Dublin-Worthington News Stories
March 3, 2021 Virtual Club Meeting
By Burchett-Maxwell, TaraSaturday, March 6, 2021
President Jim Miller opened the morning meeting at 7:32. This is the 27th meeting of the 46th rotary year.
Jerry Katz gave the invocation today, then led the Pledge of Allegiance.
President-Elect Steve Payerle called for any “Happy Dollar” announcements:
President Jim Miller then called for announcements:
Katie McCartney announced that the club will be holding its first in-person Rotary After Hours since the pandemic started. She will be emailing everyone with tentative details and a couple of ways to rsvp. Save the date for Wednesday, March 24th!
President Jim Miller then asked member Mark Beaver to introduce our speaker. Rachel Ray is the Economic Development Administrator for the City of Dublin. She is one of 6 members of a team whose responsibility is to attract and retain businesses in the city. Dublin is the largest suburb in the Columbus region, with the square-footage of class A/B/C office space equaling about half that of Columbus. Commercial building vacancies are currently around 13.5%, and while it should ideally be around 8-12%, this is good comparatively speaking. The city’s workforce is comprised mostly of white collar workers who are able to work from home, which explains most of the vacancies. While the city is seeing more shorter-term leases than before as some companies are looking at long-term remote opportunities, there are large companies, such as Cardinal Health, that have committed to fully returning to the office as soon as it is safe to do so.
The city’s unemployment rate had been under 3% pre-pandemic; it is now around 5%. And the income tax revenue had very little change in 2020 from the previous year.
There are five pillars of economic development- retention/expansion, attraction, workforce development, innovation & entrepreneurship, and infrastructure.
Looking at retention and expansion- Rachel and her team divided the city into multiple districts in order to really get to know everyone and see what will help them continue to grow and thrive. They work with business owners as well as building owners and brokers. They can also provide facility/real estate assistance to businesses that are looking for bigger/additional space.
In terms of attraction, the Economic Development Team works to attract new businesses to Dublin and the Columbus region. What are businesses looking for? Items topping the list are workforce skills, workforce development, quality of life, and higher education resources. Monetary incentives are actually at the bottom of the list, with a focus on non-monetary incentives such as internet and fiber optics programs. Connectivity is a big priority, especially when it comes to one’s ability to work from home.
What are some measures of success? High quality jobs, a diversified tax base, strong/sustainable communities, and a high quality of life.
Rachel mentioned a few of the projects that are going on right now around the city:
Riverside Park in Bridge Park is to be completed next year. OSU Wexner Medical Center’s Ambulatory Care Center of Dublin is scheduled to open in September of 2022 with road improvements to go along with it.
There will be a new interchange at SR161/33/Post Road.
President Jim Miller announced that we will have a presentation at next week’s morning meeting by the Interact students along with Ann Pechacek and Roe Mauro regarding youth programming. He then closed the meeting at 8:30 by leading us through The Four Way test.
Click on the Image to Play Video.
Click on this Link for the Adobe PDF of the presentation.
Written by: Christie Bruffy
Jerry Katz gave the invocation today, then led the Pledge of Allegiance.
President-Elect Steve Payerle called for any “Happy Dollar” announcements:
- Jennifer Best is happy that a second grandchild is on the way- due this summer- and that they will only be 10 minutes away!
- George Norris and Sue Cody are happy to be heading to Florida for 2 weeks.
- Mark Beaver is happy that he and his wife have a trip planned to Ft. Myers in April without kids!
- President Jim Miller is happy that his grandson won 10th in the state in the 200 meter swimming relay as a member of the Dublin Jerome High School team, which also ranked 10th in the state. He will be going on to Ohio Wesleyan as a swimmer.
- Katie McCartney is happy to be going to Nashville for 5 days at the end of the month for her son’s spring break.
- Mike Moulton is happy to be done setting up his display (Five Seasons Landscape Management) for the Central Ohio Home & Garden Show which starts Saturday at the Ohio Expo Center.
President Jim Miller then called for announcements:
Katie McCartney announced that the club will be holding its first in-person Rotary After Hours since the pandemic started. She will be emailing everyone with tentative details and a couple of ways to rsvp. Save the date for Wednesday, March 24th!
President Jim Miller then asked member Mark Beaver to introduce our speaker. Rachel Ray is the Economic Development Administrator for the City of Dublin. She is one of 6 members of a team whose responsibility is to attract and retain businesses in the city. Dublin is the largest suburb in the Columbus region, with the square-footage of class A/B/C office space equaling about half that of Columbus. Commercial building vacancies are currently around 13.5%, and while it should ideally be around 8-12%, this is good comparatively speaking. The city’s workforce is comprised mostly of white collar workers who are able to work from home, which explains most of the vacancies. While the city is seeing more shorter-term leases than before as some companies are looking at long-term remote opportunities, there are large companies, such as Cardinal Health, that have committed to fully returning to the office as soon as it is safe to do so.
The city’s unemployment rate had been under 3% pre-pandemic; it is now around 5%. And the income tax revenue had very little change in 2020 from the previous year.
There are five pillars of economic development- retention/expansion, attraction, workforce development, innovation & entrepreneurship, and infrastructure.
Looking at retention and expansion- Rachel and her team divided the city into multiple districts in order to really get to know everyone and see what will help them continue to grow and thrive. They work with business owners as well as building owners and brokers. They can also provide facility/real estate assistance to businesses that are looking for bigger/additional space.
In terms of attraction, the Economic Development Team works to attract new businesses to Dublin and the Columbus region. What are businesses looking for? Items topping the list are workforce skills, workforce development, quality of life, and higher education resources. Monetary incentives are actually at the bottom of the list, with a focus on non-monetary incentives such as internet and fiber optics programs. Connectivity is a big priority, especially when it comes to one’s ability to work from home.
What are some measures of success? High quality jobs, a diversified tax base, strong/sustainable communities, and a high quality of life.
Rachel mentioned a few of the projects that are going on right now around the city:
Riverside Park in Bridge Park is to be completed next year. OSU Wexner Medical Center’s Ambulatory Care Center of Dublin is scheduled to open in September of 2022 with road improvements to go along with it.
There will be a new interchange at SR161/33/Post Road.
President Jim Miller announced that we will have a presentation at next week’s morning meeting by the Interact students along with Ann Pechacek and Roe Mauro regarding youth programming. He then closed the meeting at 8:30 by leading us through The Four Way test.
Click on the Image to Play Video.
Click on this Link for the Adobe PDF of the presentation.
Written by: Christie Bruffy