New leadership position for Neil Smith

Pickens County announces that its county council chairman, Neil Smith, is the  new vice chairman of the regional government service agency—the S.C. Appalachian Council of Governments in Greenville.  “A-COG” consists of 44 board members who represent 42 municipalities and six counties: Greenville, Pickens, Anderson, Oconee, Spartanburg, and Cherokee.   Besides vice chairman, Smith is also a board member of Economic Development Information Systems (EDIS); a partnership which provides the economic database for industrial recruitment for the counties for the six counties.  Regionally, ACOG provides economic/community development, transportation, aging services, workforce development, infrastructure development, and resource management for the six upstate counties.  And general administrative assistance, training, planning, technical assistance, information/mapping and grants to local governments of each county.  Grant services assist local governments in identifying, securing, and administering funds for a wide range of community and economic development activities including: water and sewer facilities, road improvements, housing rehabilitation, community and senior centers.