Looking up

Just a week into the new year, the wrecking ball hit Seneca County’s historic 1884 Courthouse. Despite cold temperatures, people stood outside for much of the day Jan. 9, 2012, waiting to see the end of a battle that had been going on in earnest since the building’s closing in 2004, but really started with a meeting 10 years earlier about space for Seneca County’s courts. There was much said in the days and months leading up to the razing, with a familiar cry that the once grand structure’s destruction would create a void in downtown Tiffin, and the city would start on the path of collapse. But it didn’t. Instead, what followed was a new sense of cooperation between government officials to address that court system need. And more importantly, a business community that looked at the events of that cold, somber January day and decided demolition would not be what defined Seneca County. The aftermath After an unsuccessful last-minute appeal, demolition of the courthouse was a reality. It was reported that Franklin Conaway, president of the Seneca County Courthouse and Downtown Redevelopment Group, called the situation tragic and expressed concern that it may be a disaster for the community. “Losing your historic courthouse is like tearing out the heart and soul of Tiffin,” he said. In an email sent before the building was demolished, Conaway said the group was to have no further involvement with plans to preserve or renovate the courthouse, and it expected no compensation. At the time, he said the group would keep ties to Seneca County as it worked with residents to renovate the first home in Tiffin built in part by a black family. In a recent interview, former Mayor Jim Boroff recalled the situation, saying he’s seen no work done to the building on Madison Street since he left office at the end of 2011. While the discussion started with the need for space for the common pleas judges, the conversation regularly moved to another space issue that presented itself after the opening of the courthouse annex. The Juvenile and Probate Court, located at the old Carnegie Library on Jefferson Street, had a substantial space issue and the building does not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Meanwhile, Juvenile and Probate Court Judge Jay Meyer had been pushing commissioners for a different capital project – an update to the county’s youth detention center. At the time, the Youth Center was in an ailing building from the 1950s that was not ADA-compliant and was costly to operate. Jan. 23, 2012, commissioners signed contracts for a new $3 million Youth Center, which included funding from Ohio Department of Youth Services that allowed the county to complete the project without taking on debt. Plans to replace the building started when Meyer’s father, former Juvenile and Probate Court Judge Gerald Meyer, and former Judge Paul Kutscher approached commissioners in 2005. “As a court, we’re excited to move forward with this much-needed project,” Jay Meyer was quoted as saying. He said the building would increase safety for staff and “greatly enhance programming for at-risk youth.” The building was opened Feb. 7, 2013. Seneca County Commissioner Jeff Wagner called it one of his proudest achievements in office. While county commissioners were considering juvenile and probate court space issues, there also was discussion of a need for Tiffin Municipal Court to increase its security. In the years leading up to the courthouse’s razing, some options were discussed to provide solutions for municipal court, including the former Salvation Army building next to City Hall and the former Tiffin Junior High School. With a need for county and city court buildings, commissioners and Tiffin City Council led by Mayor Aaron Montz laid plans to join together on a justice center to house both. “There’s most definitely interest on my part, on (Municipal Judge Mark Repp)’s part, and on council members’ part,” Montz said March 13, 2012. “I know they all have a very strong interest in this. We have to build a new municipal court. I think we’d all be fools not to do this.” “I think it just makes a lot of sense, there’s a lot of synergies by putting municipal court with the other court systems,” Commissioner Ben Nutter said recently. “There will be a lot of savings to the taxpayer, and there will be a lot of things that will be good that come of that. I’m certain they’ll come up with a good plan and they’ll make it happen, and it will be something the local citizens can be proud of.” There has been much discussion on what that project would look like – new construction or utilizing another building – but the consensus has been positive. Until then, Courthouse Square has become a hub for activity. Outside of court matters, commissioners closed the book on the New Riegel sewer system, over which the county took control in May 2012. The system had been constructed to take in large water flows from Farmland Food, but when the plant closed in 2009, flows were insufficient to effectively move waste through the system and matter was breaking down in the line. In addition, it was expensive for users. The U.S. Department of Agriculture agreed to provide some loan forgiveness to the county as it installed a new sewer in Bascom, but the county would have to administer New Reigel’s sewer. “That made it affordable, but the only caveat was we had to take on the New Riegel system,” Wagner said. Despite those successes, Nutter and Commissioner Dave Sauber lost their seats in the 2012 election. While there is no way to know why, the courthouse and transfer of the Seneca County Museum were highly publicized. They were replaced by Fred Zoeller and Holly Stacy. “One thing is for sure, there is going to be some direction on (addressing the county’s court space needs) and I’m proud of the fact that we started that going,” Nutter said. “I know it probably ultimately lead to me not being (in the commissioners office) anymore, but I’m OK with that. I think being an elected official isn’t about trying to stay elected. It’s about doing what’s right and being true to your core values, and that’s what I did. “While I took no pleasure in being the one to make it go away, I think we’re better for that as well.” Wagner decided not to seek re-election. Sauber ran again in 2014, citing his experience and a desire to address court space needs. He lost in the primary to Mike Kerschner, who now occupies the third seat on the board. Changes at the chamber The start of 2012 came with some changes for John Detwiler. In 2011, commissioners decided an update was needed for visitor services, and requested proposals for advertising the county. After interviews with a few groups, including staff at the former Seneca County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Tiffin Area Chamber of Commerce was chosen. To reflect the change in duties, Detwiler announced the chamber would be renamed the Seneca Regional Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Services. Detwiler, president and CEO of the chamber, said there was an 83- percent increase in the lodging tax revenue, the measure of the organization’s success and revenue source, in 2014 over 2013. “Tourism is responsible for almost $80 million in annual economic activity for Seneca County, responsible for 1,500 jobs, responsible for $25 million in salary and wages,” he said. One of the biggest changes to visitor services was creation of a comprehensive visitor guide, 50,000 of which get distributed across Ohio and neighboring states each year. In addition, the chamber commissioned cable advertising spots, 5,000 of which have been purchased for 2015. In an interview with Detwiler, it was pointed out the chamber has been very active with ribbon-cuttings, anniversaries and projects to celebrate. “There are more businesses to celebrate, but we have to constantly prove to people that we’re serious about what we do and make them believers,” he said. The chamber has organized activities in the past – such as “Squirrels on Parade,” a project in 2005 in which local businesses decorated fiberglass squirrel statues to be auctioned later – but Detwiler has made event planning the focus. Projects since he came on board and since the Downtown Strategic Plan was implemented include monthly downtown farmers markets in summer; Pizza Palooza, in which local restaurants sample their pies; and movie nights in 2014 planned in conjunction with Tiffin Tomorrow. “For me, it’s all about collaborating with other entities,” Detwiler said. “The chamber doesn’t do this alone. We don’t even have the tools in the toolbox to do it if we wanted to, that’s not our charge – that’s a SIEDC charge, that’s a county charge, that’s a city charge – but we all work together to make things happen. No one’s interested in getting the credit for these activities. Everyone knows it’s collaborative in scope, and in nature. It’s ‘Just get ‘er done.'” A new face at SIEDC David Zak did not have a great first week as president and CEO of Seneca Industrial and Economic Development Corp. The week of Jan. 6, 2014, temperatures reached 40 below zero and Staples and Gordon Lumber announced they would be closing. “Rich Focht (former SIEDC president and CEO) was calling me saying, ‘Man, Zak, the weather is the coldest on record and you’ve got business leaving in droves.” I said, ‘Yeah, Rich, thanks for the support.’ He’s a fabulous guy, we have a great relationship, so he was giving me a hard time. So, the start was just figuring out where things were at.” Zak is from Toledo and came to Tiffin after about 20 years in economic development around the state and at the Ohio Department of Development, now the Ohio Development Services Agency. Before coming to SIEDC, Zak did not know much about Tiffin, but was intrigued while doing research on the area and thought it sounded like the right fit. When he called Focht about the position, he was told SIEDC’s board was interviewing a few people, but decided to pass on that crop of potential candidates. “That caught my attention because that told me the folks who were involved were not willing to settle for something that they didn’t think was going to be best for the community. They weren’t going to take the best of what was available, they wanted something better,” Zak said. “What I had a sense of was that everyone loved Tiffin, everyone had a passion for Tiffin, but they weren’t satisfied with where it was. Kind of a fire in the belly to make this place great, and that I found very attractive,” he said. “And it wasn’t just one person or two people or five people, it was everybody I talked to who just wanted to make this to be one of the best places.” Three years of growth In spring 2012, the first signs of growth downtown were the openings of two shops – in March, Bailiwicks Coffee Co. took over the building formerly occupied by the chamber and SIEDC and in May, Phat Cakes & Cafe, which specializes in decadent baked goods, moved into a former bar that also houses Bunky’s Bike Shop. The businesses opened a block from each other on Washington Street. They spurred foot traffic downtown and accolades to Bailiwicks owner Jess Williams and Phat Cakes owner Natalie Wertz, who were recognized with awards from SIEDC. A third shop, Sabaidee Coffee House, opened in 2014 near the Tiffin University campus. Elsewhere, the former Walmart building became home to Rural King Aug. 29, 2012. The area already was gaining development after Lowe’s Home Improvement Store opened in 2011, followed by Excel Urgent Care Center and GameStop in a new development at SR 18 and US 224. Ag Credit also moved to a new office in that area in 2013. A few weeks after Rural King opened, downtown gained a new attraction. Tiffin Police and Fire All Patriots Memorial, dedicated Sept. 9, sits at the site of the former Firestone building that was razed a year earlier. The cornerstone of the memorial is a beam from the World Trade Center, recovered after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. This was the first major sign of growth downtown since the courthouse came down. Detwiler credits the achievement to behind-the-scenes work by Tiffin Tomorrow and people fixing up buildings downtown. One of those buildings was the Laird building, formerly known as the Laird Arcade. In 2012, as laid out in the Downtown Redevelopment Plan, business and community leaders formed Tiffin Community Reinvestment Group LLC to invest in downtown. Its first investment was the building at Washington and Market streets. Last year, property manager and Tiffin City Councilman Tyler Shuff was readying the building for business and residential opportunities. “This wasn’t a small project by any means,” he said in February 2014. “It’s almost an entire city block, and we’re going in, one room at a time, and cleaning them up and getting them rented and trying to bring this downtown back to life.” Businesses announced at the building include Beehive Cafe, which opened last summer, and Burrito Loko and Fraser, Clemens, Martin and Miller LLC, both planning to open soon. Other recent additions along Washington Street include Line Drive Sports Cards and Level Up, which both relocated in the past two years; Phoebe’s; Connxtions Nutrition Studio; and Reino’s Party Room. And while Zak said the loss of two businesses his first week was a blow to his ego, just a few months after Staples closed, Pat Catan’s announced it would open a store at the site in August 2014. Zak said the business was made possible by Westgate Shopping Center developer Visconsi, which pushed to keep the shopping district thriving. And more are coming. Businesses announced or under construction include Impact Credit Union, Dunkin Donuts/Mickey Mart and JT’s Catawba Cafe. Plans for O’Reilly Auto Parts were announced in the spring and the store opened in the fall. So far this year, plans for Splinter’s Cafe and Spirits and Melissa Perry Photography have been announced. In a much-anticipated announcement, SIEDC confirmed Oct. 16 that Buffalo Wild Wings plans a Tiffin restaurant. Its location is to be released soon. Stacy, president of the board of commissioners, said things have aligned in Tiffin’s development. But some officials believe it may be, in part, the courthouse’s legacy. “Growth has happened, not because of the courthouse; growth has happened in spite of the courthouse,” Focht said. “It was embarrassing to look at the courthouse in the middle of downtown being closed, being in disarray to allow a facility, especially a courthouse, to get into that condition, is unforgivable. … “Now we really have an opportunity with the courthouse to really make a significant investment in the downtown, to spur more growth. So I see it as an opportunity for it to happen.” New programs, updated plan Tiffin’s administration has made a concerted effort on economic development since 2012. In August 2013, Montz proposed an income tax rebate program for businesses that pay significantly higher than minimum wage. Combined with an improved national economy, the Jobs Creation Income Tax Credit Program has been a success. Many businesses announced or started expansions in 2014: National Machinery is to invest $6.46 million and hire 20 people. Webster Industries plans an $8.3 million expansion and 65 jobs over a three-year period. Irving Equipment is to invest $1.1 million and add 15 jobs with an expansion. Huston Financial announced a $700,000 construction project that started in November. A $16 million expansion at American Fine Sinter, 2014’s most substantial business investment, is to add 24 employees. City Council’s Downtown Facade Enhancement Program, also announced in 2014, has resulted in improvements to many downtown businesses by providing a 50 percent match for exterior improvements to buildings. Last year, Vicek Orthodontics and Clover Club took advantage of the city’s initial contribution of $50,000. The program expanded to $100,000 this year, and the first business approved was Knights of Columbus. Also last year, council agreed to spend $120,000 to update the Downtown Strategic Plan. The update has allowed properties that have changed hands since the 2010 version to be considered for development, Zak said. Those areas include the Laird building, Courthouse Square and remediated blight properties, including the former Rainbow Muffler and Stalsworth hotel and livery sites. “That is my tax money and your tax money well spent to deliver results,” said Rob Huntington, president of Heidelberg University and chair of the SIEDC board of trustees. Although the plan’s release is not slated until later this year, one section has been made public: a suggestion for a joint justice center. With additional reporting by Patrick Lay, news director at Seneca County Radio, and information from A-T archives. Road To Resurgence is a collaboration between The Advertiser-Tribune and WTSC Seneca County Radio.