Welcome and Introductions – Caucus facilitator Dennis
McMickens, called the meeting to order.
Attendees included Laurie Adams (DGL Consulting Engineers), Meg Adams (FirstEnergy/Toledo Edison), Edgar Avila
(AAA Northwest Ohio/AAA Club Alliance,
Inc.), Jenny Carter-Cornell (Hull
& Associates), Lu Cooke (State of
Ohio, office of the Governor), Derek Dalton (Stantec Consulting), Zane Daniels (Columbia Gas of Ohio), Brian Dicken (Toledo Regional Chamber), Larry Gamble (Stantec Consulting), Sally Gladwell (The Mannik & Smith Group), Traci Hernandez (DGL Consulting Engineers), Diana Hersch
(Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative),
Lynn Jankowski (Civil & Environmental
Consultants), Mike Jay (Regional
Growth Partnership), Ben Kenny (WSOS
Community Action), John Kusnier (Davey
Resource Group), Nick Mandros (Ohio
Environmental Council), Dennis McMickens (Safety Council of NW Ohio), Gilda Mitchell (TMACOG), Hans Rosebrock (FirstEnergy/Toledo
Edison), Laura Saunders-Kowalec (Huntington
Bank), Don Scherer (Green Energy Ohio),
Joel Schlageter (First Federal Bank),
Roberta Streiffert (WSOS Community Action),
Yvonne Thoma-Patton (Eastern Maumee Bay
Chamber of Commerce), Julie Thomas (CT
Consultants), Keith Webb (We Are
Traffic), Homer Wilson (Jones &
Henry Engineering), and Jerry Zielke (Paulding
County Economic Development/NORED). TMACOG staff liaisons included Roger
Streiffert and Lisa Householder.
I.
Election of
Representatives
–Approval of the 2018 Board of Trustees for Non-Governmental members was held.
A motion was approved unanimously. Members and Alternates for 2018 include the
following:
·
Meg
Adams – FirstEnergy/Toledo Edison (Member)
·
Diana
Hersch – Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative (Member)
·
Maura
Johnson – Maumee Valley Heritage Corridor (Member)
·
Mike
Jay – Regional Growth Partnership (Member)
·
Dennis
McMickens – Safety Council of Northwest Ohio (Member)
·
David
Nunn – Eastman & Smith, Ltd. (Member)
·
Gary
Samples – Black Swamp Conservancy (Member)
·
Laura
Saunders-Kowalec – Huntington Bank (Member)
·
Roberta
Streiffert – WSOS CAC, Inc./OCAP (Member)
·
Edgar
Avila – AAA Northwest Ohio/AAA Club Alliance, Inc. (Member or Alternate)
·
Edward
Snyder – NORTA, Inc. (Member or Alternate)
·
Jennifer
Carter-Cornell – Hull & Associates, Inc. (Alternate)
·
Edward
Hoeffel – Maumee Valley Heritage Corridor (Alternate)
·
Cindy
Hurst – Lourdes University (Alternate)
·
David
Kuhn – Finch & Associates, Inc. (Alternate)
·
Tiffany
Whitlow – Safety Council of Northwest Ohio (Alternate)
·
Ruth
Ann House – WSOS CAC, Inc. (Alternate)
II.
Discussion Topics – The caucus members
spent a majority of the meeting discussing various discussion topics, including
autonomous vehicles, business attraction and expansion, bitcoin mining, and opioid
problems in the workforce. Some commentary included:
·
Managing
the impacts of autonomous vehicle introduction –
o
Important
to look at how the car companies are implementing safety as the technology
develops;
o
Autonomous
vehicle technology is coming along very quickly and the Ohio Turnpike is
quickly adapting to it. All vehicles manufactured since around 2008 have
cameras on them;
o
Parking
garages will need to be retrofitted to accommodate more charging stations for
electric vehicles;
o
There
is an annual event held in Traverse City, Michigan that addresses autonomous
vehicles (CAR Management Briefing Seminars);
o
Concerns
of how these vehicles will handle poor driving conditions (ice, snow, etc.);
o
Some
of these vehicles could be road-worthy by 2019;
o
AAA
is actively working with car manufacturers, and most of their research is
focusing on autonomous vehicle technology. One example is a yearlong pilot
study with a shuttle bus in Las Vegas. Their research suggests there is a
public shift in people becoming more confident in this technology and that fear
is being alleviated;
o
AAA
is co-sponsoring an autonomous vehicle speaker series at the University of
Toledo College of Engineering. The first event is February 7 from 3:00-5:00
p.m. and will provide an overview. A second event is scheduled for April 13 and
will focus on cyber security (how to protect cars from hackers), and future
topics and dates will be announced;
o
This
technology should result in a substantial decline in costs related to traffic
crashes due to loss of work time, delays (freight related), damaged property,
etc.
o
NW
Ohio needs to be preparing for this – how is this being done? How are we
preparing roads? How are we getting funding? How can we move this forward? NW
Ohio should be leader as this technology develops further;
o
City
of Toledo is working on a traffic study for the downtown area and will be
addressing autonomous vehicles;
o
Smart
corridor testing sites are near our area – one in Marysville, Ohio and one in
Ann Arbor, Michigan.
o
Toledo
Regional Chamber has a good presentation relating to much of this topic.
·
Business
attraction, retention, and expansion –
o
Business
expansion is occurring in our region, which means businesses are staying;
o
Hancock-Wood
Electric Cooperative covers a ten-county area and is seeing a lot of expansion,
much of which is being facilitated by economic development. They have
information to share regarding services for business expansion;
o
First
Energy works on a lot of projects to attract business to our area, teams up
with RGP and JobsOhio for many of them. It is very competitive both nationally
and internationally;
o
NORED
is seeing a lot of positive things so far in 2018. There is a lot of equipment
expansion in our area. For example, in Paulding County alone there has been
$220 million in capital investments. More equipment is being automated but this
is still leading to additional jobs. Food technologies are really growing in
our region.
o
Concerns
for this topic – workforce numbers and amount of available housing. We need to
look at how to attract people to our region and what needs to be built. As
well, look at how to retain college students attending schools in our region;
o
Alternative
transportation (mass transit and bicycle facilities) should be used as a tool
to attract businesses;
o
Communities
need to be pro-business and pro-expansion, need cooperation/support of local
government officials. Coordinate all resources within a community to make it
attractive and provide incentives (doesn’t necessarily have to be monetary);
o
Site
consultants tend to look at the negatives of a proposed area in order to use
the process of elimination when selecting a site. Some key things they look at
are quality of life, alternative transportation options, infrastructure
conditions, cost of doing business, good workforce (and enough people to work),
and housing availability.
·
Bitcoin
mining operations –
o
Bitcoin
is a new form of digital currency (cryptocurrency). “Mining” of this currency
involves a special computer software that solves mathematical algorithms and
issues a currency in exchange. This operation uses a massive amount of power to
run and is a frivolous use of energy. Are environmental groups aware of this?
·
Opioid
problems on the workforce –
o
The
opioid epidemic is a huge strain on the area workforce;
o
The
Safety Council of NW Ohio addresses overdoses in its CPR training sessions. It
is important to have someone on staff that is qualified to recognize these
symptoms. If someone is showing signs of overdose then it is best to contact
911 and have them administer Narcan. Keep their heart going and keep them
breathing until the EMS can get there;
o
Addiction
for many starts in the hospital while being treated for pain, such as
post-surgery.
o
This
epidemic is impacting the workforce since most businesses are having trouble
finding workers that are drug-free. At one large company, roughly 70% of
potential workers failed their drug test. It recognizes that drug screenings
are costing more money than new employee training;
o
The
employee may not be addicted to drugs, but if a family member is then there can
be lost time due to them needing to take care of that individual;
o
Some
companies are now being more lenient on drug testing or forgoing it
altogether.
·
Next
steps –
o
Caucus
members requested that TMACOG develop a working group on autonomous vehicles;
o
TMACOG
will distribute information discussed in today’s caucus:
§ AAA autonomous
vehicle speaker event at UT on February 7
§ Autonomous vehicle
presentation from Toledo Regional Chamber
§ Information from
Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative regarding services available for business
expansion.
III.
TMACOG Committees and
Membership Benefits
– TMACOG staff discussed the various benefits of being a TMACOG member. Staff
reviewed the council and committee structure and stressed that anyone may
attend and be involved in these meetings. Staff can also create maps, collect
traffic counts, coordinate events, etc that is a benefit of being a TMACOG
member.
IV.
There was no further
business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:45 a.m.
Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments | www.tmacog.org
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