A record contingent of Adams Countians were present in Columbus on May 29 in Columbus for the annual Leadership Adams Capitol Day. (Provided photo)

By Austin Rust-

Nearly 100 people from Adams County traveled to visit the statehouse in Columbus on May 29 for the annual Leadership Adams-sponsored “Capitol Day”. Numerous speakers from different branches of Ohio government and business leaders spoke to the group in the day-long event.
“We’re excited to be here,” said Mike Pell, president of Leadership Adams. “Folks here in Columbus work hard to make Ohio a better place, and our leadership in Adams County wants to make Adams County a better place. We’re here to network and put the right pieces together.”
Plans to build a natural gas pipeline in Adams County were a major point of discussion.
“It’s a tool we need to bring in some development,” said Ty Pell, Adams County Commissioner, “It’s difficult to convince companies to build without gas available on-site.”
“We have been working with Holly Johnson’s office (Economic Development) to look at how to bring a natural gas pipeline through Seaman, Peebles, and Winchester, specifically,” said Vanessa Hamilton, Executive Vice President of Business Development at Utility Pipeline Ltd.
“The main trunkline will probably be about 25 miles by itself,” she continued. “Our goal will be to serve members of the community as well, and provide them with an energy alternative.”
Matt Cybulski, Director of Shale Energy & Petrochemicals at JobsOhio, said that his office “ is trying to influence more infrastructure expansion. We want more natural gas and electrical lines run to sites, and we want more energy options made available to the public sector.”
“We have abundant natural gas production in eastern Ohio,” Cybulski continued. “And in some parts of the state, we have the cheapest natural gas in the world. But in other parts of the state, they’re still pulling up gas from the Gulf of Mexico, which can be a dollar or two more expensive.”
“We’re working on projects with JobsOhio to expand or locate new operations in the state, (because) if the infrastructure isn’t there or close by to the site, then the companies are going to move on to sites where this infrastructure is available,”

Dan Gray, Founder and COO of Empower G&E, hopes to position Ohio into the changing green energy landscape. “Renewable energy is becoming much more affordable,” he says. “And we’re encouraging folks – commercial and residential – to take a look at these options. People that may not have been able to afford it before – we encourage them to take another look.”
“Our history is that we make things, and we do that very well,” added Janetta King, President and CEO of Innovation Ohio. “We want to continue making things here in Ohio.”
Larry Householder, Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, stepped in to say a few words about Governor Mike DeWine and the initiative to rebuild families and communities in Ohio.
“We’ve done an awful lot in the last few years to try to fix the addiction problem,” said Householder. “But we haven’t been able to reach out and help those people who were impacted by addiction.”
“That is, the young children we have throughout Ohio – about 15,000 kids – who are looking for a foster parent. Many of these kids, before finding a foster home, were taking care of themselves. Some of them were raising younger siblings. That’s an awful lot to ask of these young kids.”
Lack of support for the elderly was another issued touched upon.
“We have a lot of elderly people here in Ohio,” Householder added., “They were getting some kind of care from their family before, but that care is not being given anymore.”
To fix the issue, Householder says, “We made certain that there were additional dollars in the coffer this year to deal with these kinds of issues.”
More funding was given to aid teachers, for example, who see struggling children everyday.
“There’s more to being an educator today than teaching a classroom,” the Speaker explained. “Our teachers have become social workers. (They) have to make certain that kids have had breakfast and lunch. Some will even work to send kids home with dinners.”
The next issue tackled in discussion was the maintenance of infrastructure. A gas tax passed earlier this year aims to help Ohio’s counties and districts catch up on needed repairs.
Michael Dombrowski, Director of ODOT District 9, explained that despite Ohio having the nation’s fourth largest interstate system, second largest inventory of bridges, and sixth highest number of vehicle miles traveled, our gas tax had not been increased since 2006 before this year.
Prior to the passage of the Transportation Budget (HB 62) in April, Ohio’s gas tax rested at 28 cents – far less than our neighboring states. The current gas tax rates (per gallon) are 35.7 cents in West Virginia, 42.9 cents in Indiana, 44.1 cents in Michigan, and 58.7 cents in Pennsylvania.
“We were coming to a shortfall in infrastructure funding,” State Representative Brian Baldridge explained. “As I spoke with our county engineers and trustees, I realized that yes – the gas tax was necessary.”
Mr. Baldridge, an Adams County native, was elected last year to represent the 90th District in the Ohio House of Representatives. He is part of the Energy and Natural Resources committee.
“We’re about 100 miles behind in paving and five or six million dollars behind on bridge work,” commented David Hook, Adams County engineer, “ But we’re planning ahead. The money raised by this gas tax will do a lot of good to help us catch up.”
During the 2019 construction season, ODOT will invest more than $10.6 million on the state and local roadway system in Adams County. There are about 250 projects planned for the county this year. Two projects will widen parts of SR-73, and a few will repair or replace aged bridges. Most of the work done will be to repair damaged roadways and maintain existing routes.

From left, State Representative Brian Baldridge, Adams County Commissioners Ty Pell and Diane Ward, and State Senator Joe Uecker were all part of the 2019 Leadership Adams Capitol Day at the statehouse in Columbus. (Photo by Austin Rust)