By CARL E. FEATHER - Staff Writer - cfeather@starbeacon.com
Seventy-seven percent of Ashtabula County registered voters questioned for an economic steering committee survey, say the county is on the wrong track.
The survey, conducted Nov. 19-22 by Governing Dynamic, was prepared for the Ashtabula County Economic Steering Committee, formed a year ago to set goals and develop a plan to stimulate growth that will benefit all residents in the future.
The group’s motto is “a rising tide carries all ships,” but the survey results suggest a tsunami will be needed to overcome the challenges facing the 17-member group.
“The citizens believe they are facing a perfect storm of economic pressures,” states the executive summary of the document, provided to the Star Beacon by Ashtabula County Commissioner Daniel Claypool, a founding member of the committee. “While on average they assigned a grade of ‘D’ to the economies of their national, state and local communities, the county received an ‘F’ and is perceived as being in significantly worse shape than the others. Citizens countywide almost unanimously — (87 percent) — believe that the growth and development is occurring too slowly, and 81 percent indicate that the development that has occurred has not benefited them personally.”
Governing Dynamic completed 400 random surveys by telephone to obtain the responses to 34 questions. The educational breakdown included 46 percent high-school graduates, 27 percent college graduates, and 15 percent had a graduate degree. There were responses from every township and municipality. Eighty-one percent of those surveyed have lived in the county more than 15 years.
Unemployment and a lack of jobs are the top reasons (33 percent) for people saying the county is on the wrong track. Nearly 21 percent of the respondents blame the direction on a lack of leadership, an excess of politics, corrupt officials, poor governance and conflicts among government officials.
In another question, 43 percent said the most important problem facing Ashtabula County today — the one that most concerns the respondents — is the economy.
For Claypool, one of the most disturbing numbers is that 67 percent of those who responded said they believe the county is a difficult place in which to conduct business.
“That should be a wake-up call,” said Claypool. “I think that is a question we need to pay attention to. If there are ways we make it very difficult for a business to succeed, we want to address them.”
Claypool said he is somewhat surprised to see that 25 percent of the respondents feel tourism plays only a minor role in the local economy and often county leaders overemphasize its importance. Another 62 percent feel it is an emerging part of the economy, which should be reinforced and developed.
When it came to asking respondents what kind of jobs they wanted to see developed in the county, the majority (46 percent) would prefer industrial and manufacturing jobs. Only 6 percent prefer tourism jobs, which still is higher than health care, retail or agriculture jobs.
The survey results will be discussed in an “engagement session” with 40 to 50 county business, labor and other leaders selected by the steering committee. Claypool said the date of that meeting has not been set. The steering committee meets Thursday to finalize the invitation list.
The third phase of the steering committee’s work, developing an economic development strategy, will begin after responses from the engagement session are compiled.
Membership of the steering committee, which is sponsored by the Ashtabula County Port Authority, includes Claypool, Duane Feher, Marty Kuula, Jerry Brockway, Roger Corlett and State Rep. Deborah Newcomb, D-Conneaut.
