Chamber of Commerce members discuss visions for future

Members of the Twin City Chamber of Commerce met recently for a Food and Feedback Session to discuss visions of the future for the Twin City area.

Mayor Greg DiDonato of Dennison, Mayor James Zucal of Uhrichsville and Superintendent Brian Rentsch of Claymont City Schools were guest speakers at the event.

Dennison was of nine communities selected by the Ohio Economic Development Association to give a presentation in early September on its downtown revitalizations at a meeting in Toledo. Of the nine, only two communities were villages.

Dennison has adopted a new grassroots program called the Build Up Dennison campaign, and helping out could be as simple as picking up litter in the community.

“It could be you fixing landscaping around your house. It’s not about money. You don’t have to be a part of a club. It’s just making a difference in your community. Anything you do to make the town better is a great thing,” DiDonato said.

DiDonato pinpointed the rebuilding of the village to 1984, when the town purchased the Dennison Depot.

“The dream was that it would be our asset. That’s our anchor. That is a reason for people to come to town,” DiDonato said. “It’s been a long time when you think about the years we’ve got in, but we stayed true. The town has continued to focus and build their downtown around tourism and the historical train depot.”

The Dennison Depot Railroad Museum now includes a rail car bed-and-breakfast, which is rented almost every weekend.

“They’ve done very well with that,” DiDonato said.

DiDonato also highlighted some of the things that make the community better including the Railroad Community Room, First National Bank of Dennison Courtyard, Light Up Dennison, Dennison Railroad Festival, Panhandle Passage Trail, the ice skating rink, the Christkindl Market event, the addition of the Stillwater Crossing men’s addiction treatment facility and the new Chillaxin’ N’ Waxin’ Auto Detailing Service, which will open soon.

“We’re excited in Uhrichsville. We have some challenges, of course, but I think they are good opportunities,” Zucal said.

One opportunity would be to move the street department from the downtown building they currently occupy and work to get a business in that location.

“We’ve got a great city council, and I think there are wonderful opportunities to work as a team and get things done,” Zucal said.

Another focus is cleaning up the city.

“It’s already looking better. We’re knocking down weeds. We’re cleaning up the community,” Zucal said. “We’re seeing a culture change and some pride coming. We’re going to start some paving next week, so good things are happening.”

In the future Zucal would like to see more housing added to the city. One idea would be to demolish dilapidated structures to build new homes.

Rentsch is excited about the growth of health services at Claymont Schools. Telehealth services have been available to students and staff for the past year and a half, but a new project will make health services available to the community.

“From there we were part of the nationwide grant. Our district was awarded almost $1.9 million to put in a school health-based clinic,” Rentsch said. “We’re hoping to break ground by March, and by end of August, early September of next year, that clinic will be open. It’ll be fully staffed, and that’ll be open to the community. So our staff will have access, our students have access and our community has access.”

Near Claymont High School is a soybean field that will soon be a solar array.

“What’s the benefit? Over 25 years our district will save $1.1 million just in energy savings for the high school. It’s not 100% every year because we can’t cut off AEP. That is not a self-sustaining array, but it can cut, over 25 years, $1.1 million and give us that savings that we can put someplace else for our district,” Rentsch said.

The solar array should be operational in November.

In February the school will host a business expo for the students and give them a chance to meet with area business people.

“We’ve got two things we want to do: provide strong academics and keep (the students) safe,” Rentsch said.

The event also highlighted the accomplishments of the Chamber of Commerce over the past year. Aside from saving the BMV office in Uhrichsville with the assistance of elected officials, there was the Twin City Chamber of Commerce newsletter that comes out one time per week each Friday. The newsletter features need-to-know information on community events and more.

Other accomplishments included a website upgrade, business grants, initiating a community calendar, credit card payments now being accepted, membership growth to 212, and events such as Business After Hours and a Lunch and Learn.

The Food and Feedback event was sponsored and hosted by the Claymont Health and Rehabilitation Center.