Jobs Jobs Jobs

Economic development has been one of the main focal points of Chuck Keiper’s career. No candidate in this race can compare with his background and accomplishments in this area. Chuck was the financial and grant writing architect of the Garrettsville Boardwalk project in the 1980s. He wrote and was awarded business development and expansion grants, authored facade renovation programs and helped to create one of the very first business revolving loan funds in the entire state. He has been an innovator and a visionary with a keen sense of what it takes to attract, expand, and keep good paying jobs right here in our community.

A few years ago, Chuck was approached by the owners of a company called Miller Transportation. The company was looking to consolidate a number of scattered site operations into one new world headquarters facility. The company needed to find a few more dollars worth of savings in order to make their location in Edinburg Township competitive with what other communities were offering to them. A community reinvestment area was created around their site. Community reinvestment areas provide certain tax incentives to companies located within their boundaries. The folks at Miller were intrigued and Chuck walked them through the process. Miller Transportation ultimately made a sizeable investment in Randolph Township and created their world headquarters there bringing with them a few dozen family supporting jobs.

Companies like Paris Laundry in Ravenna and the Loreal Corporation in Streetsboro have similar stories, but creating jobs in Ohio has become a challenging endeavor. The headlines are full of companies leaving the state. And while Portage County has fared better than many of our neighbors, a whole new level of community marketing has become necessary. That’s why Chuck Keiper worked along with other northeast Ohio leaders to create the first of its kind Joint Office of Economic Development or JOED. The JOED, in turn, created the Northeast Ohio Trade and Economic Consortium or Neotec (You can read about Neotec and Chuck’s involvement in the “Protecting Our Tax Dollar” section in the “About Chuck” area).

Neotec allows member counties to pool their resources and marketing dollars. That means that Portage County is able to reach out to the global community to tell our story for a fraction of the cost of doing it on our own. As a part of the leadership team in this endeavor (Chuck is the chairman of the JOED), Chuck has helped to create a number of important tools including the International Trade and Assistance Center (which helps local businesses find exporting opportunities) and the Northeast Ohio Logistics Network. This important program helps to tell the world of our regions’ remarkable readiness to transport goods to a ready US marketplace. That’s a crucial message if you’re a foreign company trying to determine where to locate in order to reach the highest percentage of the US market. As a result of NEOTEC, Portage County can get that information out at a fraction of the cost to our taxpayers. Working smarter together, working more cost effectively together; now that’s just plain good government.