ASHLAND — Voters in most of Ashland County and half of Holmes County will see at least one school issue on the November ballot. The Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center Board of Education voted at its regular meeting Thursday, May 18 to approve the second of two required resolutions asking the board of elections to place a 0.5-mill operating levy renewal on the fall ballot.
The levy was first passed in 1986 and was last approved in November 2012 as a five-year issue that raises 459,400 annually to pay for building maintenance and renovation and the purchase of new equipment that will last at least five years. The fall ballot proposal would renew the levy as a continuing issue.
School officials recommended that the board ask for the levy to be made continuing because of the length of time it has been in effect at its current rate. If voters approve, Treasurer Julie Smith said it would mean all the local tax levies that support the Career Center would be continuing issues.
School officials said they have not heard of any other school system in the vocational planning district that will be putting a levy on the November ballot. The deadline to file ballot issues with the Board of Elections for the fall is Aug. 9.
Smith also presented her May update of the state-required five-year financial forecast for the Career Center, which shows $40,000 more in first half property taxes and some increases in health insurance but little other change from the fall report. Smith said the school is not expected to receive any significant increase in state funds until enrollment hits 400 full-time equivalent students, which she conservatively predicted will not be until 2021.
The Career Center Board of Education also voted to waive a 45-day waiting period and approve a proposed 15-year, 75 percent enterprise zone tax for a proposed new 50,000 square foot building at the Ashland Industrial Park off U.S. 250 for SJE-Rhombus, a Minnesota-based employee stock ownership company. The action followed a conference call with company director of operations Mark Ostlie, who said SJE Rhombus is looking to replace the current five-building, four-story facility on Ohio Street in Ashland that houses its CSI Controls division with a one-floor building.
“Our lease is up and we’re looking at a long-term solution,” Ostlie said. “We’re looking for one floor, which would be more efficient for manufacturing and material flow.”
He told the board that the company needs the tax break to help build a facility economically and be good stewards of the employee profits, which go back into the community as employees retire. The enterprise zone application says the new facility could have a value of between $6.4 million and $10.35 million and will create an estimated five jobs annually. SJE Rhombus currently employs 67 people in Ashland.
“I’m heartened to see that they are working to be good community partners and that the financial impact to the Career Center will not be great,” said board member Rick Ewing, who represents the Ashland City School District.
The Career Center board also heard a request for an enterprise zone tax abatement from Perio, Inc. and subsidiary Barbasol LLC, which own and operate the Barbasol shaving cream plant in Ashland. The company is asking for a 15-year, 75 percent abatement on property taxes for a new $3.6 million to $4 million, 70,000 square foot addition that will provide assembly space for a newly acquired razor line and more warehouse space.
“We recently got into the razor market and need to expand our warehouse space and are adding other area with the anticipation of some assembly,” said Perio/Barbasol general manager Brent Strine. “This will allow us to retain employees and give us an opportunity to grow — and we foresee additional growth.”
Barbasol has grown from 25 employees when the plant first opened in 2009 to 78 currently. Strine said the addition technically will be a standalone facility but will be built next to the current plant with dock space in between.
Career Center officials say the board will formally vote on Barbasol’s abatement proposal at its regular June meeting.
The Career Center board also took action on its own construction project, voting to self-fund building improvements for the Animal and Veterinary Science program by borrowing $500,000 from the school’s current general fund surplus and repaying it over five years with revenue from the permanent improvement levy. The board turned down an administrative request to issue commercial notes to pay for the project after learning that the total interest would be $27,000.
Superintendent Mike Parry told the board that the project is ahead of schedule and below budget with walls going up and painting going on. He also reported that the school was evacuated as a precaution for about an hour earlier in the day after a project contractor hit a small natural gas line while setting posts for a pole barn that will be part of the facility.
In other business, the Career Center board:
- Hired Andrew Huffman, a Loudonville resident and Career Center graduate who works for a management group in Summit County as the school’s new technology supervisor.
- Approved a pair of one year contracts with the Midland Council of Governments totaling $40,999 for internet and voice over internet protocol telephone service.
- Abolished the BioScience instructor position and EMIS supplemental contract and suspended the special projects administrative contract for Linda Kay Rex, effective June 30. Parry said he is working with Rex on a change to become the Career Center’s intervention specialist.
