.”
When the current plan was put into place back in 2008, Matesic said, the natural gas industry was also just getting settled. Now that it’s been 10 years, the new plan will certainly look for ways the county can take advantage of natural gas revenues and protect the area’s resources.
“Instead of just exporting out of the county and out of the region, how do we use it here, for manufacturing and for power generation and for other uses?” Matesic said.
The coal industry is another aspect of economic well-being that will be addressed on the new plan. While Matesic said coal is “as strong as it’s ever been” in Greene County, she knows that this is not the case in other areas of Pennsylvania and nearby West Virginia. Greene County needs to plan ahead, she said.
The future of the coal industry is what led Veronica Coptis, executive director of the Center for Coalfield Justice, to attend a Sept. 27 meeting. Coptis said she was interested in being another voice to influence the county’s priorities during the next 10 years.
“I got a lot more understanding of what a comprehensive plan is and how it is written,” said Matesic. “Engage in the process, because this is our opportunity to enge in the draft.”
Matesic said there are still many more public meetings on the schedule for the coming weeks. After gathering input from Greene County residents on where they believe money should be invested, the Planning Commission will begin working on strategies to achieve the new goals and determining what agencies will be responsible for each respective tasks. Special attention is also being given to making the new plan more adaptable as the county continues to develop, to maintain its functionality over the next decade.