Continued Economic Development Efforts in Wood County
A blog from District President, Jerry Greiner
The District finds itself in the middle of all of the recent economic development announcements in the county. I would love to say this is planned, but there’s no denying our county’s geographical location in the Midwest brings others to us!
The intersection of Interstate 75 and the Ohio Turnpike 80/90 opens our region to commerce from markets across the entire country. Combined with excellent rail, Great Lakes access, the Maumee River, and both regional and national airports, our area is natural for development.
We have done more than sit idle and wait for calls. For example, our long-standing board member John Cheney was the first chairman of the Wood County Economic Development Commission (WCEDC) when it was formed in 1994. His direction of the public-private board in its early years got the county involved in economic development 25 years ago. I followed John on this executive board since his retirement from his employer Hancock Wood Electric Co-op.
Today, our office provides GIS mapping services and support material to WCEDC and commercial realtors as well as immediate utility information via phone, email, texts, and social media.
As we were working on our 2019 budget, I found we have spent almost $215 million dollars on our county-wide water and sanitary sewer infrastructure in the last 9 years. This is new lines as well as replacement expenditures throughout our service areas.
Using a combination of rate revenue, state and federal grants as well as loan monies, we have been able to do this in a reasonable, efficient manner.
Needless to say, no one in the region has invested these funds and resources to deliver and protect jobs and tax base in our county!
Jerry Greiner
President