GALION, Ohio – The city of Galion expects to complete a number of major projects coming up in the new year.
Mayor Tom O’Leary is most looking forward to the completion of the Portland Way South highway project.
“It’s one of the busiest highways in the entire county,” O’Leary said. “We’re talking brand-new concrete pavement, and the city is investing a considerable amount of resources.”
The city completed about 40 percent of repairs in the fall of 2015, and is targeting Memorial Day as a completion date.
Another project carried over from 2015 is the East Park splash attraction. Due to a late start and construction management issues, the park was unable to open in 2015 as originally planned.
“We’re looking forward to that as soon as weather permits,” O’Leary said.
The rise of a soccer program at Galion City Schools also prompted construction of a soccer field to be completed in the PECO Park complex in 2016.
The city has also finalized the acquisition of the HTI building. In December, Galion City Council approved amended legislation to accept the donation of the almost 300,000 square-foot building.
O’Leary explained the previous owners presented the building to the city as a gift.
“I’m looking forward to working with local and area businesses in using and repurposing the building,” he said. “We’ve had some initial inquiries, and we’re also talking with the schools, at least preliminarily, about partnering with them to utilize the space for educational purposes.”
O’Leary noted conditions surrounding the building were not what prompted the business to leave in the middle of 2015, rather it was internal issues that drove the closure.
“Though some see it as lemons, we’re going to make lemonade,” O’Leary said.
More business development will take place downtown in the form of the reopening of the Central Hotel Apartments on the square. Formerly the Central Hotel, the apartment complex will offer affordable housing for senior citizens.
The building was closed and vacated because of structural issues in the beginning of 2015. However, renovations were completed in April and rental agreements on the property were finished by the end of the year, according to O’Leary. Approximately $3 million was spent over the course of the project to bring the structure up to code.
“This is an example of a building in the uptown area, a dominant structure on the square, that we responded to and worked with owners to come up with a way to save the hotel,” O’Leary said.
Internally, the city will soon begin selecting a communications liaison approved by council last fall to work with existing media in communicating vital information to Galion citizens. O’Leary noted this individual will also be Galion’s key point person in updating the city website.
“We strongly believe in city government that our modernized website provides great opportunity to get more information out to citizens about what they need to know, but also have a feedback loop to find information about what our constituents want,” he said.
“We’re going to begin to provide a higher level of media and supplement what the media already does with information that they can’t always get.”
