August 11, 2011
Wendy’s to return with jobs, improvements By JENNIFER NOBLIT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
on this.” Wendy’s CEO Roland Smith said economic incentives offered by Ohio and Dublin were attractive. Ohio is offering the company $4 million in incentives, and Dublin put together an $8-million package. The economic development incentives are expected to be realized over the next 10 to 15 years. “We’re going to add another 50 jobs,” Kasich said. “We beat Georgia on this. There are going to be more jobs coming.” Mayor Tim Lecklider said he was happy to welcome Wendy’s back to Dublin. “From Dublin’s view, Wendy’s never
Dublin welcomed Wendy’s home last week. The fast-food company on Aug. 4 announced it would bring its corporate headquarters back to Dublin, along with 50 jobs and an $11-million investment to its offices at 1 Dave Thomas Blvd. Gov. John Kasich, who was on hand for the announcement, said the move saved 350 jobs from moving to Atlanta, where Wendy’s moved its headquarters in 2008 after merging with Arby’s. “This could have happened in Georgia,” he said. “The taxpayers make out See WENDY’S TO RETURN, page A2
Chain to give $100K in grants By JENNIFER NOBLIT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Wendy’s will celebrate its homecoming with $100,000 in grants to local nonprofits benefiting children. The fast-food company last week announced it would return its headquarters to 1 Dave Thomas Blvd. in Dublin. In addition to bringing $11 million in improvements to the office and 50 jobs, Wendy’s president David Karam said, the company will dole out $100,000. “It’s a thrill for me to see the corporate office return to where we started in 1969,” he said.
The program will honor Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas, who believed in giving back to the community, Karam said. “The community foundation will help a lot of deserving charities in the community,” Wendy’s spokesman Denny Lynch said. The company will provide 10 grants of $10,000, Karam said, and is taking nominations from the community. To qualify for a grant, an organization must be a registered nonprofit and focus on children’s service or hunger prevention. See GRANTS, page A2
Thurman: City’s finances are on the rebound By JENNIFER NOBLIT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Dublin’s finances continue to recover after declining for the first time in 2009. Dublin City Council’s finance committee of the whole heard an update on the city’s second-quarter finances during a meeting last week. According to Bryan Thurman, deputy director of finance, things are continuing to look up. “We’ve done really well, from a revenue standpoint,” he said. Income taxes make up the lion’s share of Dublin’s revenues, and last year’s income-tax revenues were up nearly 4.5 percent over 2009. Thurman said the 2011 second-quarter income-tax revenues are up 4.3 percent over those in the second quarter of 2010. According to the staff report to council, Dublin collected $70.2 million in income-tax revenues in 2008. In 2009, revenues fell to $65.9 million but rebounded to $68.8 million in 2010.
The city budgeted to collect $65.9 million in income-tax revenues this year and thus far has collected $37.4 million, which is more than $3 million greater than projected. Staff members budgeted conservatively, they said, because of the uncertainty of the economy and “projected the 2011 incometax revenues would remain level with 2009 income-tax revenues.” Income-tax revenues collected thus far show a good employment environment in Dublin, Thurman said. “People are working more or bringing more people back,” he said. Dublin’s general fund also continues to grow, Thurman said. The city tries to maintain a reserve of at least 50 percent of the general-fund expenditures. As of the end of June, the reserve has increased to $43.7 million, or 83 percent of the 2010 general-fund expenditures. At the end of 2010, the reserve See REBOUND, page A3
Levy committee announces chairs By JENNIFER NOBLIT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By Chris Parker/ThisWeek
Adriane Blewitt prepares for her final throw in the Braemer stone competition Aug. 6 at the Dublin Irish Festival. The Highland Heavy Weight Games event made its inaugural appearance at the Dublin Irish Festival on Saturday, Aug. 6, in the greenfields sports area. For more pictures from the event, see page B1.
Festival weathers the storm — literally By JENNIFER NOBLIT ThisWeek Community Newspapers Rain forced the Dublin Irish Festival indoors Aug. 7. Festival guests, dancers and musicians moved into the Dublin Community Recreation Center and municipal building as storms moved through the area. “We went into suspension of operations a little earlier around 4:45 p.m. where we ceased festival activities, and at that point, we were waiting to determine where to go because the grounds were so wet and everyone left,” events manager Alison LeRoy said. “We reopened the Dublin stage for the finale.” In the meantime, festivalgoers crowded into the recreation center and municipal
building, waiting for the rain to move on. Performances continued indoors. “We had so many people who had gone into the rec center,” LeRoy said. “It was an interesting situation. We had dancers in the (Abbey) Theater, musicians in the gym and upstairs in the hallway.” Events administrator Mary Jo DiSalvo experienced the same, she said. “I was on the other side of the grounds, and the same thing was happening in the municipal building,” she said. “We had musicians and dancers performing while people were waiting it out.” After the storms passed, the finale went on. “The crowd had such a good attitude. We wanted to throw that last party for them,” LeRoy said. “It gave the finale a
great feeling.” The storms canceled the first Best Legs in a Kilt contest, though. “We had more people wearing kilts than we had ever seen,” DiSalvo said. “We anticipated a good turnout.” According to LeRoy, storms forced an evacuation of festival grounds in 2007. “After that, we retooled the safety plan,” she said. “This is the first time we’ve used the new safety plan, and it worked perfectly.” Fortunately, LeRoy said, the rest of the three-day festival saw good weather. “Everything went really well,” she said. “The festival did not get the storms on Saturday that the rest of Columbus had. We were lucky to have a perfectly dry See DUBLIN IRISH, page A2
The leaders of the Dublin City Schools levy and bond campaign were announced Aug. 8. The chairs of the Good Schools Committee will campaign for the 7.97-mill bond-levy issue on the November ballot. Committee chair Mike Brothers told school board members recruiting has been going well and “there are new faces on board for volunteers and leadership positions.” “We will be going grassroots, neighborhood to neighborhood, door to door,” he said. The committee was expected to begin its campaign, starting with an Aug. 9 meeting. “There is plenty to disagree about as to where we’re going as a state and country, but we can agree that children should not be dragged into this,” Brothers said. Levy campaign co-chairs are Michelle Francis, a lobbyist for the Ohio School Boards Association; Megan Stevens, of Franklin County Children Services; and orthodontist Kent Underwood. Francis said she wants to live in an area with good, highquality schools. “I have a 2-year-old daughter who will someday be a student in Dublin City Schools,” she said. Stevens has daughters at Grizzell Middle School and Jerome High School. Her family moved to Dublin in 2005 because of the schools, she said. “I’m so committed to the school district and so happy to be a part of the family because we feel like Dublin City Schools are a family,” she said. Underwood said the levy is important for his children at Davis Middle School and Chapman Elementary School, in addition to many of his clients. See LEVY COMMITTEE, page A7