Chillicothe, Ross County, & the Regional Economy — There is no word yet on any possible sale of the paper mill – which is not surprising to the ‘paper mill response team’ – and their employment assistance continues as layoffs wind down.
The team began in open session again, on September 2nd, with a review of latest developments…or non-developments. I asked if we were in the fourth week of Pixelle’s three-week “vetting process” to consider purchase offers, and the group was accepting that there was no news on that.
Alex Sharfetter, representing of U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno, said every other timeline with Pixelle and its owner H.I.G. Capital has been elongated, and that the description of a three- to four-week timeline was a loose statement. But, they pointed out that mill owners are in their “due diligence” process and are at least still moving.
Jody Walker, Executive Director of South Central Ohio Job & Family Services, said they continue workforce support. Their “resource hub” for jobs in the Main Library Annex several days each week has reached an average of 175 a week. He said he knew they would be busy Tuesday after the last layoff, with 50 people coming in as of 11am.
Walker said they continue with “dislocated worker training,” and expect that it will increase as people want to transition from manufacturing to a different career. They also have an “employer fair” coming in September.
And, he said that Job & Family Services is working with the Chamber on listing which employers are coming in to give interviews
Ross County Commissioner David Glass said he thinks they can anticipate a wind-down in employment assistance needs since months have elapsed since the April 15th announcement of the mill closing.
Glass said he understood that there were less than 50 employees there now. Walker said about 180 had been laid off over the weekend, so yes. They weren’t sure of the end date of those jobs, but Glass suggested the end of the year.
Mike Throne, leader of the Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce, said they continue with their webpage “Scioto Valley Forward,” focused on serving former Pixelle employees. He said they have created individual online events for each employer offering interviews, with hope that people can find the ones they want to attend more easily.
Throne said they are starting to get lots of interest from outside the area, where employers are saying they would welcome laid-off Pixelle workers…and he is divided on that. He said it is an open opportunity, but the Chamber offers promotion of jobs only within a 45-minute radius. “Beyond that: Buy an ad!” He said employees are willing to drive up to 45 miles – but locations like Cincinnati, 90-plus miles away – are a heavier lift.
Throne said they have had about 9,500 page views, with two to three thousand every week, and about 8,000 visitors to the site over three weeks. A few weeks ago they added weekly updates each Friday to pull all the numbers together.
He said they try to add more to the website as they can. There were many things that they did not think about when it started, but they have been adapting on-the-fly.
And Chillicothe Mayor Luke Feeney mentioned the final Pixelle pay problems that have been in the news recently, which he had explained in Chillicothe council.
After some employees did not get their final pay, he said he was told it was resolved: it was not a withholding problem, but a payroll error. The unusual final paycheck caused problems, including severance pay where some employees were overpaid and their paycheck had to be reissued.
Ross County Commissioner Oody Lowe added that Columbus news media talked to the employees when they didn’t get paid…then the day after, the employees got their pay…but the news media held the story for three days, and the stories were irrelevant when run after the situation was resolved.
After 10 minutes, the group entered “executive session for confidential economic development.” This is permitted under Ohio’s “Open Meetings Act” (the so-called “Sunshine Law”) under Section 121.22(G)8 of Ohio Revised Code.
Also read other news from the previous week’s task force meeting.
