10th ANNUAL CHAMBER HOLIDAY
OPEN HOUSE/AUCTION
Over 240 Chamber Members and their guest’s attended
the 10th Annual Holiday Open House/Auction that was
held on December 4th at St. Joseph Activity Center in
Galion.
The tables were adorned with beautiful holiday decorations and favors, and Galion Community Hospital Food Services provide an array of
great food, while Christmas
music filled the air.
Immediately following the
silent auction and the raffle
drawing, Craig Miley of Miley
Realty and Auction served as
auctioneer for the live auction which featured over 50
items.
Raffle winners included
Kim Legge ($1,000),
Steve McDonald ($750),
Jamie Rucki ($500) and
Joan Laughbaum ($250).
This year’s auction items included a family membership to
the Galion Community Center-YMCA, a 35lb. Turkey, advertising packages, OSU items, gift baskets, gift certificates, a
couples athletic pass to all Galion and Crestline home
sporting events, a combination propane and charcoal grill,
jewelry, 32” Vizio TV, Brown’s football tickets, a day on
Lake Erie for 8 people, I-Pads, and much, much more.
This was all made possible by the generosity of our Corporate Sponsors, our members that donated auction items or
money to purchase auction items, our volunteers and all
those in the attendance that helped make the evening a
huge success.
Food, food, and more food!
Let the bidding begin!
How many turkeys can you see?
Don’t worry, there is still
more food!
FIRELANDS FEDRAL CREDIT UNION
HOLDS PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS
AFTER HOURS
On November 5th, from 6:00 – 8:00 pm a business after hours
was held at Firelands Federal Credit Union’s new location at
1222 SR 598 in
Galion.
Some delicious
refreshments,
provided by
Katering
Kountry Style by
Michele Teters
and the Candi Bar were enjoyed by those in attendance.
Nicole Jones, VP of Marketing for Firelands said, “We had a
great turnout, with over 100 people attending the event. We
really appreciate the support from the Galion community.”
Each guest received a commemorative candy jar with an etching of the Galion branch on it, along with treats from the Candi
Bar in Galion.
Jeff Booher
CHAMBER HOLDS MEETING
EXPLAINING ELECTRIC
DEMAND CHARGES
Over 40 business leaders attended a meeting on Friday, November 14th at 8:30 am at the
Galion Alliance Church at 430
Portland Way N.
The meeting, which was specifically intended to explain electric
demand charges and how to
manage them, the meeting was
organized by the Chamber.
Galion electric customers most
affected by “demand charges”
were the target audience.
Mayor, Tom O’Leary, led off the
morning by explaining that we
are “currently underpricing demand and recovering it through
the kilowatt hour charge” and
“that under the proposed new
rate structure, we will collect as
much overhead as possible
through the customer charge.”
Chamber President/CEO, Joe
Kleinknecht, introduced Carl
Andre, Director of Business Development at Efficiency Smart,
who led a discussion on how
businesses can leverage their
demand, which is the biggest
variable in how high bills will
be under the proposed new
rate structure.
The city has a contract with Efficiency Smart to implement energy saving measures like these for
local business and residential
customers. There is no charge for
consulting through the company.
For more information on Efficiency Smart, you can call them at
877-889-3777 or visit
www.efficiencysmart.org.
Schilling Graphics,
Expanding our Vision
Schilling Graphics has successfully adopted the habit of
continuously improving our processes with an almost insane
drive. For years, our process of frame cleaning has been in
need of improvements toward more efficiency and cleanliness.
As we started to find the desired technology, the environmental controls we needed and with the growth of other departments, it quickly became apparent we couldn’t keep this process in our current facility. Expansion wasn’t going to happen,
due to the already tight space on our property. The only solution was to start looking elsewhere.
The old Charlie’s Market building was one of the first
places we looked. Simply because of its proximity. As we started to look into the property, situations started to improve for
us. The building’s size would not only hold our frame cleaning
process, but it would also be large enough to house our entire
frame inventory, which is currently located in our outside storage area. The property’s size and layout also provides future
options for expansion. With the current space, the room for expansion and the price, it was an easy decision for us to make.
After months of engineering work and zoning changes,
the deal on the building finally closed in July this year, with renovations beginning in August. The renovations will wrap up
mid-November, and we will begin moving into the building
shortly thereafter. It’s a great feeling to be able to improve a
process that has needed it for so long, and to be to able utilize
a great building and property that might have otherwise sat
vacant.
“Schilling Graphics is excited to, not only be able to expand the
business, but also continue to add to the economic growth of
the community.”
Doug Schilling
President & CEO
Schilling Graphics Inc.
Ohio Economic Dashboard
Last Updated: 11/21/2014
JOB CREATION IS UP
Ohioans have created 259,300 new private sector jobs
since Gov. Kasich came into office in January 2011.
The October report showed an increase of 8,400 private sector jobs. Revisions of earlier reports accounted
for an additional 1,900 jobs. Ohio continues to be 8th
in the nation and 2nd in the Midwest in total private
sector job creation
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
UNEMPLOYMENT CONTINUES TO IMPROVE.
Since January 2011, Ohio’s unemployment rate has
improved from 9.1% to 5.3% today. This is the lowest
Ohio’s unemployment rate has been since April 2006.
Under Gov. Kasich, this is the 38th month Ohio’s unemployment rate has been better than the nation’s.
For comparison, this only happened twice under the
previous administration. The number of unemployed
Ohioans has decreased by 222,000 (or 42.1%) -- from
527,000 in January 2011 to 305,000 today.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Ohio Jobs &
Family Services
INCOMES ARE UP:
Since January 2011, Ohio incomes are growing faster
than the national rate.
Average weekly wage, growth from January 2011 to
September 2014
Ohio: +8.1%
US: +6.7%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Median Household Income, Growth from 2012 to 2013
Ohio: +1.3%
US: +0.6%
Source: U.S. Census, American Community Survey
EXPORTS SET RECORD.
Figures released by the U.S. Department of Commerce
show Ohio setting a new state record for exports in
2013 – $50.5 billion -- growing about twice as fast as
the national rate.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
JOB RETENTION IS UP.
More Ohioans are staying on the job – Year-to-date
first-time jobless numbers in 2014 reflect the fewest
first-time jobless claims on record going back to 1987
through this point in the year.
2014 Year-to-Date (Week 46 report): 406,333, 17.4%
below the same point last year.
1999 is the next closest year to 2014. Through Week
46: 413,934 claims.
Source: Ohio Department of Jobs & Family Services
NEW BUSINESSES ARE BEING CREATED.
In 2013, 89,735 businesses were created in Ohio, the
most in state history and surpassing the old record set
in 2012. So far in 2014, Ohio is ahead of 2013’s record
-breaking pace, with 79,968 new businesses created.
January 2013-December 2013: 89,735 new businesses
January 2014-September 2014: 79,968 new businesses
January 2013-September 2013: 76,614 new businesses
Source: Ohio Secretary of State
Tim Ross
Eastern Ohio Regional Liaison
Office of Ohio Governor John R. Kasich
Cell: (330) 696-8044
[email protected]
www.governor.ohio.gov
Ribbon Cutting
On November 4th a ribbon cutting was held at Firelands Federal Credit Union at 1222 SR 598. Firelands recently moved into
their new building on October 27th.
On November 19th a ribbon cutting was held at Wilson Insurance Agency at 743 Harding Way W. The agency was recently
purchased by Plymale Insurance Agency Inc. of Bucyrus and
will continue to operate at Wilson Insurance Agency.
WELCOME NEW CHAMBER MEMBERS
Wilson Insurance Agency, Brad Seibert, 743 Harding
Way W., Galion, Ohio 44833,
419-468-2875
Charles & Marian Walker, 1010 Devonwood Dr.
(associate members)
Polk Township, Patricia Rondon, 7680 St. Rt. 309,
Galion, Ohio 44833, 419-468-3880
Robert Maloy, CPA, Mudd Maloy, 1827 SR 598, Galion,
Ohio 448ss, 419-468-2360