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Primarily serving Pataskala and surrounding areas
June 26, 2011
City council
Pataskala officials eye state funding By MICHAEL J. MAURER ThisWeek Community Newspapers Mayor Steve Butcher reported to city council June 20 that he had been in conversations with several state legislators about whether Pataskala could qualify for money from the Local Government Fund. Butcher said several cities throughout the state have been excluded from
eligibility from the fund based on historical timing issues. One requirement for eligibility is to have an income tax, and Pataskala has had its income tax since only last year. “My understanding is there are 33 cities in Ohio that are in our situation that are frozen out of sharing in state revenue,” Butcher said. “The question for the Senate and House of Representatives is, ‘What is the financial impact
Licking Heights
McCray to replace Tucker in interim capacity
of allowing these 33 cities on the state’s budget?’” Butcher said state Reps. Jay Hottinger (R-Newark) and Bill Hayes (RPataskala), along with state Sen. Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster), have indicated their support for expanding eligibility to the additional cities. “They are very interested in seeing this resolved,” Butcher said. “It sounds like one of the biggest stumbling blocks
is whether this costs the state any money and how they get around that, (regardless) whether it is the right thing to do or not.” Council also considered an air-conditioning problem at the city police station in the old town hall. Council member Bernie Brush said an engineering study had proved inadequate. “It’s beyond me why we haven’t fig-
See CITY COUNCIL, page A2
Commissioners: Development inquiries picking up along Route 161 corridor
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By MICHAEL J. MAURER ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By MICHAEL J. MAURER ThisWeek Community Newspapers The Licking Heights school board on June 23 named Nelson McCray, director of the Licking County Educational Services Center, as interim superintendent. McCray will serve pending the resignation of Thomas Tucker, who will become superintendent of Worthington City Schools on Aug. 1. Compensation for McCray’s service will fall under the district’s contract with the ESC. McCray was interim superintendent during the period three years ago before Tucker was hired. “You need to have somebody watching over things who is responsible and work with the board and treasurer just to keep things going until the real superintendent is in place,” he said. McCray, who has been at the ESC for 14 years, previously served as superintendent of Beaver Local near East Liverpool for seven years, Genoa near Toledo for three years and Monroeville for four years. Board president Matt Satterwhite said the appointment would allow Tucker to use the month of July for vacation days. “This gives Dr. Tucker some time to enjoy some vacation and prepare for his next position,” Satterwhite said. “We’ve always had a good relationship with Licking County ESC and Dr. McCray has always stepped up to serve. It’s essentially the month of July.” Satterwhite said the board still intends to name a new superintendent by Aug. 1, in time for the start of the school year. “We hope so,” Satterwhite said. “Applications are due July 8 or 9. Pretty soon we can start to meet people (as individual board members) and try to get an idea of whether they would be a good fit and whether they should talk to the entire board.” However, Satterwhite said, the board was not committed to finding a replacement by Aug. 1 unless the right candidate is found.
ured this out and here we are at the end of June,” Brush said. Council approved a resolution authorizing the city administrator to spend up to $5,000 to rent or purchase temporary air-conditioners through Aug. 10, by which time the administration should have a permanent proposal. “We’re in a critical spot with the po-
Licking County commissioner Doug Smith told Etna Township trustees June 18 that he was hearing rumblings of development interest along the state Route 161 corridor from such major retailers as Walmart and Target. Smith said during the morning “coffee with the trustees” meeting that the area included Jersey and St. Albans townships. However, he said, the inquiries were indirect and secondhand, and in the case of Walmart, they are at least a year old. “It’s been more infrequent during this recession, but it’s starting to heat up again,” Smith said. “But the Walmart story is not one I would say is even warm at this point.” Commissioner Tim Bubb said most inquiries come into the water and sewer department through The thing that makes third parties. 161 so attractive is “We get a lot of what I call blind inquiry,” Bubb that it has developed said. “They usually don’t into a commercial corricome with a Walmart jackdor between Granville et on or a Target jacket on and New Albany. saying, ‘Hi, I’m Bill from Walmart.’ “Usually, it’s a thirdTIM BUBB party site selector evalucounty commissioner ating real-estate options. We’ve had plenty of that. The big question is always about the potential for water and sewer expansion.” Smith said the two dominant development areas in Licking County are likely to be the 161 corridor and the intersection of Interstate 70 and state Route 310. “It’s the next big thing in Licking County. That and state Route 310 and Interstate 70 is prime for commercial development, too,” Smith said. “There are parcels that could be suited for multiuse and would be attractive. I could see a big-box store, a Kohl’s or something locating in that area (at state Route 310 and Interstate 70).” Bubb said residential development would have to pick up before any major retailers would begin construction. “You could say Walmart, you could say Target, you could say five or six major chains (are interested),” Bubb said. “I suspect ... all those companies have (people) representing real-estate interests who are in the county constantly looking at undeveloped sites. “The thing that makes 161 so attractive is that it has developed into a commercial corridor between Granville and New Albany.”
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Photos by Eric George/ThisWeek
(Above) Kylie Sharp runs in place until her top stops spinning during a sports and fitness summer camp presented by JumpBunch at Tri-Village Christian Church in Pataskala on June 22. (Below, from left) Scout Hamilton, 5, and Nathan Rhoades, 6, color during a craft break at the sports and fitness summer camp.
See INQUIRIES, page A2
See MCCRAY, page A2
Census results
Commission redrawing Pataskala wards and boundaries By MICHAEL J. MAURER ThisWeek Community Newspapers The Pataskala Wards and Boundaries Commission met June 23 to review the detailed work that it expects will lead to a final recommendation to city council by the end of August. “The goal will be to finalize the di-
visions or at least get it to where we can do it within one more meeting in early August before we make our presentation to council,” said commission chair Pete Nix. The general goal of the commission is to have substantially equal populations in all the city’s four wards. The difficulty is that achieving precise equal-
DIRECTORY News: (740) 888-6088 nthompson@thisweeknews.com
ity requires drawing complex boundaries that do not appear logical and that break up neighborhoods. “We got a proposal from our subcommittee that essentially equalizes the wards population-wise,” Nix said. “There are three areas that are small that we’re going to come back and see if we can’t clean those up a little bit and still stay
within the charter provision and the law provisions of staying substantially equal. What we’re trying to do is avoid running down the middle of a street in a corner of a subdivision just to reach a number that it is not necessary for us to reach.” To alleviate the problem, the wards are drawn with some variation, so that
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small inequalities in population result in more coherent boundaries. “We’re trying to keep the neighborhoods and subdivisions together, but at some point, you’re going to have someone one side of the street in one and on the other side of the street in the other,” See COMMISSION, page A2
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