April 2017 | Business View Magazine

90 91 AT A GLANCE oregon, ohio WHAT: A city of 21,000 WHERE: Toledo, Ohio Metropolitan area WEBSITE: (City) www.oregonohio.org (OEDF) www.oregonohio.com of company executives and the city council wanted a public/private agency that could move with the speed of business –but not have to deal with in-house con- straints and confidentiality issues. The city does not have its own economic development department, however, everything we do (project management, incentives, ne- gotiations, etc.) is in direct contact and accordance with the goals they want to accomplish.” R & R – Recruitment & Retention For over a century, two major refineries, British Pe- troleum (BP) and Sun Marketing, have been among the city’s largest employers. Buckeye Pipeline continues to have the largest pipeline distribution system in Oregon. And more positive news: several exciting recruitment projects are in full swing. One significant new-build under construction in the city is an 850-megawatt, natural-gas-fired energy gen- eration plant; one of the largest in Ohio, to date. The Or- egon Clean Energy facility will employ 25 to 35 skilled chemical and mechanical engineering workers. Myers says, “What really helped us craft our message during the construction period is that this is clean energy– low emissions and CO2 load. The only thing they really emit is steam. That green component is very important to us as a community; that it is not detrimental to the envi- ronment or our lakefront.” The city is also working on a carbon copy of that plant, looking to build the same model with a different name. Same project partners, different financiers. Other proj- ects are underway behind the scenes in the chemical and advanced materials production and manufacturing sector, but have yet to be announced to the public. Technically, Oregon is a suburban city, so having a “nice Oregon, Ohio