GROVE CITY, Pa. – The third Mercer County Economic Summit brought together people from various sectors who are working together to move the county forward, one of the event organizers said.
“What I hope people get out of it is a real sense of hope that they live in a prosperous community, that our history doesn’t determine our future,” said Rod Wilt, executive director of Penn-Northwest Development Corp. “In Mercer County, we’ve lost population for 30 years, but we all believe in this room that our best days are ahead of us.”
Nearly 180 people registered for the Thursday event at Grove City College. Penn-Northwest organized the summit, which included panels on housing, health care, manufacturing and education, as well as the Mercer County commissioners and speakers from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.
Mercer County commissioners Ann Coleman, Timothy M. McGonigle and Bill Finley talked about economic development projects throughout the county. One of the largest is a warehouse project planned along Interstate 80, called the Cake Project.
Coleman said the project is also going to enable a water line to be installed from the borough of Mercer to the exit for Route 19, where the project is planned.
When complete, the warehouse is projected to employ about 1,200 people.
Housing
Doniele Russell, executive director of the Mercer County Regional Planning Commission; Jim McLusky, president and director of operations at McLusky Showcase Kitchens & Baths; and Tom McCrosby, a Scott Township (Lawrence County) supervisor, made up the panel discussing housing.
McLusky, who is also a board director for the Mercer County Builders Association, said the area is in the midst of a severe housing shortage.
“We are missing the middle price range of new construction,” he said.
The industry is also facing the increasing cost of materials, McLusky said, adding that over the past four years, the cost of materials has risen about 35%.
“On top of that, we have a workforce shortage in the skilled trades,” he said.
In Mercer County, the MCBA estimates that about 65% of its workforce is 55 or older. It presents a great opportunity for young people to consider careers in the trades.
But it’s not all bad news, he said. The housing shortage creates demand, which inspires people to look for solutions. It also forces builders to become better, to use better products and be more efficient, he said.
McCrosby drew a contrast between housing starts last year in Mercer County compared with Chester County, outside Philadelphia.
“They built almost 3,000 houses last year,” he said. “We issued building permits for 65 in Mercer County. We are not even remotely coming close to replacing our housing stock.”
Businesses are moving into the region, McCrosby said, pointing to Steelite in Lawrence and the planned warehouse project in Mercer. But the counties lack places for those employees to live.
“These individuals are coming to us and telling us that their employees are living in Ohio because there is not that missing middle – something that a person making $60,000 to $80,000 a year can get a mortgage on,” McCrosby said.
Health Care
The health care panel included Dave Patton, president of UPMC Jameson and Horizon; Adam Critchlow, director of operations at Allegheny Health Network; and Dr. George Garrow, CEO of Primary Health Network.
“My goal here is to keep people local, to keep health care local,” Patton said, adding that people may need to travel out of the region for specialty care. “But whatever we can do to keep people local, through technology, through different efforts, that’s what my goal and my strategy is.”
Critchlow said when he first came to the area and to his position, Allegheny Health Network had just taken over the hospital in Grove City. When he walked into the hospital, he thought of it as a gem.
“The people who have put so much time and dedication and effort, these are the people who live in this community, in the surrounding community,” Critchlow said. “And that was the first impression I had when I came into that hospital, was just how amazing the people were, the staff are. And I think that’s what distinguishes this area, this community, and also the hospital there.”
Garrow said community health centers like Primary Health Network have become the country’s largest providers of primary care. Federally qualified health centers were established in the 1960s to bring high-quality, affordable health care to everyone.
Speakers
Rick Siger, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, served as the keynote speaker for the summit.
Russell Mills, regional executive of the Pittsburgh branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, reviewed national economic conditions and the regional economic overview.
Nationally, consumer confidence has dropped significantly in recent months. Both the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey and the Conference Board Consumer Sentiment Survey show a pullback in consumer confidence in the economy, Mills said.
Regionally, Mercer County’s population has declined by more than 7,000 people over the past 10 years. That’s driven by birth rates compared with death rates.
Lawrence County in Pennsylvania and Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties in Ohio have also seen population declines.
Mills said the region’s older population is driving population decline through natural change. But the population decline is beginning to stabilize.
The unemployment rate in Mercer County has increased slightly in the past year. At 4.4%, it’s a bit higher than the state average of 3.8%. The number of people in the labor force has shrunk by about 6.3% in Mercer County, compared with the rest of the nation where it’s grown 3.7% since the pandemic.
Regions in the mountain west and southeast have seen faster employment recovery since the pandemic, he said.
Manufacturing
Brent Fisher, director of operations at Joy Baking Group; Chalmer Ritzert, chief operating officer for Imperial Systems; and Art Hammond, owner and president of Hoffman Industrial Co., said they’re contending with tariffs.
Fisher said the snack food industry is typically insulated from economic ups and downs.
“But, truly, the world’s supply chain is global, and the uncertain economic policy right now with tariffs – and it impacts everything from ingredients to equipment to pricing for the customers,” he said. “And the changes daily that are occurring add stress to our workforce and to the organization.”
Many customers are panicking and holding off shipments to Canada, Fisher added.
Ritzert said the tariffs present challenges, from exporting equipment to customers delaying shipments, particularly to Canada.
Education
The education panel included Carey McDougall, regional chancellor at Penn State University Beaver and Shenango; Tony Miller, administrative director at Mercer County Career Center; and Jim Gentile of Keystone Adolescent Center and Keystone Charter School.
They talked about the changing landscape of education. McDougall said higher education is going through a transition, driven in part by a steep decline in the number of college-age students.
“So there just is not enough people to fill the seats that colleges have been built out to fill,” she said.
Penn State University’s president announced in February that some of the university’s campuses will close due to declining enrollment. Shenango and Beaver are among those being considered for closure.
After the summit, McDougall said no decision has been made. She said an announcement about the timeline for a decision will be issued Friday.
Pictured at top: From left are Jake Rickert, Jim McLusky, Doniele Russell and Tom McCrosby.