By Betsy Finklea
A Dillon County Economic Development workforce summit, sponsored by the Dillon County Public-Private Partnership, was held on September 13th at Twin Lakes Country Club with local officials and industrial and education leaders in attendance.
Haywood Proctor, chairman of the Dillon County Public-Private Partnership Board, said he was excited about what was going on in Dillon County and about the inland port coming. He said that he also appreciates the industries that we currently have in Dillon County.
T.F. “Buzzy” Finklea, Jr., Chairman of the Dillon County Council said our industries mean so much, and they are looking for so much to happen with the inland port.
Cheryl Lewis, S.C. Department of Commerce Regional Workforce Coordinator, said they work with the school districts to provide career preparation for youth, learn from industries about their needs and take it back to the schools, and make sure that youth are prepared for the jobs and that their preparation meets the needs businesses.
Rodney Berry, a representative for Congressman Tom Rice, offered comments. He said Congressman Rice’s focus is “jobs, jobs, jobs.”
Dan Bozard, chairman of the NETC Board, introduced the NETC president, Dr. Kyle Wagner. Bozard is the first chairman of the NETC Board from Dillon County in 47 years. He said they want to put an emphasis on NETC in Dillon County and see Dillon County grow.  In his introduction, Bozard said Wagner is the sixth president of the NETC, a native of Missouri, and understands workforce.
Dr. Wagner, a certified entrepreneurial developer, said that he had been at NETC for 31 days at the time of the meeting. He said he wanted students to get job ready. He wants students to be able to attain an associate’s degree while still in high school He said he is stressing partnerships to get students in the door. He said they can immediately double in size as a college if they can do this.
This will help students take advantage of more opportunities.
He said a student at NETC is not a Dillon student, according to a  profile he had done. He hopes to change that and get the money to grow the campus in Dillon. Plans are to build the LPN program, to establish an online RN program, and bring CDL and forklift training to the Dillon campus as soon as possible. He said they were in need of an operations lot.
Wagner said the port will bring tremendous opportunities tot he area. He said they are looking to grow and build partnerships. He said they are fully committed to growing the Dillon campus and see it as a huge opportunity for growth of the college. “We want people to live here, train here, and then go to work here,” Wagner said.
After Wagner’s comments, Chairman Proctor made a special presentation to Dr. Ron Bartley, former NETC president, in appreciation of his service to the board.
Dr. John Kirby, Latta Schools superintendent, gave a workforce overview and spoke about where they go from here.
Kirby said the best way to move forward is to help ourselves and now is the perfect time. He said we must get ready for all that is about to take place and that we need to take serious and earnest action.
Kirby said we need a comprehensive. modern, and flexible training program to meet the skill set of all businesses and industries. He said the program needs to be located adjacent to NETC.
Kirby said scholarships are needed to overcome the cost of training.
Adult and youth apprenticeship programs are needed, he said, and a governance committee representing all players needs to be formed.
Dillon County Administrator Clay Young said that the industrial leaders do a tremendous job for Dillon County, and he personally appreciates all the industries here. He said the inland port was going to have a tremendous impact on the area, and he was happy to report that they pulled it off. He said it will give them opportunities to bring other industries.
Dillon City Manager Glen Wagner said NETC is a “golden nugget” that many do not realize we have. He said that the county is leading the way with Clay Young and had helped the city. He spoke of partnerships they have had that have helped with industrial and economic development.
Greg Elmore of Harbor Freight Tools spoke about what they were looking for in an employee. He said that Harbor Freight Tools is adding a new store every three or four days, and last year, they added 105 new stores. He said they hoped to have employees who show up every day and are excited about their jobs to reduce turnover.

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Photos by Johnnie Daniels/The Dillon Herald
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