EATON — According to Brenda Latanza, executive director for the Preble County Development Partnership (PCDP), the Economic Summit held at Henny Penny was a huge success for Preble County. She shared the success story with Preble County Commissioners during her Economic Development Quarterly Meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 16.

“It was amazing. I can tell you that people across our region are talking about the amazing hidden treasurers in Preble County. [Commissioner Chris Day] thank you for your part in making that happen too,” Latanza said. “It kind of stemmed from a conversation in Washington D.C. with the Jobs Ohio team. It came to fruition in less than two months.”

Day added, “I got a lot of positive feedback from east of here. People were very impressed, I was very pleased.”

“So, with that, I can tell you that people are talking about Preble County, because I was on vacation and got a call from the Secretary of State’s Office and they want to come visit,” Latanza said. “They’re hearing good things about what Preble County is doing for our workforce and our community. They would like to talk to us about it. They want to see how we’re doing with our ACT Work-Ready Community and how we achieved that.

“I was also asked to sit on Ohio’s ACT Career and Work-Ready council. I’m going to be sitting on a state level council with Preble County being represented there. This is just another way for people to not forget about us.”

Over the last few months, Latanza has spent 75 percent of her time working on a project with a 161-acre site in Lewisburg. Unfortunately, it does not seem that Preble County will be chosen for that project.

“We’re not sure yet, they’re going to announce the winner in September, but we’re pretty sure that we are not in the running for that,” she said. “It was a good activity for us, because we found out what we still have to do and how to prepare. It was excitement, but it was 12 hour days and tiring. It went on and on.

“As far as the zone, I think the village of Lewisburg will be working a little more closely with the township. I have to catch up with Jeff Sewert on that,”Latanza added. “This is one of our goals for this coming year and we have more than just this. There are more things that we are working on with this partnership then just this project.”

In lighter news, Latanza shared she is excited about the recently completed Hotel Feasibility study. They are currently waiting for the final copy of the study.

As for upcoming projects, the PCDP is working on additional job fairs. They are still working on the logistics for their manufacturing boot-camp.