Port Authority Meeting Provides Updates of Local Investments

DOWNTOWN ZANESVILLE, Ohio- Today the Zanesville-Muskingum County Port Authority held a meeting to provide updates on businesses around the county and different programs and company retention initiatives. 

A highlight of the meeting was a discussion of a business expanding, investing, and creating new jobs within the community. 

“The Ridge Corporation has announced an expansion that created five new positions at the ECO Park in Frazeysburg, investing over $13 million into our community. We’ve also started an extensive business retention/expansion program that we’ve done on an annual basis, and we visit a lot of companies,” Matt Abbott, executive director of the Zanesville-Muskingum County Port Authority stated.

Companies visited include: White Castle, Worthington Foods -Kellogg’s Facility, and Conn’s Potato chips. The business retention program includes financial programs to aid companies that are investing in the community either through expansion of workforce and/or facilities. The meeting also includes some good news to be taken with a grain of salt when looking at the local economy as a whole.

“Our unemployment levels; we’re seeing pre-COVID unemployment levels here, we’re seeing wages increase significantly in our community, but we’re also seeing the cost of goods and services increase as a result of some deficiencies in the free-trade market that we’re seeing as a country here in the United States,” Abbott said.

Despite the temporary supply-chain issues and inflation of goods and services, Matt Abbott believes the future of Muskingum county is bright with recent investments in the area already reaping benefits  and with what he says ‘the best days being ahead of us’.