NEWS

Local officials seeking budding community leaders

Todd Hill
Reporter

BUCYRUS – There’s one thing that community leaders in Crawford County would like to see more of, and that’s more community leaders.

They will acknowledge that stepping up to lead takes commitment, whether it’s personal initiative or simply a willingness to commit a certain number of hours in a week or month. But they’re also quick to stress just how crucial leaders are to a community because, from where they sit, leadership ties into every aspect of local economic development.

Gary Frankhouse, the new executive director of the Crawford County Partnership for Education and Economic Development, is convinced the county can turn around its decadeslong trend of a slowly declining population.

“It makes everything harder,” he said. “Businesses look at that and say, ‘We don’t want to invest there.’ That’s why quality of life for me is so important. People say it’s silly, that we just need jobs. But we have jobs going unfilled because we don’t have enough people. That’s why bike trails and the sports complex and the arts council — those things make a difference.”

To shepherd large civic projects from the dream stage to, potentially, reality, however, takes leaders, whether they’re volunteers or people who took the trouble to get elected to local office.

“It’s always a concern. Too many people are willing to serve only if they don’t have to run against anybody, but that’s difficult to do,” Bucyrus City Council President Sis Love said about the challenge of getting city residents to run for the council.

“The first time I ran, I was standing there waiting for the count, and panic set in. I thought, ‘Oh gee, I’m running against people. What happens if I lose?’ You’re really putting yourself out there.”

Love acknowledged that representing the city through a seat on the council is easier for people who are retired, such as herself.

“A lot of time may go into personal research. Some are better at that than others,” she said. “Things have to be prepared as much or as little as you want, but I have never known the option of little.”

Looking for leaders

The Crawford County Partnership, while certainly happy to work with retired residents who want to step up, also is looking to develop leaders from the very beginning, with the help of local school districts.

Staff at Bucyrus and Wynford elementary schools recently completed training and preparation for the second phase of the Leader in Me program, made possible by an $85,000 state grant that was secured for the county.

Two Bucyrus businesses, Ohio Mutual Insurance Group and Advanced Fiber Technology, donated $50,000 and $10,000, respectively, to make the grant possible, while several other businesses gave smaller amounts.

The Leader in Me program teaches students the value of the seven habits developed by Stephen Covey.

“This has to be one of the finest examples of collaboration in Crawford County between education, business and faith-based organizations,” Wynford Superintendent Steve Mohr said. “Our elementary staff just completed three days of Leader in Me training and I have never, in my 38 years in education, seen a staff more excited and enthusiastic about starting a new initiative.”

Frankhouse calls the program one of the most important things happening in Crawford County right now to develop leaders right from the get-go.

“What I’m hearing out in the economic development world is that people aren’t reliable, soft skills. This is soft skills. We’re going to get them at 5 and 6, so we’ll have a chance to mold them,” he said.

“Some of it is temperament, but you can really influence them in those early years,” said Michelle Failor, the partnership’s communications and administrative coordinator.

Programs available

Meanwhile, the partnership’s Crawford 20/20 Vision unit continues to shepherd area residents through its two leadership programs for adults — CU Leads and Supervisor Boot Camp.

“CU Leads is where we try to make it specific to the community. Here’s leadership skills, now here’s the Crawford 20/20 Vision with these action teams, and here’s projects they’re doing if you have passions or talents in those areas. Boot Camp is more employment-based,” Frankhouse said.

“It is for managers who have people underneath them. It’s about strengthening their ability to supervise their front line. It’s giving them skills to deal with communication, conflict management, employment law, time management,” Failor said. “The goal is to decrease turnover by making the supervisor easier to deal with.”

In a region where 350 positions go unfilled in any given week, Frankhouse said, high turnover is something local businesses just can’t afford. Good workers have gotten so hard to find for some that news about a new company moving to the area is now met with concern.

“I just got a text from one of our industry owners who heard that somebody might come. They’re not excited because they’re already low on employees. The answer is to get involved, become a leader, make a difference, to help make this a better place where people want to be,” Frankhouse said.

“Walk into this office. We can direct you to where your passions and talents lie. People sit around and armchair quarterback. Come on, go do something.”

thill3@nncogannett.com

419-563-9225

Twitter: @ToddHillMNJ

About this series

This package is a part of our yearlong look into the 5 most pressing issues for Crawford County. It details the infrastructure needs for the community to succeed.

Other installments of this series include:

•Closing the skills gap, which appeared in March.

•Creating a drug-free workplace, which appeared in May.

•Today: Developing the next generation of leaders.

•Next: Increasing education as a priority.

Find all of our content for this series at BucyrusTelegraphForum.com/future.