RAVENNA: The new Portage Development Board has a vision, a mission and a president.In an update to Portage County commissioners Tuesday, board Chairman Steve Colecchi said he will announce the group’s choice for president as soon as he passes a background check in the next day or two. He is expected to start work at the end of September.With a leader in place, Colecchi said, he is confident the 7-month-old public/private organization can get aggressive about collecting on pledges that members have made and escalating efforts to grow, retain and attract businesses.Portage officials have high expectations of the group because the county abolished its own economic development department and gave the PDB a three-year, $200,000 contract. Some commissioners questioned the wisdom of that contract earlier this year when the PDB was still without a business plan, staff or paying members.Colecchi, who is also chief executive of Robinson Memorial Hospital, said the group’s 32-member board and staff secretary have been busy over the summer, launching a search that attracted more than 50 candidates for the top spot, creating a website, writing the framework for a strategic plan and setting goals.“Job creation will be the ultimate measurement,” he said.Pledges from businesses, communities and organizations to support the PDB have grown from $60,000 in January to $70,000, but little of that has been collected.Colecchi said asking for money is easier when a president is in place, and he fully expects collections to reach $150,000 before the end of the year.While the details of several ongoing projects are confidential, Colecchi said the PDB has been involved in several business activities around the county.He noted three expansions or relocations in Ravenna, three projects in Aurora, a new company interested in a Brimfield Township building, a Solon business seeking to relocate in the northwest corner of Portage County, Kent’s business incubator and a half-dozen referrals from the Ohio Department of Development with code names like Project Billiards, Project Car, Project Sleep and Project Glow.Commissioner Tommie Jo Marsilio said she understood the need for “appropriate and tedious planning” but said she had hoped the PDB would be doing more by now. She asked Colecchi to explain the group’s role in those projects.Colecchi said a PDB representative has been “at the table” at various meetings and the group is offering resources. It would be better to judge the group’s activity once the new president has 60 to 90 days of experience, he said.The PDB also spent the spring and summer surveying local companies and found a lack of certain skill sets in the county. The board has made it its mission to work with Maplewood Career Center and other area schools to inform them about the job needs of local employers.Commissioner Chris Smeiles commended the board for their volunteerism.Commissioner Maureen Frederick said her only disappointment so far is the lack of PDB board members at recent public economic development events.Colecchi assured commissioners the board is active at meetings, but noted that PDB members are all professionals with day jobs that might make it difficult to find time for public events.“I think we have been pretty successful and ... very very active, even without a president,” Colecchi said.Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.