Officials in Wayne County look at the upcoming year

Things are developing and have been around Wayne County for the better part of a decade. Schools have been built, businesses have been relocating there and the population has been booming, relatively speaking, for half a century.

There are 30,000 more people in Wayne County now than there were in 1970. The overall increase is nearly 35%. That’s leveled off in recent years, in part because there’s nowhere to put the newcomers.

Housing inventory is a consensus No. 1 issue among county leaders. In order to attract commerce, there needs to be places for people to live. Without prospective employees, after all, there’s nobody to do the work that firms bring to the area.

“Housing over the last five years has become far more expensive than at any part in my lifetime,” Shreve Mayor-elect Josiah Martin said.

The costs, though, are the same in most places — skyrocketing along with interest rates that make relocation difficult for anyone right now.

Another possible roadblock, meanwhile, is the perception that there are enough people in the county already. While the uptick in population seems to have stalled, Wooster Mayor-elect Bob Reynolds said there may be some who like it that way.

“The county has the same issues as the city does,” Reynolds said. “They’re probably more interested in preserving farmland. Wooster, space-wise, is not growing too much. There’s some tension there, but it’s healthy. Wooster has pushed out its boundaries forever. Over the years things grow, and that’s a concern for the rest of the county.”

Reynolds cautioned that no growth is seldom a good thing based on the consequences likely to ensue from nothing changing.

“From an economic standpoint, because things cost a little more all the time, if you don’t have a little bit a growth, you’re going to have to collect more taxes or provide less service,” he said. “You need to have some growth. The challenge is how do you deal responsibly or strategically?”

That’s for the officials to decide. If there was one thing the various leaders from around the county seemed to agree on while assessing things from a countywide standpoint, it’s the greater area is in good hands.

“I think we have a lot of great people in leadership in Wayne County,” Martin said. “I think Ron (Amstutz) and Sue (Smail) have done a great job as commissioners. I think there’s hope across the board. Those two are both retiring. I think the ones running will do a great job heading into the future.”

With commissioners changing in the future and mayors changing at present, there will be a period of adjustment throughout the area. Everyone is going to have to get used to something or someone new in a position of prominence.

“A big thing going on in the county, and this is not a revelation, we’ll have two new commissioners at this time next year about to take office,” Reynolds said. “The county sheriff is going to turn over as well. So we’re going to have a bunch of new blood in some very important county seats next year. You can look at that as an opportunity, though, and that’s not a knock on anyone. Those people have all done great work over the years, and it will be a challenge to keep doing what they’re doing.”

Along with personnel changes will be things like new fire departments, one of them in Dalton, and some potential new things going on in Orrville.

“Every township goes through that,” Orrville Mayor-elect Matt Plybon said of the upgrade in fire services in various places. “Orrville has had a volunteer fire department, and we’re looking to go through a process to move from part-time to full-time. We want to be able to upgrade our facilities.”

Martin said improving a park in Shreve will be one of the first things on his agenda. Parks, almost everyone would agree, are not the envy of outside areas. With almost no county park presence, improvements at the local level will be more significant in terms of the difference they can make to the area.

“We’ve been real successful with grants and upgrading our Orr Park area,” Plybon said. “We look forward to developing a Depot-area park and really identifying what we really need to invest in.”

Parks add to the beautification of a region, and that countywide curb appeal makes the county a better place for everyone, residents and visitors alike. Things like parks are drawing cards elsewhere and translate into success in many areas.

That said, Wayne County seems to be doing fine under the current conditions and would only improve if things like parks and recreational opportunities got better.

“I think locally, countywide, the county is on solid footing too,” Reynolds said. “A big part of it is our economy has been pretty solid. You look at other areas of the state, they do not have the business community doing as well as we do locally. There’s a lot of people to thank for that, like the big employers like Gojo and Daisy and Schaeffler.

“A lot of people have contributed over the years, and it’s been working.”