The regularly scheduled meeting of the LKADC was held June 16, 2003 at 7:00 p.m. at the Wirt County Development Authority office in Elizabeth. The meeting was called to order by Dan McDonald, President. Those attending included Members: Dan McDonald, Alvin Engelke, Larry McCallister (proxy), Bryan Sims, Keith Wilson (proxy), Lew Full, Donnie Pitts (proxy). Staff: Diane Ludwig. Guests: Jill Minette, Jeanna Moore.

Minutes from the May 19^th, 2003 meeting were approved without changes or corrections. Motion: Alvin Engelke; 2^nd: Bryan Sims.

Financial records, expenditures and current bills were presented for approval. Motion: Bryan Sims; 2nd: Dan McDonald. Motion approved.

Diane has prepared letters concerning board reappointments to be presented to the county commissions. Proposed reappointment terms are: Alvin Engelke, Dan Metz, Dan McDonald, and Dick Ullum, 3 years; Keith Wilson, Bryan Sims, Donnie Pitts and Jim Morford, 2 years. Motion to submit members for reappointment – Alvin Engelke; 2^nd, Lew Full. Motion approved.

The members heard about workforce development funding from Jill Minette from Workforce Investment Board Mid-Ohio Valley, and Jeanna Moore, Governor’s Workforce Investment Division. They explained some of the services available to area businesses. Questions wee asked by the board, concerning whether or not oil & gas industry employees were eligible for training; Jeanna promised to research the issue.

Diane updated board members on various projects underway, including:

Tourism Grant: At the May meeting, the board approved working with one business in each county (tourism based business), helping with a small amount of money as they applied to the WV Division of Tourism for advertising grants (the grant requires a "partner"; neither business had a tourism partner close by to partner with). One business has been offered the assistance, but the other has not, due to financial issues.

HUD RHED Grant: Our application is in Washington DC. This particular grant takes months to be awarded or denied, so we will not know our standing before fall 2003, most likely.

USDA RBOG Grant: Our application to do an aquaculture training project utilizing ponds at the Palestine Hatchery is in Morgantown undergoing review. They will decide which state projects are strongest and those will be forwarded to USDA Washington.

FEMA FIRE Grants: Applications were submitted for Elizabeth and Arnoldsburg VFDs. We are awaiting word as to whether or not either application was successful. Grants will be awarded over the course of the next 12 months.

WVMEDA: WV Micro-Enterprise Developers Association elected a board of directors. Diane was chosen to be on the board, representing lenders and developers in this region of the state.

OEO: The Office of Economic Opportunity is interested in working with microenterprises in the Calhoun & Wirt County area. This is a project that is just getting started; the organization will contact us when they are ready to come visit the area.

WV Development Office: We are working with the state on two small projects; getting funds to repair the worst section of the BF Goodrich facility roof, in order to start drying out the interior of the building; and getting funds to make a small piece of flat ground on property owned by the old Wirt Co. Development Authority, located on Tuckers Creek Rd. A local business needs to expand and is interested in putting up a small building on the property. Negotiations are moving forward on both these projects.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

The next meeting will be Monday, July 21st, 2003, in Grantsville.