Steve Mensing, Editor
♦On Monday evening the Rowan County Commissioners voted 5 to 0 to offer the former Department of Social Services building on Old West Innes St. to several organizations to be used as a business incubator. Those organizations, according to Vice Chairman Craig Pierce a vocal supporter of business incubators, would include Rowan Works: Economic Development Commission, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, Livingstone College, Salisbury City Services, and any interested municipalities. Pierce said: “We’d like to invite the city of Salisbury to participate in the incubator with the county, the EDC, and the colleges.”
Commissioners Sides, Pierce, Mitchell, Barber, and Caskey supported offering the DSS building as a potential business incubator. They desired to put the now empty building to good use. Commission chairman Jim Sides told the meeting: “The DSS building would benefit the county. It’s bothered me for awhile that we’re paying utilities–we’re paying insurance and we know anytime a building sits, it goes down hill. It doesn’t get any better. We need to use that building for something.”
Commissioner Jon Barber mentioned that county leaders previously discussed constructing a business incubator, combining programs that would hopefully spur entrepreneurial growth for at least five or six years. “I support this idea–the opportunity couldn’t be better. This is actually a great economic development tool we can use here in Rowan County.” Barber suggested the value of a food incubator in connection with local agriculture. The commissioner spoke of the business incubator housing a commercial kitchen for a program in culinary arts or to be used by churches for preparing and canning food.
Barber discussed that county leaders were not yet prepared to talk funding, but hoped the EDC would propose figures to revitalize the DSS building.
Mike Caskey offered: “The business incubator might be the right time for the city and county to work together in a positive direction–”a win-win”.
Previously the county commissioners voted to offer the DSS building to the Rowan-Salisbury Schools, but Chairman Sides told the meeting to date no official word had come from the school system. He was interested in seeing the building not become a liability to the county.
To understand “business incubators” go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_incubator
