Ohio accounts for more than 30 percent
of all cargo that travels on the inland river system in the United States,
and ranks fourth behind Louisiana, Arkansas and New York in the amount of
total water-borne commerce shipped by ocean, lake and river. Pictured at
the right is the river port in Columbiana County.
Photo courtesy of NEOTEC.
It's not unusual for counties to band together to promote their quality school systems, recreational areas or modernized highways to attract new business into their commonly shared region.
But in northeast Ohio, six counties - Columbiana, Mahoning, Portage, Stark, Summit, Trumbull - have taken this a step further. They have joined forces to strengthen the entire region's intermodal transportation network in hopes of attracting more industry and foreign trade opportunities.
Dubbed the Northeast Ohio Trade and Economic Consortium (NEOTEC) it is believed to be the only multicounty region in the nation taking this approach.
NEOTEC was the vision of Summit County (Ohio) Executive Tim Davis, who came up with the concept two years ago when he was overseeing the development of a Cleveland-Akron-Canton rail line and the expansion of the Youngstown-Warren airport.
While examining a map of the state, he could see the highways, airports, railroad tracks, port areas and the foreign trade zone in the Akron-Canton area all merging together in northeast Ohio. "I was looking at it and all of a sudden, the linkages became real clear to me," he said.
Northeast Ohio already had a strong manufacturing base in polymer, liquid crystal display, precision machining and steel industries, and more than half of the state's manufacturers were already located there. In addition, Davis said, the region provides market access, within a 500-mile radius, to more than half of the U.S. population and 55 percent of U.S. manufacturing plants.
He approached eight other counties with his vision of building a regional intermodal transportation system that would serve as a "gateway" for moving products throughout the country and abroad. Five of the eight agreed that it was more beneficial to work together to improve the whole region rather than work individually in their own counties.
"It's essential for us to be a part of this," said Stark County Commissioner Don Watkins, who realized that even if jobs were generated in a different county and the employees lived elsewhere, they could come to Stark County to spend their money.
A regional transportation system that moves goods and people doesn't stop at county lines, echoed Dale Gibbons, executive director of NEOTEC, which was formally established in February 1996. "By banding together, we can be more proactive."
The network includes various components that originate or run through the six counties, including the Youngstown-Warren Airport in Trumbull County; the Akron-Canton Regional Airport in Summit and Stark counties; two river ports in Columbiana County; and the Northeast Ohio Intermodal Terminal (NEOMODAL), a modern rail-truck transfer terminal facility, in Stark County.
Currently, NEOTEC is aiming to develop commuter railroad lines between Canton and Cleveland and between the Youngstown-Warren, Akron-Canton areas. The group also plans to convert the Ravenna Arsenal in Portage County into an industrial complex.
Because NEOTEC has enabled the coalition of counties to present a more united front, their position is strengthened when requesting state and federal funding.
By lobbying together for the expansion of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport into a cargo and industrial airport, they were able to put the project into a broader context and won approval from the state.
In July 1996, the state awarded the project $2.5 million. In September, it received $1 million from the Federal Aviation Administration. In October, then-Transportation Secretary Federico Peña committed $11.5 million. Shortly after that, Vice President Al Gore committed $31 million over three years during a visit to the area.
"Who's going to be the biggest gainer?" was one of the fears that had to be overcome during the formation of NEOTEC, said Gibbons. So the group established the "one county, one vote" rule to assure that one county wouldn't pull more weight than the others.
Watkins admits that getting counties to join was no easy task. It took two years just to finish a vision statement, he recalled. But in the end, he said, they all agreed "to take the politics out" because they couldn't "go it alone."
"You've got to be willing to work together," added Davis, and "leave your ego at the door."
A strong intermodal system is essential to attracting international businesses to Ohio, Gibbons said. "Traditional transportation planning has focused on people movement, not freight movement," she explained, but a strong freight movement system is "critical" to luring international trade.
Obtaining foreign trade zone (http://www.neotec.org/advant.html) status for the system, they realized, was also key. Working together, the group gained approval for the expansion of Foreign Trade Zone #181, originally designated at the Akron-Canton airport, to include the Youngstown-Warren airport, NEOMODAL in Stark County and two sites in Columbiana County at the Ohio River Port.
According to Gibbons, if the counties had worked on it individually, they each would have paid about $80,000 in consulting fees just for preparing the application. The cost for Gibbons to do it on behalf of all six cost $1,600.
In its effort to generate international business, NEOTEC members are marketing their region abroad. They are currently pursuing a trade and technology-exchange agreement with industrialists in the southwest Saxony region of Germany, an area with an industrial base and work force similar to northeast Ohio.
The two sides have discussed northeast Ohio's need for workers with skills in metal fabricating, machinery building, tool and die stamping, auto manufacturing and polymer processing. "There is a lack of some specific trade technicians," said Watkins. "I'm told Germany has an abundance of these people."
Davis, Watkins and Gibbons are among the several NEOTEC officials that traveled to Germany earlier this month to attend the Hanover Trade Fair. Other stops included the ports of Berlin and Hamburg. "We want to make them aware of what we have," Davis said.
(For more information about NEOTEC (http://www.neotec.org/fact.html), contact Dale Gibbons, NEOTEC executive director, at 800/793-0912.)
Ohio's neighbor to the northwest, Wisconsin, is also making strides in its international partnerships.
A delegation of county elected officials and business representatives from around the state were in Germany and Poland April 11-27 to promote tourism in Wisconsin.
Spearheaded by the Wisconsin Counties Association, the group was expected to meet with tourism operators in both countries.
"The mission is a tremendous opportunity to highlight Wisconsin's business climate and showcase the tourism opportunities available to foreign visitors," said Wisconsin Counties Association Executive Director Mark Rogacki.
"From marketing tours in virtually every corner of the state to signing sister-region partnerships, we are confident that this trip will result in many good things for Wisconsin."
While in Poland, officials will sign a sister-region partnership between western Poland and western Wisconsin as a means to generate business between the two regions.
Wisconsin officials will also meet with representatives from the state
of Hessen, Germany on the status of their sister-state partnership which
was formed 21 years ago. "German roots run deep here in Wisconsin and
we are proud to continue our partnership with Germany through business and
tourism opportunities," said Rogacki.