Commissioners
Corner
Darke
County Economic Development Leader
October
in Darke County might be the prettiest time of the year. The trees are in full
color, and in the
mornings, the sun on the fields and foliage is spectacular. We are lucky to live in
such a beautiful part
of the State. October
also brings the
cool temperatures of Fall, High School football in full swing, and of
course,
Halloween. As the
year winds down, the
Commissioners are wrapping up what we believe to be a great year for
Darke
County.
On
the
local front, we have accomplished quite a bit of maintenance this year. As of now we have
completed the new roofs on
Edison State, the Court House, and done some work on the Commissioner’s
Office
roof. We had to
refurbish the bathrooms
in the Commissioner’s Office because of a leaky toilet, but that was
accomplished quickly by the maintenance crew.
The walls on the visitation house have finally
been fixed, and a lot of
painting and woodwork has been done.
On October
21st, Western Ohio Asphalt out of Versailles sealed and striped the
parking lot
behind the Commissioner’s Office.
We
also have done some minor landscaping around the courthouse and our
office. One of the
bigger projects that has needed to
be done has finally been accomplished, that of putting new boilers in
the Garst
Avenue Government Building. We
replaced
a boiler that was about 60 years old with 2 new high-efficiency
boilers. Slagle
Mechanical got the bid for that work, and it was completed the week of
October
15th. Service
Tech Corp. got the duct
work clean at the Sheriff’s Office, something that had not been done
since the
building was built. We
have also
approved new video cameras from Sound Tech Corporation for the
Sheriff’s
Office, these have needed replaced for several years, and have replaced
several
of the Sheriff’s cruisers this year also.
As revenues rise slowly, we will continue to
spend your money as wisely
as we can, and to keep your public buildings serviceable for years to
come.
Next
month we will start appropriations meetings with our Elected Officials. As of now, we will be
holding the line for
all offices as we take a wait-and–see approach to revenues. The latest report we have
on Casino revenues
indicates that we can anticipate a 20% to 25% decrease from forecasted
income. This is the
reason the Auditor
and the Commissioners are not counting on this revenue as it is too
volatile to
predict at this time. Our
Elected
Officials continue to do a tremendous job with limited funds and with a
minimum
of personnel. Please
tell them how much
you appreciate all their efforts, as we in the Commissioner’s Office
certainly
do.
Economically,
Darke County continues to be a state-wide leader in job retention and
creation. On
October 26th, the Dayton
Development Coalition in conjunction with the Partnering 4 Progress
initiative
will be holding their quarterly meeting at Whirlpool.
Thanks to Whirlpool’s management for allowing
us to have this event at their location.
As we have stated all year, Marc Saluk and the
Economic Development
Department have done a tremendous job.
Workforce Development continues to be in the
forefront of our efforts
for the near future and beyond. Darke
County has a plan for our workforce, and the implementation of the plan
is
underway. Thank you
to all of our
corporate partners for their efforts in this undertaking. This year has been a
complete success, and to
fully understand what we have accomplished, go to the Darke County
Economic
Development website at darkecounty.com, and on Facebook at Darke County
Ohio
Economic Development. Marc,
Melanie, the
Partnering 4 Progress group, the Darke County C.I.C., the Local
C.I.C’s. and
all the Chamber’s of Commerce can be proud of the numerous successes
this year,
and to a brighter future for Darke County.
We
hope all of you enjoy the Fall and Halloween, and can at some point
attend one
of our meetings. We
meet every Monday
and Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in the Commissioner’s Office located at 520
South
Broadway in Greenville, just south of the Courthouse.
See you there!
The
Darke County Commissioners
|