Lawmakers provide updates at Legislative Breakfast
ZANESVILLE, Ohio- Local and state government officials gathered at Eaglesticks Golf Club to provide business owners and residents with updates on current legislation.
Senator Troy Balderson, State Representative Brian Hill, Mayor Jeff Tilton, and Commissioner Jim Porter all addressed the crowd with updates to their budgets, committees, and bills they are working on.
New technology
Representative Hill oversees the 97th District. He said some legislation to keep an eye on is the small cell technology stand alone bill. This bill will allow telecom companies to put a small cell on government buildings. He said if it is passed it could be a while before it gets to Muskingum County.
“Anytime that this technology investments happening it’ll be a trickle down effect and it’ll probably be a while before Zanesville and Muskingum County, Guernsey County see the effects of that. But it’s more investment coming into Ohio which is good for Ohio,” said Rep. Hill. “And again we hope we can get our share of that. But that’s new technology that’s coming. It’s here in some areas, but it’ll be a little while before we see it here.”
New jobs
Senator Balderson, who represents the 20th District, talked to the crowd about several projects he’s involved in. The Senator provided updates about a redistricting plan that was passed two weeks ago and the introduction of the capital budget. He also talked about energy in the county and region that could bring 8,000 construction jobs.
“Oil and gas is starting to make a resurgence again. Drilling activities increased pretty significantly. And then I also talked about the potential of the PTT chemical power plant that’s going to be down at Belmont County.”
Other local updates
Mayor Tilton said there are paving projects in the work as well as a project to replace the water tower at Putnam Hill. Combined these projects will cost the city around $5 million which the Mayor said will stretch the budget thin.
Commissioner Jim Porter also talked about his budget and projects in the county. One of the biggest topics he touched on is a potential joint jail between Muskingum, Guernsey, Perry, Morgan, and Coshocton counties.
Opioids and Guns in schools
Senator Balderson and Representative Hill touched on some topics here at home. When asked about the decision the East Guernsey School Board made allowing staff members to be asked, both men supported the action say this is nothing new.
“There are schools around that are currently doing it. They just haven’t made it public. The law has allowed them to do that especially over the last 3 or 4 years. We passed legislation that would allow that to happen,” said Hill. “And I think there probably are already schools around this area that are currently doing it but just haven’t publicized that.”
Balderson echoed similar thoughts agreeing that this is necessary.
“I support that. You know several districts that I represent right now already have that in place. There’s been a couple of school districts that have been doing it for a few years. Now when you address it on these issues with these school districts it’s much more rural. So these are communities, these are school districts, that are located way away from any type of law enforcement getting there. Just that time frame,” Senator Balderson said. “So how the local boards — and that’s the important thing — local school boards have done this on their own. They know what they need. They know who should be in charge of it. They know who should be doing that. And I think it should be under the local control. That’s who should be making this decision.”
Another thing the lawmakers agree on is finding a solution to the opioid epidemic in the community. Hill and Balderson both said they’re aware of the recent spikes in overdoses and they both have a similar idea on what can be done to fight the problem.
“We need some faith based, you know, initiatives also to help this because you know counties that are leading right now a lot of the successful ones that are a little bit more successful and are helping they have faith based. And I think that’s a must,” said Balderson.
Hill also said faith based programs are needed to help stay on top of the opioid crisis.
“There’s some legislation that’s out there now that just had some first hearings on that would allow some state funding. A small part to be able to help those faith based communities be part of that solution. They have results that show that they are making some headway and if that’ll help I think we need to be open for that discussion.”
Hill and Balderson also talked about technology investments in the area as well as businesses coming to the county and bringing jobs with them.
