Economic Partnership Holds Annual Meeting, Discusses Past Year and Future
By Christopher Miller
LOCK HAVEN – The Clinton County Economic Partnership held their Annual Meeting Wednesday evening from the Lock Haven VFW.
Dave Harger, Operating Board Chair, opened the meeting with an update on economic development in the county.
“Last year we acquired the Storey building in Renovo and we had some setbacks there with repairs and a break-in,” Harger said. “The perpetrators were caught immediately between Jim Russo, myself, and Kyle Stewart.”
“We are currently looking to sell the Storey building and property in Renovo and we have some very interested parties. We are hoping to have some industrial impact in the Renovo area.”
“The Lamar Township Business Park still has some lots for sale. Lots 5, 6, and 9 are available with 52 acres between the three of them. Recently, Triple D Truss bought #10 from Appalachian Drilling and they intend to maybe in the near future do some kind of building but there was no set schedule. We have had several inquiries on the available lots, but at this time no sales agreements. We did with Croda but that deal fell through with some economic uncertainty on Croda’s end. It may come back to the table if things change in the near future.”
“The Renovo Industrial Park was purchased in the last year from Next Gen Bridge Energy. We do not know what their immediate plans are but in the future they do want to do something, what that is could be anything from warehousing or related to the rail, we just don’t know. They are from the State College area.”
“There are open grants. People are looking for grants right now. With Jason coming on board, grant applications can be done through the Partnership. We will help you fill them out and walk you through the process.”
Chamber and Leadership Director Megan Wheeler spoke next, providing an update on Chamber, Leadership Clinton County, Enterprise Zone, and Tourism happenings.
“Our current membership sits at 315 members, 358 organizations, and 444 people,” Megan started. “We implemented new software, GrowthZone, for convenient, new billing, and a new Chamber website that seamlessly integrates with the new software on the backend. Because of our new membership fee structure, we are now fully billing at a 35% increase which should translate to a $30,810 increase in revenue assuming membership levels stay the same. Membership categories were edited from 88 separate categories to 35.”
Megan went on to report about event statistics, mentioning that there were Seven Time Outs and 11 ribbon cuttings were held and/or attended.
“The 2025-2026 class for Leadership Clinton County consists of 13 participants with opening retreat taking place on September 25 and 26. The Alumni Association Golf Tournament is happening on October 3 and golfers are needed to be able to hold the event.”
“On the topic of tourism, Megan reported that the Partnership sponsored the 75th Flaming Foliage Festival fireworks show and sold puzzles at the festival. Through the 2025 Tourism Grant, $100,000 was given out to local organizations for their projects. Three Lumber Heritage Trail Signs were purchased and are pending installation. The Partnership provided funding towards the City of Lock Haven Murals that can be found throughout town. They also assisted financially with the installation of the mural in Renovo with the additional mural tied into it by Bucktail High School students on the Bucktail Medical Center Annex Building.”
“Various ads were placed, the 2025 Visitor Guide was completed, and a mural is being created for Clinton County’s America250PA. The partnership continues to work with Deb Glover on the Canoe & Kayak Nationals taking place in Lock Haven next year. The Partnership also provided funding towards the Bald Eagle Trail with Downtown Lock Haven, Inc. and created “Flan,” the eagle memorializing the late Michael Flanagan. The Partnership also assisted with the funding of a bus trip to Washington D.C. for Bucktail High School students to meet with U.S. Senator John Fetterman regarding the request to change the PA State Fossil to the Hynerpeton, a fossil that was found locally and only in the Hyner area in the 1990s.”
“Volunteers were coordinated for the Ironman Triathlon race. The I <3 Clinton County oversized letters were ordered and delivered for installation in Woodward Township at the boat launch.”
Megan also announced the new Tourism Director, Melissa Dally, and the new Director of Chamber and Tourism Marketing, Christopher Miller.
Darlene Weaver, Treasurer of the Partnership added that the bills are paid and everything is current.
“We have some big things coming up and we will be in good shape,” she said.
Facilities Committee Chair Dan Harger reported on all of the work being done by the committee.
“This year we sold some properties and some we didn’t sell that we need to continue to maintain, including cleaning lots and cutting weeds. In Renovo we still have a property that I think we are being overtaxed on. On the 52 acres that are beyond our acreage the taxes are $17,000. On our piece, Storey property, $50,000 on that eight acres. It is a beautiful building, we have the keys if anyone wants to see it. It is state of the art,” Harger said.
“I look at the future being in stuff with ATVs. I look at counties around us and and what Henry did. He opened up those areas, $22 million businesses in those area have been taking in. We are behind the curve a little bit and need to catch up.”
“If we get some grounds opened up in Farrandsville we can make a big loop and there are businesses around the ATV trails that can tie into that.”
“Transportation, I am happy about it. We started 20 years ago through this partnership too push our transportation needs in this county. We are ahead of everybody. We need to repair some bridges and now what we are working on is the township. You have to make SEDA-COG know what our area is about. If you don’t continue to move forward, it’s not going to happen.”
“We will work with Jason, our new communicator, hopefully as we put the pressure on him we will see results. We will work with him,” Harger ended.
“It’s a lot of work and takes this community to be involved.”
Jason Fitzgerald, the new President and CEO of the Economic Partnership was the main speaker, outlining his ideas and wishes for the Partnership.
“It’s been a learning experience for sure,” Fitzgerald started. “There is a lot to be done but we have a great group here and we are looking forward to all of you, drum ups business, promote tourism. I think we have a good team put together and we are going to see some real progress on some of our projects. There has been a lot of talk about the Storey building, the lots we are working on selling at the Industrial Park, and we are also reaching out tor regional businesses and throughout the state promoting the county as an economic opportunity destination. We will put together what we can to attract businesses to come here while not forgetting about the businesses currently here. If there is anything that I need to be aware of as the CEO of the organization no matter if it is positive, negative, or indifferent, let me know. “
“I am doing my best to reach out to members and non-members, introducing myself, and getting the non-members to enroll. If there is anybody that I haven’t gotten to meet that I should, please let me know. It is always nice to get around and meet the community.”
Fitzgerald finished by speaking a bit about grants and the new opportunities available to members at the Partnership with grant assistance.
“We are able to assist anybody with grant applications now. Something we haven’t been able to do in the past but we wanted to do is to provide this service to our members. Please reach out to the office and we will get on that right away,” he added.
“We promoted Megan to her current position, we’ve added Christopher Miller to our team, our new Public Relations Director, but the title we gave to him is Director of Chamber and Tourism Marketing. And Melissa Dally will be the new Tourism Director. There were two frontrunners for the Tourism Director position who had very specific skillsets so we decided to bring both of them on to benefit from both of their skills. Christopher will be spending his time developing content for tourism but also communications with economic development and the way you market and talk about your community to the pros and beyond Clinton County is very important. Christopher is going to be critical to help market the area not only for tourism but for economic development as well.”
During voting, the last position for the operating board was a tie between Laura Murnyack of Renovo Community Trade Association and Nicole Picerno of UPMC.
At the end of the voting period, Carley Anderson, Dan Harger, Laura Murnyack, Darlene Weaver, and new board member Kyle Peters were elected to the Clinton County Economic Partnership Operating Board.
