Middlefield’s March Forward: A Message from Mayor Ben Garlich
Welcome to spring. If this continues, we will be mowing lawns in March. I’m not especially fond of cold weather, personally, and from a Village operational cost as well. Our salt usage this year as well as snowplow maintenance and labor hours has been the most cost-effective winter in many years. I do have empathy for anyone that makes their livelihood from snow and cold.
We are going to put some of our energy this year in trying to inspire young people and residents to become involved in local government. We need to ensure the future of our Village is in the hands of people who want to make a positive difference in their community and have a passion for maintaining and improving our community.
We are excited about all the new recent commercial improvements in the Village. We appreciate each property owner’s investment in our community. We were privileged to partner, in a small way, with many of these improvements via our store front renovation program. We believe and know that it was money well spent.
In addition to the commercial improvements, we are seeing a robust residential expansion. I’ve not seen this much new residential development during my tenure as mayor. I’ve talked to a few of the new residents and the convenience and amenities of this village are not fully realized until you move here. I am thankful every day that all my daily service and merchandise requirements can be obtained within less than a mile from my home. I continually encourage residents to shop locally and the only way these conveniences will remain here is if we shop local and support.
We are still working hard on securing a hotel and urgent care in this Village. We feel both are entities that this area deserves. We will continue to pursue until we are successful.
We have a few capital improvement projects already bid and awarded for completion this year. Repaving of a few streets and the completion an additional water well. If our Village is to continue to grow, we need to ensure our infrastructure can support. It will be an ongoing challenge to stay ahead of demand.
This year a few major projects are slated in the private sector as well, substantial business expansions by Hartville Hardware as well as Ohman Family Living. Both projects are in the planning process and will soon be on the verge of physical construction. We look forward to both projects being completed as they will add value to our Village.
We gave our annual State of the Village update at the March council meeting. 2023 was another successful year for which we are thankful. Success is generated by you. We are the recipients of your efforts, and our goal is to wisely use these resources you provide to create an environment for your continued success. If you are successful, we are successful and we are keenly aware the inverse is also true.
Please exercise your right to vote, be informed, be involved, shop Middlefield and visit www.middlefieldohio.com
Ben Garlich, Mayor
Village of Middlefield
