Portage County roundup: Aurora places 12-month moratorium on smoke shops, plus news from Ravenna and Streetsboro

Photo of the front of aurora's town hall building with bright purple flowers around the sign in the front lawn.
Lyndsey Brennan/The Portager

Aurora

Aurora authorized the purchase of a new 2023 ambulance. The cost is $315,000, which includes equipment that will be installed. A fire paramedic levy will pay for the ambulance.

“We probably won’t get the new ambulance until next year,” Mayor Ann Womer Benjamin said. “We have an ambulance with a lot of miles on it. After we get the new ambulance, we may continue to use the old one for backup, but eventually I expect we’ll sell it.” 

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Womer Benjamin appointed a new full-time fire chief, Matthew McBirney, after a long search. McBirney, who has been with the department for 25 years, was sworn in last month. The outgoing fire chief retired.

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The city authorized a contractor for a backflow prevention program in one of its neighborhoods where there have been sanitary issues the last several years.

“We’re continuing to investigate what the appropriate remedies might be,” Womer Benjamin said, “but until we arrive at that point, we’re providing backflow prevention devices to those residents who want them in this neighborhood to help prevent waste water from coming into their homes.”

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Aurora enacted a 12-month moratorium on new applications for vape shops, smoke shops and shops that sell any products with CBD cannabidiol oils or edibles.

“The reason for the moratorium,” Womer Benjamin said, “is that we want to see if there are places where these shops would or would not be appropriate, and we want to amend our zoning code accordingly.”

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The Aurora Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau put on the State of the City Feb. 15 at the Bertram Inn Hotel & Conference Center. Womer Benjamin and Aurora schools Superintendent Mike Roberto spoke. Lunch was included.

The event was sponsored by the Campus of Anna Maria of Aurora, a nursing home, rehabilitation and independent living campus.

“We had a great turnout with 144 guests,” Chamber Executive Director Karen Bosley said.

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The Chamber will hold its State of the Chamber Luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 22 at the Aurora Inn Hotel & Event Center at 30 Shawnee Trail.

“It’s our turn to say what we did, what our accomplishments were in 2022 and the plans we have for 2023,” Bosley said.

There will be speed networking at the end of the event.

The admission fee is $30 for Chamber members and $35 for non-members. To purchase tickets, visit allaboutaurora.com.

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A multi-chamber event called a “breakfast blender” will take place from 8-9 a.m. Friday, March 24 at the Hampton Inn & Suites at 800 Mondial Parkway in Streetsboro. The Aurora, Streetsboro, Ravenna and Kent chambers will be represented.

Admission is free. To register, visit bit.ly/MCMCMarch24.

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Gail Pavliga, Aurora’s state representative, will hold office hours from 4-7 p.m. Thursday, March 16 at the Walker Building at 129 W. Pioneer Trail. Residents can come and talk to Pavliga and voice their concerns and opinions.

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Aurora Events Coordinator Katie Nahra has moved from part time to full time.

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The city authorized its fireworks contract with American Fireworks for this Fourth of July. It’s a company the city has used before.


Ravenna Township

Ravenna Township Trustee Jim DiPaola is working with the governor’s office and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown’s office about getting the rest of the October train derailment cleaned up.

“It’s basically all cleaned up except for two railroad cars that are sitting on the east side of the tracks,” township Trustee Vince Coia said. “Also, our liaison from the fire department met March 8 with a representative from the National Transportation and Safety Board about the derailment.”

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The township hired another full-time firefighter, Dylan Keba. Keba will be sworn in April 11.

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The township hired Nathan Holt as a full-time road worker, a position that’s been open for awhile. Holt started two weeks ago.


City of Ravenna

The City of Ravenna received authorization to enter into an agreement with the State of Ohio Department of Transportation. This is for the resurfacing of North Chestnut Street from Main Street out to state Route 14 and also South Prospect Street from Main Street south to the county boundary. The city is also beginning to do some work on Main Street that is scheduled to be finished in 2024.

“We’re going to widen West Main Street by one lane and put new curbs in, probably a turn lane. The other side has already been done,” Mayor Frank Seman said. “It will take some time for us to get telephone poles moved. Also in 2024, Main Street from the east city limits to the west city limits will be paved.”

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The city passed a resolution requiring homeowners to place garbage and recycling containers at the sides or back of their houses, not in the front. That will start April 7.

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The city approved funding appropriations from Revolving Loan Funds, which are renewable funds.

“We lend money out, and people pay it back,” Seman said. “This is for Habitat for Humanity, and the city authorized $50,000 towards the Habitat that’s remodeling a home on Lincoln Avenue. This is grant money we got. There were provisions made for them to be paid back, and we take the reclaimed funds and lend them out again.”

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A University Hospitals Portage Medical Lunch & Learn will take place from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 29 in Room 150 of the UH Portage Medical Arts Building at 6847 N. Chestnut St. The topic will be colon cancer awareness, since March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Lunch is included. Guests must pre-register. To pre-register, call 330-297-2578 by Wednesday, March 22. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. Admission is free.

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The Portage County Board of Developmental Disabilities will offer all-inclusive empowering events to bring the public together for some free fun, advocacy and laughter twice this month at Independence of Portage County, Inc. at 575 E. Lake St.

At 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 14, internationally renowned concert pianist and motivational speaker Christopher Milo will use his stage to advocate for people. Milo uses his story and his music to help people lead with love and not fear, to love all regardless of the label society has placed on them.

At 7 p.m. Friday, March 31, The Improvaneers, the world’s first-ever improvisation troupe cast with individuals with Down syndrome, will perform.

Doors will open 30 minutes before the start of each event. Admission is free.

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The City of Ravenna is continuing to find ways to help the homeless.

“We have a lot of services downtown,” Seman said. “Coleman [Health Services] has a presence here. I’ve been told that Coleman is looking to sell the Phoenix Building at 107 E. Main St. They moved their office to Kent, but they still will be servicing the people here who need their services.”

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Raven Packs will host its next Packing Days at 9 a.m. Thursday, March 16 and 9 a.m. Thursday, March 30 at Portage Community Chapel at 6490 State Route 14 to help local students combat hunger. Sign up here.

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The Portage County Emergency Management Agency will host SKYWARN Storm Spotter Training from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, March 23 at Maplewood Career Center at 7075 State Route 88. Register here.

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A Lunch & Learn featuring Portage County Treasurer Brad Cromes took place Feb. 21 at Reed Memorial Library. Cromes spoke about savings and loans for new and small businesses, homeowners and farmers.

“It was an opportunity to be able to get some funding out there for improvements within the Portage County area,” Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ryann Kuchenbecker said. “We had about 25 people attend the event.”

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On March 11, Jonathan Floyd, who has Down syndrome, had his name put up on the Honorary Way on Park Way in which people who have been good community members are honored.

“We put a new name up about every six months,” Seman said.

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The Center of Hope and Big Brothers Big Sisters will host a Hippity Hoppity Easter Breakfast from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 1 at the Center of Hope at 1081 W. Main St. Signups are through March 27. To register, call the Center of Hope from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 330-297-5454 ext. 3. The Center of Hope is looking for Easter basket donations, $10-15 baskets in cellophane wrapping, gender neutral, that any child can enjoy. Please deliver to the Center of Hope by March 27.

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The second annual Ravenna Rocks Concert Series will have a planning meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 13 at the West Main Street Winery & Brewery at 234 W. Main St. Guests can attend in person or via Zoom. Pre-registration is available on the Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce website (ravennaareachamber.com).

“We’re looking for volunteers, we’re looking for new ideas and how to improve and grow the event in the best way possible,” Kuchenbecker said.

The dates for the concert series are June 17, Aug. 12 and Oct. 7.

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Rich and Ashley Wolford celebrated their new ownership of Ravenna Nutrition at 133 E. Main St. with a ribbon-cutting March 6. Some of the offerings there are healthy shakes, teas, frappes and coffees. Possible menu items down the road could include healthy doughnuts and cake pops.

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West Main Street Winery and Brewery will have the great smell, taste and sounds of St Patrick’s Day Friday, March 17. There will be great beer, wine, cider and top-shelf liquor. Enjoy music, fun and dance from DJKrooze and The KrewWay Experience. Don’t forget that amazing smoked corned beef sandwich from Lugapha’s Smoked BBQ, located behind the winery at 220 W. Highland Ave. The party kicks off at 2 p.m.

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The Big Dog Saloon at 432 W. Highland Ave. will open its doors at 9 a.m. on St. Patrick’s Day, Friday, March 17 for food, games, drinks and fun. There will be an all-day disc jockey, giveaways, corned beef and cabbage, reuben sandwiches and many more surprises.

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The Rotary Club of Ravenna will host its dinner and reverse raffle from 6-10 p.m. Thursday, March 16 at Ravenna Elks No. 776 at 776 N. Freedom St. Reach out to a Rotarian to purchase tickets for a great cause with raffle tickets, baskets, food and fun.


Streetsboro

A multi-chamber morning coffee will take place from 8-9 a.m. Friday, March 24 at the Hampton Inn & Suites at 800 Mondial Parkway. It is a chance for people to network and mingle with other business leaders and get to know some of the benefits included with membership, while enjoying breakfast treats and a hot cup of coffee. Chambers from Streetsboro, Aurora, Kent and Ravenna will participate. Reservations are appreciated.

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Streetsboro is moving forward very quickly with the Streetsboro Community Center at City Park.

“We’ll be breaking ground on it in a couple months. They went out there two weeks ago and took some trees down,” Mayor Glenn Broska said. “On March 13, I think we’re going to name the construction manager at risk (CMR) for the project. The CMR goes out and gets all the estimates for all the different things that need to be done, and they provide us with a dollar figure. That dollar figure is the maximum price the project will cost. The estimated price is $3.1 million. We’ll know what the price is in a few weeks as they fine-tune the estimates.”

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The Streetsboro Area Chamber of Commerce will hold a student recognition breakfast from 8:45-10:15 a.m. Wednesday, April 5 at St. Joan of Arc Event Center at 8894 State Route 14. Streetsboro High School graduating seniors with a grade-point average of 3.5 or higher will be honored. Admission is $20 for Chamber members and $25 for non-members. A student breakfast sponsorship is $15 per student, an honor roll sponsorship is $150 (10 student breakfast sponsorships), and a valedictorian sponsorship is $250 (two breakfast tickets, 10 student breakfast sponsorships and a three- to five-minute business introduction).  

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An axe-throwing company that includes leagues opened at Market Square Plaza a few weeks ago.

“I’ve heard from different people who said it’s pretty cool,” Broska said.

Roger Gordon
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