Delaware County
Port Authority

Prevailing wage ruling favorable to economic development

The Ohio Supreme Court wrapped up the month of June with a ruling that may impact many of Ohio’s businesses, particularly those with public-private partnerships.

In Ohio, “public improvement” projects must pay union wages to workers.  However, under the ruling, any projects receiving only partial public funding (such as grants from the Ohio Department of Development and local agencies) are not automatically subject to the prevailing wage laws.

The Associated Builders and Contractors of Ohio argued that extending the prevailing wage laws in Ohio could harm economic development efforts in the state by raising construction costs by as much as 20%.

This decision came as good news to the Ohio economic development community, who increasingly look to partial public funding as an option for business expansion.

For more information about the prevailing wage ruling, visit the ruling’s page on Ohio Supreme Court’s website.

Delaware Municipal Airport

Delaware City Councilman, Airport Commissioner, and pilot Jim Moore discusses the Delaware Municipal Airport and shares his thoughts on the importance of a municipal airport to economic development.

First Korean firm in Delaware starts operations

At an open house in Delaware yesterday afternoon, the Sam Dong corporation unveiled its new sign and officially began operations here in Delaware County. Sam Dong, the first Korean owned company to have a presence in Delaware, reached an agreement in April with multinational manufacturing firm Luvata to acquire Luvata’s Rolled Products facility located on Pittsburgh Drive in Delaware. Sam Dong plans to retain the current employee headcount of 75 at the facility.

The facility will continue to produce the rod that Sam Dong uses to create its electrical wire.  Based just outside of Seoul, South Korea, Sam Dong manufactures specialty electrical wire products for use in the generator, motor, and transformer industries. Sam Dong boasts many well-known international customers, including General Electric, Hyundai, Siemens, Mitsubishi, and Hitachi. With the acquisition of the Pittsburgh Drive facility, Sam Dong has achieved complete vertical integration of their operations in North America.

“We are pleased to welcome Sam Dong to the community,” Delaware Mayor Windell Wheeler said in April. “Our history of strength in the manufacturing sector makes Sam Dong an ideal fit for our local economy.”

The presence of yet another international firm in Delaware County just goes to show that whether you’re local, from out of state, or from the other side of the globe, Delaware is a great place to do business.

The Sam Dong sign is unveiled in a ceremony at the firm's recently-acquired Pittsburgh Drive location in Delaware. The sign is unveiled by, from left, Delaware City Manager Tom Homan, Delaware Mayor Windell Wheeler, Sam Song CEO Ee Joo Lee, and Sam Dong President Leon Molloy. Photo courtesy of Lee Yoakum, Public Affairs, City of Delaware.

Transportation

Check back soon for a video profiling the Delaware Municipal Airport and all that it has to offer!

Commissioner Hanks on economic development

Delaware County Commissioner Todd Hanks discusses the importance of economic development to a community. Hanks also shares his thoughts on why Delaware County, Ohio is a great place to live, work, and grow a business.

Fiber Optic Infrastructure in Delaware County

Plans are afoot to further develop a network of high-speed fiber optic cables in Delaware County.  As the Delaware Gazette reported earlier in May, the Delaware County Commissioners are considering expansion of fiber infrastructure in the county to connect the Greif Park business development in Liberty Township to other fiber networks, in Delaware and/or in Worthington.

Add to this the DASH (Delaware Area SuperHighway) consortium the City of Delaware, OhioHealth, and Consolidated Electric formed in 2006.  Since the creation of DASH, the group has put approximately 2 miles of fiber optic cable in the ground.  This infrastructure is immensely valuable not only for business attraction and retention, but also for use by government services.

At a recent Delaware County Commissioners meeting, County Economic Development Director Gus Comstock said, “If we want to attract the best businesses to town, we need fiber, fiber, fiber.  Fiber’s what’s going to draw the best businesses.”  He’s absolutely right.  Development of fiber infrastructure will make Delaware County attractive to new high-tech businesses.

Welcome

Welcome to the Delaware County Port Authority newsblog. There’s a lot going on in Delaware County, and this site is your source for updates on what’s happening.  A weekly post is published here each Wednesday, but check back frequently for extra posts.

You can look forward to video content, guest bloggers, press releases, business profiles, updates on new Port Authority development projects, features on Delaware County’s many assets and resources, and much more.

We hope you enjoy the content you see here and we look forward to having you visit our site again!