Chamber officials update commissioners on recent economic development successes
Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development continued the “crazy pace” of post-COVID work involving leads officials are seeing and businesses that are expanding during the first half of this year.
Chamber CEO Jodie Perry said during a biannual program review Tuesday for the county commissioners that the agency also is continuing to try to help businesses with their hiring needs and to raise the visibility of the community through branding.
Figures presented by Barrett Thomas, director of economic development, show there have been six project “wins” that involved $6.4 million in capital expenditures and created 41 new jobs and $2.1 million in new payroll. State Jobs Ohio inclusion grants helped Oxyrase expand its biological enzyme production into a neighboring building, Coffman Corvette to buy fiberglass molds to expand into vehicle body parts and Innovision Automation to expand production of machines that perform repetitive tasks without human intervention.
Thomas said officials have responded to 21 business attraction opportunities, many of them involving electric vehicles, batteries and chip supply chain.
“We’re getting pickier and pickier about what we respond to because there are so many,” he said. “We’re kind of picking those that really do fit here and responding to those so this number of 21 is higher than what we were doing last year.”
Jessica Gribben, economic development coordinator for Shelby and Northern Richland County, said officials facilitated an enterprise zone agreement between the City of Shelby and Lloyd Rebar for a $10 million expansion that will help the company develop a reputation that it can compete in that field and also have uncovered a company looking at a possible $15 million expansion that will add jobs. Other projects include an expansion project with Custom Control Technologies, groundbreaking for the Black Fork Brewing Company and the second phase of the downtown Shelby revitalization project.
Efforts underway to help develop needed workforce skills
Workforce Development Manager Clint Knight pointed out that Richland County employers have utilized more than $100,000 in federal Workforce Investment Opportunities Act funds to upskill or onboard 146 employees so far this year, which is a 90% increase for the fiscal year.
Knight also pointed out that the Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center hosted a manufacturing teacher boot camp in June in which 13 educators from six different schools in the county visited seven manufacturers in order to develop curricula directly tied to career opportunities and work at one or more of the facilities.
Knight said the point of that effort is to increase workforce participation rate over time and maintain the talent coming out of the schools.
“We want the teachers to know what the message should be about the careers and the wages that are available to our students,” he said. “Something we’ve said a lot is it’s no longer your grandfather’s manufacturing. It’s very different.”
Sandy Messner, marketing and communications director, said videos created for the Richland Works project have raised career awareness while development success stories such as Global Medical Foam that have been posted in online videos have created awareness of the positive impact projects have had on the community.
Perry said the Chamber’s various innovative development, education and promotional programs helped the organization get a national workforce tech grant and put it in a group of three finalists for designation as the national chamber of commerce of the year.
“Nothing we do is alone, really, and collaboration and partnerships are at the heart of our work,” she said.
Perry said the national award winner will be announced Aug. 1.
Proclamation honors corrections professionals
Commissioners also issued a proclamation on Tuesday designating this week as “Pretrial, Probation and Parole Supervision Week.’ On hand were Common Pleas Court Judge Brent Robinson and four members of the court services staff.
The proclamation notes that community corrections is an essential part of the justice system with officials upholding the law with dignity while recognizing the right of the public to be safe from criminal activity. It also notes that community corrections professionals promote prevention, intervention and advocacy and are a “true force for positive change.”
Drug Court Coordinator Jason Hoover noted that local officials help individuals keep out of jail and out of prison by assisting them with drug treatment, maintaining sobriety and providing coping skills they did not learn when they were raised in order to be productive members of society.
“It’s a matter of getting services so they don’t do those things again,” he said.
Hoover pointed out that the local court’s success rate is 75% compared to the 50% statewide average.
Officials said re-entry court works with service and education providers to arrange services such as counseling, food, clothing, vehicle repairs and jobs for those who are on split sentences or who are on judicial release so they can be successful and not commit crimes in order to survive.
In other business, commissioners:
Announced that Citichurch Inc. has applied to annex 14.828 acres of land from Jefferson Township into the Village of Bellville.
Approved a Block Grant agreement with the Village of Shiloh.
Updated the fee paid to public defender attorneys in capital cases to $140 per hour according to state law. The former rate was $125 per hour.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Commissioners updated on Chamber economic development efforts
