MANSFIELD — Tony Vero said Tuesday a 2023 “State of the County” video highlights public/private investment in Richland County.
“What you will see is taxpayer investment from the northern part of the county to the southern party of the county,” the county commissioner said.
The “premiere” of the 4:25 video, produced by DRM Productions of Mansfield, came Tuesday during a commissioners’ meeting.
“We think it will be be a way of showing Richland County residents and those outside of Richland where dollars are being invested and how we’re using them in an attempt to grow the community,” Vero said.
In attendance Tuesday morning was Lee Tasseff, president of Destination-Richland County, Greg Timberlake, interim CEO of Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development and Jessica Gribben, economic development manager to the City of Shelby and northern Richland County for the chamber.
The video is narrated by Vero; fellow commissioners Darrell Banks and Cliff Mears; county administrator Andrew Keller and Richland County Sheriff Steve Sheldon.
“It shines a spotlight on many of the county’s notable projects, community investments, and the county’s financial position,” Keller said.
He said commissioners plan to release a “State-of-the-County” video on an annual basis going forward “as a part of the Board’s emphasis on transparency and local government
accountability.”
“We encourage folks to share it on their social media platforms and spread the word. Richland County’s a happening place,” Keller said.
Keller said it’s the second installment in a series of three Richland County branding videos. A 90-second countywide branding “teaser” was unveiled in December. Tasseff said Tuesday the full countywide-branding video will be released “later this spring.”
“We don’t have an exact target date yet. We’ve seen the rough draft of it. It’s going through edits right now,” he said.
Vero said it was not possible to include every investment project taking place in the county in the 265-second video shown on Tuesday.
“We truly tried to spread out evenly, particularly with our (American Rescue Plan Act) dollars, throughout the county. So we have investments from Lucas and Bellville to Shelby, from the (B&O) Bike Trail in Mansfield to Westinghouse, all the way to up to the (water project) in Shiloh,” he said.
Tasseff, who has been part of the countywide branding campaign since its inception in 2022, thanked commissioners for including that message in the video.
“On behalf of the branding committee, we’re happy that you’re totally adopting the new brand and pushing it further,” Tasseff said.
Vero said the impetus for the “State of the County” video came when commissioners attended a regional meeting in Delaware County about a year ago and saw a similar series of videos produced by commissioners there.
“I thought it was effective and, quite frankly, better than just hearing politicians talk all the time,” Vero said. “Obviously with them being (wealthier) Delaware County, they host a gigantic gala and invite 200-plus people and release their video.
“I don’t think that’s something we wanted to to do here in Richland County,” he said.
“We thought it would be a good idea to sandwich (the video Tuesday) between the branding teaser and the larger branding video release.”
Vero said the county is paying between $10,000 and $15,000 to produce the “State of the County” video.