2023 forecast: 'It's going to be an exciting year,' economic development director says

Crawford County is poised for a busy − and potentially prosperous − new year, local leaders say.

"From my vantage point, kind of looking from my experience, it's going to be an exciting year," said David Zak, who's in his first year as executive and economic development director of the Crawford Partnership for Education and Economic Development. "It's going to be a year where the economy continues to move forward in a positive direction for Crawford County.

"We're going to see vacant buildings fill up. We're going to see vacant spaces getting taken that have not been occupied. I'm pretty excited about it. It's fun to be in that place where you're going to see those good things happening, and help make it happen."

To welcome the new year, the Telegraph-Forum asked some key local leaders to discuss topics that could be among the top stories of 2023.

Major infrastructure projects in the works

Infrastructure projects frequently were cited, with several waterline expansions in the works.

Crawford County officials are working on plans for new waterlines serving Sulphur Springs and Oceola, said Doug Weisenauer, president of the board of commissioners. Engineering work for the projects is being completed by Makeever & Associates.

"Hopefully it will be bid out in the next few months," he said, adding it's expected to take a couple to years to complete the project.

Work on a waterline that will allow Bucyrus to sell water to the village of Nevada in Wyandot County is expected to begin early in the new year.

"That's a huge project for the citizens of Nevada as well as the citizens of Bucyrus," Bucyrus Mayor Jeff Reser said. "We've been working on that for years."

Bids for the project came in under the engineer's estimate, he said. "That was a real blessing."

Construction is expected to be completed in the fall.

Crestline plans to begin work on a new wastewater treatment plant in the first quarter, as soon as final funding is in place, said Mayor Linda Pitt Horning. Originally, the project was expected to cost $12.5 million; because of inflation, the price tag now stands at $17.6 million to $19.5 million. Construction is expected to take two years.

Bucyrus officials will look at options for improvement that city's wastewater treatment plant in 2023. The city remains under an administrative order with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce sewer overflows.

"We're in the process right now, working with our engineering consultant at the wastewater treatment plant, to put a plan together to present to city council, some of the options" to satisfy the EPA's mandate, Reser said.

That's expected to happen in the first quarter, but it will be a few years before any of those changes become a reality, he said.

Smaller projects also in the works

Also in 2023, work is to begin on a new roof for the Crawford County Courthouse, Weisenauer said.

The first phase of the project, which involved renovations to the building's distinctive dome and clocktower, was done in 2016.

"A second phase of that roof project was to put a new roof over the south half of the courthouse," Weisenauer said. "We're going to budget for that for next year. I imagine that's going to take some time.

"When we did the plans for it several years ago, we were estimating $2.5 million, so we did put money in the budget for next year for that. But I think it's probably going to take two years to get it done."

The county's new office building at the Crawford County Fairgrounds is nearing completion and expected to open early in the new year.

With support from the Bucyrus Kiwanis Club, Bucyrus will add a new splash pad at Aumiller Park in 2023.

"The underground work has already begun and will be completed in early 2023 and the rest of the project will go out to bid soon after the first of the year," Reser said. "We are also joining with the Crawford Park District and the Crawford Partnership to extend a path from Unger Park which will connect at the Friendship Bridge."

Because of ongoing revenue issues, Bucyrus' budget will be tight in 2023; cuts are expected. The city pool will not open. "It's going to be a rough year," Reser said.

"This is my last year, so we want to be sure we point the city in the right direction, continue to invest into economics development and the appearance of the town," he said.

Municipal leaders and school board members will be elected

The filing deadline for partisan candidates and local issues that will be on the May ballot is Feb. 1, according to the Ohio Secretary of State's Office.

All municipal offices except treasurers will be up for election this year, as will some school board seats, said Kim Rudd, director of the Crawford County Board of Election. Local school districts will have two seats up for election; city districts will have three.

Rudd said she doesn't see any other major developments for her office in 2023.

"Nothing I know of that's earth-shattering or anything, just a lot of cyber security stuff's been amped up again," she said. Just a lot of security things, but we're pretty much in compliance with all of those anyhow, so it isn't a big change for us.

Reser, who has announced he will not seek another term as mayor, looked ahead to this year's elections in Bucyrus.

"I think obviously you're going to have who's going to replace me, because I've been here, it will be about nine years," Reser said. "And city council members; it's going to be interesting who sits in the seats. Probably the biggest issue is going to be the auditor's office."

Joyce Schifer stepped down as Bucyrus auditor on Dec. 31 after 30 years with the city. The Republican Central Committee is expected to meet this month to select a temporary replacement, then voters will elect a new auditor in November.

"That's going to be difficult," Reser said. "There's really no training for this type of job. Because this is government accounting, and doesn't work quite the same way as small business or large business accounting."

Bucyrus City Council is considering placing a 0.25%, five-year income tax on the May ballot.

Economic development efforts expected to pay off

"I would say that I expect to have a robust year in economic development in Crawford County," Zak said. "We are currently tracking 124 different economic development projects — those are everything from one person wanting to start a business to existing businesses wanting to invest millions and millions of dollars. So that's really positive. Some of those have been announced, but a vast majority of those 124 have not yet been — or not yet been decided."

Zak stressed he doesn't have a crystal ball; while his office is working on a lot of projects, not all will come to pass.

"But usually, my experience has been that a significant portion will," he said. "And then if our pipeline is robust − if our pipeline is full of entrepreneurs looking to potentially start a company, real estate investors looking to buy property or improve that property; if we have existing manufacturers and other folks looking to potentially invest, grow and expand and other companies looking to potentially locate in − that is all a really good sign of what's to come. ... We're optimistic that there will be a lot of good things happening."

Zak said he expects to see the county ranked nationally in March, which would mean it's among the top 20% of the nation's roughly 600 micropolitan counties for major economic development projects. Micropolitan counties have a county seat with between 10,000 and 50,000 residents, he explained.

"That's only one barometer, of course," he said. "That's my way of saying for large economic development projects, I think we are coming off of a few good months; we've had some really good announcements. I see more on the way for 2023, so I'm excited about that.

"And I see it across multiple sectors. I see that in manufacturing and industry. I see that in the service business. I see that in retail businesses. I see that in real estate projects. I also see community development projects happening, so I think we're going to see some infrastructure projects that have been in the works and are making progress and moving forward; we've seen some of that across the county. I think we're going to see more of that, which is really, really good because it builds a solid foundation."

Zak said he expects to see the county moving forward with efforts to provide rural broadband service, "which is both an economic and a community development initiative," he said. "Because for education, for healthcare as well as economic development business, you need that high-speed internet. It's not a luxury; it's a necessity. I see work going on in that as well."

The Crawford Partnership is also working on getting the county ready to welcome new industries.

"Industrial park development and spec building — which is where you build an industrial building kind of like building a house before someone has bought it, in order to be ready for people — those two things are going to be something we're definitely working on, especially given the fact that a lot of the existing buildings are not going to be available," Zak said. "Currently in Bucyrus at Crossroads, there's not a ton of available land, so we're looking at expanding that. We're looking at potentially developing other industrial sites besides Crossroads and Stetzer Road industrial park in the city of Bucyrus. In Galion at the Mid-Ohio Industrial Technology Center, we're looking at extending utilities — how do we work with the city to extend we need to get sewer and gas to that site," which is at U.S. 30 and Ohio 61.

One spec building is being built in Galion; there's potential to have another in Bucyrus, he said.

"This is very important," Zak said. "If you're going to work on an attraction strategy, trying to attract new businesses in the community, you have to have a place for them to go, if you're talking industrial."

While other communities in Ohio have landed massive projects in the last year, that's not the right fit for Crawford County, Zak explained.

"We certainly can capitalize on small- to medium-sized projects. We don't have the land for a multi-billion-dollar project like Intel or Ford or Honda and LG Energy Solutions," he said. "But we certainly have the capacity to get more of what we already have, which are fantastic mid-sized industrial companies, or small industrial companies that are doing great work."

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Looking ahead to 2023: 'It's going to be an exciting year'