Five to Thrive: Lancaster's keys to success

Lancaster is beloved by many in the community, but there are critical issues that must be faced to ensure it can be successful into the future.

Through interviews with community leaders, forums and general knowledge of the area, The Eagle-Gazette identified the five most important challenges facing Lancaster. The five topics are outlined below and will be individually explained in greater detail throughout 2015.

The point of the project is not to expose what is wrong with or bad about Lancaster. Rather, we want to identify how the community can meet its challenges to become a more prosperous place. Similar efforts are being done at The Eagle-Gazette's sister publications across Ohio, which hopefully will present the opportunity for each of them to learn solutions from the other.

The list, however, is only a starting point. Feedback from readers is critical to ensure the project focuses on the issues most important to the community. And engagement with the community to discuss the issues is the only way they will improve.

Below are the five topics selected for focus in 2015. They are not listed in order of importance.

Closing the skills gap

Well-paying jobs require technical skills that people in the community often lack. That means hard-working individuals are forced to take positions that won't feed a family and local businesses are left struggling to find qualified candidates.

Across Ohio, the state is projected to gain 1.7 million jobs by 2018 through new positions and retirements. Of those jobs, 57 percent will require postsecondary training, but just 34.8 percent of Fairfield County residents have an associate degree or higher.

In the county, 2,900 people are unemployed and actively seeking work even though there are more than 28,000 unfilled positions within a 30-mile drive. Many of them, about 13,000, require a degree.

Helping those people seeking work to be qualified for available jobs is critical to the economic vitality of the area.

Creating drug-free workplaces

Employers are having a difficult time finding and retaining employees who can pass drug tests. Nationally, there was a 5.7 percent increase in positive workplace drug tests in 2013, the first increase Quicken Diagnostics had reported since 2003.

That same year, Fairfield County physicians prescribed opiates at a rate of 62.8 doses per resident, slightly less than the state average of 64.9. Meanwhile, more than half of the 453 people who received publicly funded treatment through the Fairfield County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Board were diagnosed with an opiate addiction.

Most drug abusers work — 70 percent, according to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence — and, nationally, cost employers $81 billion each year for a variety of issues from increased medical costs to decreased productivity.

Helping employees get clean not only will benefit their lives but also help local businesses be more productive and hopefully grow.

Maintaining regional hub status

Historically, Lancaster has been the regional hub for Fairfield County. However, with the completion in recent years of the Lancaster and Nelsonville bypasses, it is much easier to go from Columbus to Athens and beyond to the Ohio River using U.S. 33.

Today, many people from southeast of town come to Lancaster for services, from Fairfield Medical Center to the River Valley Mall. The bypasses and the pending interchange in Carroll could make it easier for some of those people to simply continue on to Columbus and skip Lancaster altogether.

Much of Fairfield County's growth comes from Franklin County and Columbus, with people whose lives are more focused on Columbus than Lancaster. Lancaster remains the county's largest city, but its population growth rate from 2010 to 2012 was 0.1 percent, while Pickerington's was 1 percent and Canal Winchester's was 2.8 percent.

Helping local private and public institutions serve the needs of the growth in the county and surrounding counties in the future will be central to maintaining the county's status as a regional hub.

Promoting a positive self-image

The Ety Road area has served as a magnet, drawing people from outside Lancaster and Fairfield County to places such as Giant Eagle, Kohl's, Wal-Mart and Menards.

Lancaster's downtown has been experiencing growth, too, with businesses such as Diamond Jim's Pizza, Table One, and AleHouse 1890 opening up. The Columbian building is being renovated to become a municipal courthouse, while plans are being developed for the renovation of the Mithoff building.

Voters recently approved tax levies to rebuild all the Lancaster City Schools elementary buildings and for maintenance of city streets. Despite the growth, vocal critics of projects such as the proposed county jail site on Wheeling Street or the Pearl House often drown out the positives, giving the impression the city is in worse shape than it really is.

Helping get that positive image out to the public is crucial to future economic growth.

Developing the next generation of leaders

The next generation of leaders will soon need to step up, with many of the current leaders reaching retirement age.

Anecdotally, we hear of memberships in social service groups, agencies and clubs going down. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that in its most recent estimate, just over a quarter — 26.7 percent — of the population in Fairfield County is between 25 and 44.

Those younger leaders are out there, though. The Young Professionals of Lancaster and Lancaster Alive have been active in the community, providing a solid foundation for the future.

As the Baby Boomer generation begins to retire, it will be vital for those younger leaders to step up and assume leadership positions.

Gannett Ohio reporters Jessie Balmert and Jona Ison contributed to this report.