In part two of our Watchdog Report looking at Jobs Ohio, we take a closer look at the inner workings of this private company, a company that is funded with money that otherwise would have been state money. Their premise is to drive economic development and job creation. How they select what projects to invest in, is kept confidential. And it's that is a question that led 21 news to look into why one local project got millions.

JobsOhio was created in 2011, with the hopes of spurring economic growth across the state. The nonprofit says it creates jobs and helps businesses grow by offering incentives, such as grants and forgivable loans.

Since it's founding in 2011 JobsOhio has brought in more than $1 billion dollars.

So where does that money come from? JobsOhio is a nonprofit which lease the state liquor franchise that generates millions. Prior to 2011, all of that money was part of the state budget. Now that's important because that money is no longer public and it leaves the decision making process secret.

Marty Schladen is an award winning Investigative journalist with the Ohio Capital Journal and has decades of experience in areas like public cooperation, utility regulations and the environment and has been looking into JobsOhio for years.

"This used to be our money, and we're in the position of just having to trust that they're doing, using this money for the highest invest purpose," said Schladen.

Matt Englehart, Press Secretary with JobsOhio said they keep the process confidential for two main reasons, to keep good relationships with their clients and because of competition with other states.

When asked why this is different from other types of public funding, like state grants or tax credits, which are decided publicly,  21 news was pointed to the same reasons.

JobsOhio is divided into seven regions where decisions are made by local business people. One of those regions is Lake to River, which was announced in April by Governor Dewine and is the center that serves the Mahoning Valley.

21 news reported in the past that the West Warren Industrial Park Project will be located at Deemer Park, also where the former Western Reserve School once stood.

Because of the secret process, we don't know why JobsOhio selected this project. What 21 news does know is West Warren Development LLC formed in 2022. They bought the land in 2023. And remember Lake to River was formed this year in April 2024 with the purpose of attracting projects like this. There by creating the impression that the project would have happened without the JobsOhio investment.

The managing partners for the project are Wiley Runnestrand, Michael Martof and Charles George. George is also president of Lake to River's board of directors making him a key decision maker on the investments JobsOhio makes into the Mahoning Valley.

Englehart said because of George's position he was not involved in any of the decisions surrounding the project to avoid any conflict of interest.

He went on to say, "JobsOhio requires our board members and employees to list financial interests so we can work with companies without conflict, as required by our policy and standards of conduct. Anything identified as a potential conflict for JobsOhio is identified before JobsOhio moves forward on projects and is properly managed. Policies put in place by JobsOhio require those with potential or actual conflicts to step out of any deals in which they have personal business interests."

Englehart said they chose this investment because it will bring other jobs to the area.

21 news crews reached out to George multiple times to ask about the perception that he could have steered money to his own project but he said it was handled out of Columbus and referred all other questions to JobsOhio. 

Schladen says this type of confusion is not uncommon.

"It sure seems to be a lot of insider baseball. You know the governor appoints people to the board. These people are an industry, there's been documented instances of JobsOhio providing this money that used to be tax money, to the businesses on which these business bigwigs sit," said Schladen.

Just to scratch the surface on some of those documented instances that Schladen is referring to, there are articles in the Dayton Daily News, Cleveland.com and the Ohio Capital Journal and they all deal with potential conflicts of interest with a myriad of companies including Marathon, Sherwin Williams and Bob Evans.

21 news reached out to Guy Coviello, CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, but he referred us to Alexa Sweeney Blackann, interim CEO of Lake to River. When 21 news reached out to Blackann, she said any JobsOhio questions can be answered by Englehart.

 

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