Aurora
As part of the City of Aurora “America 250: Party at the Park” event series, the city and the Aurora Chamber of Commerce are partnering to host the Business Birthday Tour. Inspired by the Chamber’s Drive-It-Yourself Tour, participants will receive a map of official tour stops and have from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 1 to visit participating locations and collect stamps. The map will also highlight the giveaway, special sale or activity offered at each stop. Participants who visit a designated number of locations will be eligible for a grand prize made up of items donated by participating businesses.
How to participate:
- Register by July 1 at allaboutaurora.com.
- Offer a giveaway, unique sale or activity during the event (plan for approximately 150 visitors).
- Decorate your business with birthday-themed or patriotic decorations.
- Donate an item valued at $20 or more for the grand prize basket by July 24.
“America 250: Party at the Park” actually will kick off with a tree planting from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 2 at the Tree Museum at Hartman Park at 305 Townline Rd.
The Aurora Chamber’s Summer After Hours Series, formerly known as Party on the Patio, is now called Liberty and Libations to help celebrate America 250. This new name reflects the spirit of the year while keeping the fun, connection and community that residents have always enjoyed. Also new this year: Participants will visit new locations, beginning from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 7 at V Financial Partners at 238 E. Garfield Rd.
Future locations and dates:
- Salon Patrick Social, June 25
- El Camino, July 29
- Trentstone of Aurora, Aug. 20
- The Aurora Inn, Sept. 16
Register at allaboutaurora.com.
A final Community Open House meeting will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 29 in the Craddock Elementary School gym. The evening will begin with a one-hour open forum featuring multiple stations dedicated to various aspects of the school’s “Essential Plan” for improvement. Attendees will have opportunities to ask questions and provide feedback on refinements. The final 30 minutes will include a guided tour of Craddock and the existing bus garage.
Ruck in Remembrance, hosted by American Legion Post 803, will take place from 8 to 9 a.m. Saturday, May 23 at Sunny Lake Park’s boathouse pavilion on Mennonite Road. Walk a lap (1.75 miles) to honor our fallen heroes. All are welcome to participate in this free event. Donations will benefit local youth programs. For questions, email jared.hostetler.1@gmail.com.
You can meet Portage County Treasurer Joe Bica from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 29 at Silver Creek Church at 252 N. Chillicothe Rd. Gain valuable insights about the county treasurer’s office, including property tax issues. Lunch will be catered by Alesci’s. Cost is $30 for Aurora Chamber of Commerce members and $38 for non-members. For more information, visit allaboutaurora.com.
The City of Aurora is moving forward with its paving program for this summer with Ronyak Paving at a cost of $879,841. A handful of streets and several city parking lots will be done.
Meanwhile, a state paving project has recently begun on state Route 82 east of state Route 43 all the way to the Mantua line, and also on state Route 306 north from state Route 82.
The Aurora Parks and Recreation Department is advertising for the hiring of a community events intern for the summer. Parks and rec is also hiring for an administrative assistant. Those positions can be found at auroraoh.com.
Aurora City Council has reached a collective bargaining agreement with the police dispatchers. This is council’s final collective bargaining agreement of the year.
City council is taking the first steps to put its road and bridge levy renewal on the ballot in November. It is 0.9 mills.
“It’s been around for a while,” Mayor Ann Womer Benjamin said.
The city’s brush collection will take place from Monday, May 18 to Friday, May 22. You must have your brush at the curb before 7 a.m. May 18.
A program will be held at 10:15 a.m. on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25 at Veterans Memorial Park at 40 W. Garfield Rd. That will be followed by a procession to Aurora Cemetery, where there will be another commemoration.
Streetsboro
The planning commission forwarded a resolution to Streetsboro City Council to put a 12-month moratorium on accepting applications for data centers and/or cryptocurrency centers. This will give council time to craft legislation. Mayor Glenn Broska and the rest of the administration, along with the economic development director, are not exactly big fans of data centers as they are right now.
“Data centers have a very large square-foot-to-employee ratio,” Broska said. “We’re not making any more land, and in order to put a thing like that in, they would need a large amount of land, and traditionally data centers only have 20 to 40 employees. When you have to put a million square feet under one roof and you only have 20 to 40 employees, you’re talking almost 50,000 square feet per employee, and that is not a good use of the land that we have. Plus the fact that our local electrical infrastructure would not handle the amount of electricity that’s required to do something like that. And our municipal water system isn’t capable of producing the water. So we have a lot of legitimate reasons why data centers are really not welcome here.”
The multi-billion-dollar companies that build data centers want tax incentives and things of the like, but according to Broska, that is not likely to happen in Streetsboro.
“We’re not amenable to awarding tax incentives,” he said, “to something that’s really not going to be of a continuing beneficial nature to the city, especially when we don’t have large amounts of industrial land. The most popular size for industrial buildings for us is 125,000 to 175,000 square feet with between 60 and 100 employees. That makes the square-foot usage per employee very good. When you only have 20 to 40 employees and a million square feet, it’s just not economical for us. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to offer any type of incentive for that, and that’s the reason why we really don’t want any data centers to locate here.”
City council sent out to bid the company that is going to construct the playground at the City Center site.
“We have the builder of the actual playground,” Broska said. “Once we get the infrastructure bids back, we’ll schedule the beginning of the construction.”
The playground is scheduled to be completed by mid-summer.
Council met with the architects regarding the design of a gazebo in the oval.
The Streetsboro Chamber of Commerce’s ninth annual R.A.T. Golf Outing will be Friday, May 15 at Windmill Lakes Golf Club at 6544 State Route 14 in Ravenna, with a 9 a.m. shotgun start.
Cost is $135 per player or $675 for a team of four. There will be breakfast treats, bottomless beverages, an after-golf dinner, raffles, sponsorships and much more. To register online, visit bit.ly/RATGolf26. For more information, contact the Chamber at 330-626-4769 or SACC@StreetsboroChamber.org.
Shalersville
Data centers were the main topic April 7 at the Shalersville Township Trustees meeting that was attended not only by State Rep. Heidi Workman but also more than 200 residents. No attendees expressed support for data centers being installed in Shalersville. Residents expressed strong concerns regarding noise, excessive water consumption and how it may affect their private wells, discharge of wastewater and fire department concerns.
Two weeks later, at the April 21 trustees meeting, additional residents expressed their opposition to data centers. While no data center proposals are currently pending, the trustees are proactively reviewing standards to safeguard residents.
Meanwhile, township resident Chris Mosher is gathering signatures for a statewide referendum aimed at preventing data centers from coming to Ohio.
Shalersville’s Spring Clean-up will be held at the following times and dates: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, May 7; 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, May 8; and 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, May 9. As usual, the dumpsters will be at the Town Hall garage at 4383 State Route 303.
The township’s annual Memorial Day Parade will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 23. The parade will begin at Red Fox Estates and conclude at Riverside Cemetery, where a ceremony will be held.
The Shalersville Historical Society will host a car show from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 30 (rain date is May 31). There is a $10 entry fee to enter your car in the show. Food will be provided by the Crestwood Lions Club. A DJ will provide entertainment.
The township trustees are developing a road maintenance plan for the upcoming season. Several roads will be hot-patched, and some will be chip-and-sealed. It is unlikely that the township will receive any state grant assistance this year.
The 1881 Mausoleum at the cemetery has a rotting ceiling joist. Repairs will be completed, and the original slate roof will be preserved to maintain the historic character of the structure.
Ravenna Township
The Ravenna Township Trustees have put a six-month moratorium on data centers in the township. Township Trustee Vince Coia believes that many jurisdictions are doing the same to take a step back and digest all the information, including future information, that is available instead of just going and opening the floodgates.
“The infrastructure comes into question about whether you have enough water to support something like that to cool the data centers and whether FirstEnergy can supply enough electricity, and also how it impacts the cost of residential billing,” Coia said. “I can understand that supposedly data centers can attract companies that need that type of service that data centers provide, but real large ones are going to take a tremendous amount of electricity to run, and our electrical grid is already kind of shaky at best. I don’t think the City of Ravenna’s water department, or the county’s either, can support the amount of water that would be needed on a large-scale basis.”
Ravenna Township will have a Community First Aid & CPR training at 5 p.m. Friday, May 1 at the township’s meeting room at 6145 Spring St. Present will be Fire Chief Abbie Buday and the EMTs.
Included will be:
- First-aid training that will include choking, severe bleeding, heart attack, stroke, allergic reactions and opioid-associated emergencies
CPR and AED certification - Emergency response
- Preparedness education
This event is free to Ravenna Township residents. To sign up, go to ravennatownship.com and use the QR Code. If you don’t have access to that, call the township fire department at 330-297-2192.
The township is looking to hire a new zoning inspector. Applications are available on Indeed.com or by emailing vince.coia@ravennatownship.com. Any questions, call the zoning office at 330-297-1998.
City of Ravenna
The Raven Awards will be from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 3 at the Ravenna Elks at 776 N. Freedom St. The nomination deadline is May 1. For ticket information, sponsorships, ad sizes/prices and any other questions, contact the Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce at 330-296-3886 or Ryann@RavennaAreaChamber.com.
There is still time left to donate non-perishable food and monetary support for local families in the Center of Hope Hunger Challenge in the month of April. Every can counts. Every dollar helps. Drop-off is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. through April 30 at the Center of Hope at 1081 W. Main St. If you have questions, call 330-297-5454.
Honorary Way nominations are due by Friday, May 15. Honorary Way is a means to publicly and temporarily honor distinguished citizens and good Samaritans for their achievements by ceremonially naming the street after them. The Honorary Way bench and street sign can be found at the corner of South Park Way and West Main Street – at the entrance to Veterans Memorial Park, across from the Triangle building. The name of the honoree will hang from a decorative post at the center of the flower bed. Twice a year, the Ravenna Chamber’s selection committee will choose a new honoree with approval from Mayor Frank Seman.
The next Coffee Talk with the Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce will be from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. May 13 at the Horseshoe Diner at 250 W. Main St. This event takes place the second Wednesday of every month.
A multi-chamber spring luncheon will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, May 21 at University Hospitals Portage PMAB, Room 150, at 6847 N. Chestnut St. Participating chambers are Ravenna, Aurora, Kent, Mantua/Shalersville, Rootstown and Streetsboro. Enjoy lunch, make new connections and take part in a lively Q&A with University Hospitals leaders on timely healthcare topics that matter to the community. Come for the networking, stay for the conversation – and leave with new insights and new contacts. Cost is $15 per person. RSVP to tinyurl.com/UHMultiChamber5-21.
The Second Annual Community Resource Fair will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 30 at the Ravenna Elks Lodge at 776 Freedom St. Community agencies are welcome to attend.
It’s a great chance to showcase your agency, meet new people and expand your outreach in a community-focused setting. For more information or to register, contact Carolyn Danes at 330-297-1489, ext. 258, or cdanes@portagehousing.org.