Growing up in Central Ohio I was always amazed by the ‘old timers’ who talked about walking through snow ‘up to their shoulders’ to get to school.
Well, today’s children (in the three to five foot range) will have similar stories to tell years from now. Indeed, the winter of 2010 will be ‘one to remember’.
While this winter wonderland is beautiful – the down side is that local school districts either have or will this week exhaust their calamity days, and for local governments the extreme cost of dealing with hundreds of tons of snow and ice on area roads will mean less money later this year for paving and road work.
As County Engineer Tim Lollo can explain, there is only so much money to go round each year for road work. So let’s hope the Ohio Groundhog was correct and that spring is not too far away!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Washington D.C. Port Authority Trip
Last week I was part of a ‘blue ribbon’ group traveling to Washington D.C. to promote the Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority, as well as Heath and Licking County. This is part of a continuing and important effort to build federal and state support for the Port Authority (formerly Newark Air Force Base) and the military workloads there, which are now handled by private firms such as Boeing, Bionetics and Goodrich.
This continuing ‘sales’ effort on behalf of our community is intended to keep the local ‘Base’ job center ‘top of mind’ in Ohio’s congressional caucus, both the legislators and more critically their chief staff members. There are times when the opportunity for additional workloads (jobs) can come here and times when the current workloads need to be protected, hence the need to have ‘friends’ in high places, when support is needed.
I was joined on the trip by Heath Mayor Mark Johns, Mike Cadenhead of Bionetics, Charles Dutch of Boeing, Rick Platt the Executive Director of the Port Authority and Ron Sheldon, a Port Authority Board member.
We spent the morning visiting with Congressmen Pat Tiberi, Zack Space, Steve Austria and Bob Latta, and their staffs. In the afternoon we spent considerable time with Senator Sherrod Brown and key staffers, and the Deputy Chief of Staff of Senator George Voinovich.
It should also be noted that Heath Mayor Johns and I had the opportunity to take our presentation to the White House. Thanks to an assist from Senator Brown’s Office we were able to arrange a meeting in the West Wing (White House Office Complex) with Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs/Mayors David Agnew.
Agnew and his staff are the White House points of contact for municipalities large and small, across the nation. As with the members of Congress, we made the case for recruiting more ‘high tech’ jobs for the local Base and Ohio, and related information on the City of Heath and Licking County. We also invited Agnew to visit this area, if and when a trip to Columbus comes together.
As your Commissioner I was pleased with the visit and the many contacts that were renewed. Frankly, such a well organized trip can accomplish more in one day than trying to make contacts from a distance over an entire year. The ‘face to face’ relationships with these key people are invaluable.
This continuing ‘sales’ effort on behalf of our community is intended to keep the local ‘Base’ job center ‘top of mind’ in Ohio’s congressional caucus, both the legislators and more critically their chief staff members. There are times when the opportunity for additional workloads (jobs) can come here and times when the current workloads need to be protected, hence the need to have ‘friends’ in high places, when support is needed.
I was joined on the trip by Heath Mayor Mark Johns, Mike Cadenhead of Bionetics, Charles Dutch of Boeing, Rick Platt the Executive Director of the Port Authority and Ron Sheldon, a Port Authority Board member.
We spent the morning visiting with Congressmen Pat Tiberi, Zack Space, Steve Austria and Bob Latta, and their staffs. In the afternoon we spent considerable time with Senator Sherrod Brown and key staffers, and the Deputy Chief of Staff of Senator George Voinovich.
It should also be noted that Heath Mayor Johns and I had the opportunity to take our presentation to the White House. Thanks to an assist from Senator Brown’s Office we were able to arrange a meeting in the West Wing (White House Office Complex) with Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs/Mayors David Agnew.
Agnew and his staff are the White House points of contact for municipalities large and small, across the nation. As with the members of Congress, we made the case for recruiting more ‘high tech’ jobs for the local Base and Ohio, and related information on the City of Heath and Licking County. We also invited Agnew to visit this area, if and when a trip to Columbus comes together.
As your Commissioner I was pleased with the visit and the many contacts that were renewed. Frankly, such a well organized trip can accomplish more in one day than trying to make contacts from a distance over an entire year. The ‘face to face’ relationships with these key people are invaluable.
County Economic Development
As part of our many ‘economic development’ initiatives, we will be continuing construction of the JRS (Job Ready Site) road in western Licking County (Pataskala and Etna Township) this spring.
Phase one is under construction from Refugee Road north to Broad Street, and phase two from Refugee Road south, to connect with U-S Route 40, will be bid this spring.
We, the Commissioners of Licking County, continue to look to the future. And this ‘development road’, opening one of the prime industrial sites in Ohio and the Midwest, is just part of on-going efforts to position this area as the economy recovers.
Frankly, you can’t sit still when it comes to economic development. Either you are moving forward or sliding backward, in the quest for development.
I believe that a decade from now the jobs and opportunity created by development in areas opened by the JRS Project will mean a great deal to Licking County and Ohio!
Phase one is under construction from Refugee Road north to Broad Street, and phase two from Refugee Road south, to connect with U-S Route 40, will be bid this spring.
We, the Commissioners of Licking County, continue to look to the future. And this ‘development road’, opening one of the prime industrial sites in Ohio and the Midwest, is just part of on-going efforts to position this area as the economy recovers.
Frankly, you can’t sit still when it comes to economic development. Either you are moving forward or sliding backward, in the quest for development.
I believe that a decade from now the jobs and opportunity created by development in areas opened by the JRS Project will mean a great deal to Licking County and Ohio!
County Parks Levy on May Ballot
The Licking Park District has announced the beginning of the process of placing a modest County Park District Levy before the voters. It will be a two-tenths (0.2) of a mill levy issue on the May 4th ballot.
Faced with major budget cuts due to the decline in the County Budget, the District's primary source of funding, the Board of the Park District says they are left with no other option but to seek a countywide levy.
If the levy is not successful in May, the Park District Board says it will have no choice but to close facilities and cease operations in 2011.
To find out more about levy specifics and how you can get involved, please visit … www.people4parks.com .
Faced with major budget cuts due to the decline in the County Budget, the District's primary source of funding, the Board of the Park District says they are left with no other option but to seek a countywide levy.
If the levy is not successful in May, the Park District Board says it will have no choice but to close facilities and cease operations in 2011.
To find out more about levy specifics and how you can get involved, please visit … www.people4parks.com .
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