Monday, September 5, 2011

SEPTEMBER 2011 LICKING COUNTY COMMISSIONER TIM BUBB UPDATE

We have just celebrated the Labor Day weekend. It is also the unofficial end of summer. With schools back in session and football underway, it is that ‘fall’ time of the year. Still, September is a good weather month and a number of warm days are still to come. A couple of calendar notes…on September 15th the Harvest Moon will be full (yet another sign of fall), and on Friday, September 23rd at 5:05 am it will be the autumnal equinox. On that day daylight will be about the same length as darkness, and for the next six months the days will be shorter in terms of daylight. I hope you and yours enjoy the autumn season, it is a great time of year!


A quick seasonal reminder, the 26th annual’ Lite the Nite Car Show’ is next Saturday (September 10th) on the Square in downtown Newark.

The Newark Rodders always put on a great show with some 800 sporty, classic and vintage vehicles expected. Registration is from 9:00 am till 4:00 pm, on that Saturday, at the Gazebo on the downtown Newark square. The registration fee is $10.00 per entry. Awards and trophies will be presented at 8:30 pm from the steps on the eastside of the Licking County Courthouse, and door prizes will be awarded throughout the day! One of the benefactors of ‘Lite the Nite’ is the annual Christmas Lighting of the Courthouse!


Development Notes – Bringing Jobs to Licking County…

* The long awaited western Licking County Job Ready Site road project ready for dedication. Crews finished the pavement on the ‘development road’ that connects Broad Street in Pataskala to the National Road (US 40) in Etna Township. The 300-plus acre Job Ready Site will be one of the best potential manufacturing sites in the Midwest, with several hundred acres in the corridor also, now primed for growth and job creation. Officials in Pataskala are planning the JRS dedication event to be held at the Broad Street (Route 16) or north end of the project on Friday, September 16th at 10am.

* Jack Pryor, the head of the Licking County Building Code Department, has been appointed to the Residential Construction Advisory Committee at the Ohio Department of Commerce. Jack will serve a three year term on the Committee with representatives of the Fire, Building Code, Contractor, Village and City constituencies. This group is charged with offering changes and improvements to the State Building Code.

* Growth continues in the new area of New Albany in Licking County in the area of the new State Route 161 Beech Road interchange. In July your County Commissioners toured the new Accel, Inc. plant. Accel is the first of what will be a family of eight companies committed to building in the new Beauty and Personal Care Campus. This new section of the New Albany Business Park will see 445 jobs at Accel; and within a couple of years the employment level will grow to some 15-hundred. Among the firms locating facilities in the Park, in addition to Accel, are…Knowlton Development, Vee Pak, Alene Candles, Jeyes, Axium Plastics, Anomatic based in Newark; and Sonoco, a South Carolina based packaging company.



Notes from the Ag Community…

* Congratulations to Howard Siegrist on his retirement as Extension Educator and Agriculture & Natural Resources and County Director for OSU Extension. Howard served 25-years with Extension and 42-years in public service. An event paying tribute to Howard is planned for Friday, September 23rd at 3:00pm at Wilson’s Garden Center east of Newark.

* The Licking County Soil and Water Conservation District is planning their Open House and Annual Meeting for Sunday afternoon, September 25th from 1:00pm to 5:00pm at the District Office at 771 East Main Street in Newark. You are welcome to attend and learn more about the great work of our County Soil and Water District, and their 1/10th mill operating levy on the November Ballot. I would urge your support of this ballot issue to ensure the continuation of local conservation programs that promote clean water, abundant food and a healthy environment.

* Under the sponsorship of Licking County Soil and Water the Licking River Round-Up returns next weekend. On Saturday, September 10th the clean-up will take place on several sections of the North Fork of the Licking River and the Licking River. Registration is from 8am to 9am at Everett Park in Newark with the river clean-up from 9am to Noon. Lunch and a thank you event are planned from Noon to 3pm at Everett Park. For details visit: www.lickingswcd.com/get-involved or call Jim Kiracofe at 740-670-5330. Partnering with Soil & Water for the event are…Newark’s Storm Water Utility & Waste Treatment Plant, County Health, County Recycling & Litter, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.


Cherry Valley Road Interchange Update from LCATS)…

LCATS is a our Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) that works with our various communities planning highway and infrastructure improvements, and serving as a conduit for Federal and State Transportation dollars.

Sandie Mapel, LCATS Director, recently reported on progress toward the upgrading of the congested Cherry Valley Road interchange at State Route 16. She says, several key components including environmental field studies, survey work, and sixty percent of the design work by State engineers, are complete. Also, value engineering studies have reduced the cost of this major project by $2.5-million to $28.7-million in 2014 construction dollars.

With the environmental document now complete, Mapel says, credit goes to the staff at ODOT Division 5 for their efforts to assist project sponsors in preparing to seek funding, as a new construction project, through the State’s competitive TRAC process. LCATS, Newark and Granville are supporting development of the TRAC application.


First Annual Dog Paddle Event a Howling Success!

The Heath Water Park hosted the 2011 Dog Paddle event on the final day of pool activities for the season. Some 200 pooches and hundreds of people attended the fun event that afternoon. I would personally thank the entire sponsoring committee and the staff of County Animal Control for a well organized and fun event that benefitted the County Shelter’s Spay & Neuter Fund. A special thanks to the many Heath City Officials who cooperated in permitting the event and were on hand to see how much fun people and their dogs can have at such a water event! Plans are underway for a 2012 Dog paddle!



Feel free to forward this e-mail in any direction you would like, and let me know the e-mail address of anyone who would like to be included on my Update Newsletter list.

Also, visit my website … TimBubb.com, where I post updates on my personal blog.

I can also be e-mailed at tbubb@lcounty.com, and my desk phone number at the Commissioner’s Office is 740-670-5118.


Best Regards…Commissioner Tim Bubb