Negotiating 101

My recent Vistage meeting had an award-winning speaker on negotiations--Jack Kaine.

Of the 12 pages of notes I took away from Jack's half-day session, the most notable was how to interpret things when a negotiation counterpart's words conflict with his body language.

Ever have that customer who goes out of their way to yell and scream about the terms of an agreement, but they are still talking to you about that agreement?

What are you to believe?  Do you believe the words that say, "No way. No how" or the fact that they are still standing there?

Jack Kaine, using Nichols' research on the elements of communication, would say that words are only 7% of communication while body language is 55%.  Thus, in a conflict of words vs. body language, believe the body language.

The fact that the guy is still standing in front of you is a pretty sure sign he still wants to find a way to make a deal.  Make it.

Great lesson.

When a Spec Building Is No Longer a Spec Building

Building on speculation is always a scary proposition.  It invites naysayers and people who, often unrealistically, expect vacant space to be filled right away.  It carries great financial risk.

Nonetheless, the Port Authority embarked on building a new office and clean room building and committed to build it, even, without a tenant.  It was speculative from the get go.

Today, we are announcing that Goodrich Corp. has inked a deal with the Port Authority to be the first customer in our new office/clean room building.

So, thankfully, our spec building is no longer a spec building.

Though, I'd be remiss if I didn't add that the 17,000+/- sq ft on the second floor as well as four office suites and five clean room portals are still available.

Yeah, I Looked

I feel like I'm looking through someone's personal, private records.  I guess, because I am.

Ohio Governor Strickland distributed copies of his tax returns to the news media.  The Dispatch posted them online to read.

Darn it.  Why'd they do that?  It made me look. 

And then It's the odd things that caught me.  Nothing partisan, just Andy Rooney-style thoughts here.

Wonder why the preparer's name was blackened out but not his signature? 

How come the Governor didn't sign his return?  Suppose he did after making copies.

Either the Governor and/or First Lady are Kentucky Colonels.  There's a donation there one year.  I used to be one until I didn't donate any more.

They contributed $100 to the ACLU but only $30 to Character Counts.  I might have given it all to Character Counts, whatever that is.  But that's just me.

And, undoubtedly because they paid their preparer $575, they remembered to file Schedule M this year.  Regrettably, they didn't get to claim the full $800 though. 

So, yeah, I looked.

I wish they didn't tempt me with such stuff.

The Triple 7 Event

I'm celebrating.

On September 20, 2002, I had a meeting that started a discussion about a prospective future project.

Today, the contract got signed for that project.

More later.

It's the passing of time that I want to savor for now.  The nearly 4 million minutes in that span actually translates into seven years, seven months, and seven days since it began--the Triple 7 event.

When a State Agency Does Great Work . . .

. . .you have to appreciate it.

I just hung up the phone with a person at the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System.  Melissa is her name.

She helped me resolve a long-standing issue with my future pension.  She helped resolve it 100% in my favor.

The matter was a routine one that got caught up in a mishmash of paperwork and was not resolvable without extraordinary intervention by a person who had to take on the task for helping one person at a time.

Melissa did that.

And I am grateful.

Brooks' Universe

Seven-year-old Brooks' thoughts are often in outerspace.

His Halloween costume was an astronaut. 

He was thrilled when he heard we were going to the Swasey Observatory at Denison University this past Friday and just as disappointed when the weather postponed it, twice.

He drew the planets in the artwork above.  He claims he drew this from memory and that we are seeing the Sun, Earth, Jupiter, and Mars.

Whenever he gets to the Observatory, he hopes to give this artwork as a gift.

Proof Positive News Needs a Boost

Ever notice? Cutbacks get reported. Call backs don't.

Either Federal law requires it or disgruntled workers ask for it. So, layoffs and cutbacks garner headlines.

Call backs and growth almost never make the news. No law requires companies to report call backs and many just don't have an incentive to or see the value of sharing good news like call backs of workers.

One company's cutbacks or call backs, after all, are only snapshots of a local economy. Both are anecdotal.

Have enough front page cutbacks stories, though, and the economic doldrums are firmly planted in a community's mindset.

It's more proof that negativity has the upper hand. Positive news needs a boost.

Why Build?

15 years ago Heath and Licking County was still admist a crisis about the future of the Newark Air Force Base and jobs here.

Even after the privatization, there remained skeptics and, frankly, few would have predicted back then anything more than weeds and rubble south of Irving Wick and Heath Road come the year 2010.

Though we aren’t weeds and rubble and the crisis’ are far smaller, we aren’t without challenges.

Last year around this time hit us with two major challenges.

One of our largest customers was looking  to relocate in order to accommodate their growing workforce.  We didn't have office space available.

At the same time, specialty cleanroom space once available by sublease of our largest building was no longer available.  A prospect with local ties chose a site out of state instead.

It was time to build new.

Those challenges were the impetus behind the Port Authority's decision to design and propose to build a combination office and clean room building on our campus.  What's emerged is a 43,461 sq. ft. two-story office building, including a 8,279 sq. ft. clean room building.

Our Facebook fans got the first look at them and then the Heath Planning Commission was the first public body to get those plans last night. 

Here's a few of the graphics of what the Planning Commission reviewed. 

Stay tuned at http://coatc.com/newbuilding for more in the future.

The New Phone Book is Here!

We've spent more than $10 million with Licking County Chamber of Commerce members in the past dozen or so years.

But it just got easier for us to spend even more.

The Licking County Chamber published its annual Membership Director and Buyers Guide in on-line format for the first time.  It was unveiled Thursday.

Just like Steve Martin's character Navin R. Johnson in a not-so-flatteringly-named movie, I'm inclined to proclaim, "The new phone book is here!  The new phone book is here!"

The outcome of this move online will be good.

The Port Authority is proof that Chamber members will see benefits from this move.

I have already e-mailed the e-directory web link to my staff and encouraged them to bookmark it.  Some may take the option and print it.

What it will do though is make it easier for our team to achieve one of our long-standing goals which is to increasingly seek out local companies to fulfill the services we need.  Though we bid out large construction projects, we have alternative ways to select other services and smaller projects.

Having an easy guide complete with contacts, web links, and phone numbers, makes it easier to buy.

And easier means we will.

Good move, Chamber.

Roethlisberger Traded

I predict this headline is only hours away from happening.

Further, I predict the Steelers will receive a higher first-round pick (in exchange for theirs at 18th) and a second- or third-round pick added in as compensation.

Anything better than that is a steal for the Steelers.

I also hope my prediction comes true. 

I've already sent my Steelers jersey off with Monday's trash pickup and can't fathome cheering this guy on if he remains.  I know I'm not alone among Steelers fans.

Surviving Hell Month During Sweeps Week

Another true story from the world of economic development.

May 2001 was my version of hell month.  I'm proof one survives such times.

I was working on two huge business development deals.  Both were teetering though.

The home front was no easy pasture.  My wife ended up in the hospital with some unknown ailment.  That was after she agreed to babysit someone's dog for a week.

The political boss in the county I worked in at the time decided to take partisan matters into his own hands and wrote a nasty letter to the editor calling for the Chamber and our development group's abolishment.  It was "Sweeps Week" so I had a television reporter at my front door that same evening.

All were going on at the same time and pulling me in more ways than one can normally be pulled.  I've never had a month like that before or since. 

It all worked out in the end.

The Exec VP of the one firm would visit, completely on his terms, for a deep dive look at the community to decide if the $75 million new food distribution center was a fit.  Another million in infrastructure improvements might seal the deal though.

The CEO of a local manufacturer was pondering his expansion plans and whether they should be in Ohio or West Viriginia.  He was squeezing real hard in May.

Both Walmart and Bulldog Security would decide to go forward with their projects shortly afterward.

My wife survived.  She had surgery to remover her gall bladder.

The dogs survived.

And I wonder to this day how a television producer could decide that a letter to the editor in the local newspaper was newsworthy for the evening news.  I'm Facebook friends with her ex-husband now though.

And I'm more ready then ever for whenever my next hell month comes along.

Watching Employment, Not Unemployment

Economist Alan Beaulieu spoke to a Columbus meeting of CEO's in October last year, and I distinctly recall his advice:  "Pay attention to employment, not unemployment."  He was predicting a modest recovery in 2010 and his advice was that while unemployment might be slow to recover, there are more positive signs to watch.

Ohio's latest release of unemployment rates for March 2010 showed 11.1% unemployment.  Hidden in the release, though, was a slight increase (4,900 people) in employment.

Though the county-by-county numbers will lag for some unknown reason, the last available county-by-county numbers showed a similar trend for Licking County.  February 2010 unemployment stalled at 11.1% percent.  The employment numbers, though, saw a 400-person increase.

Taking Beaulieu's advice, we'll consider the growth in employment the potential start of a positive trend.

And the anecdotal evidence of recovery is mounting too.

I attended a recent meeting of manufacturers where one prominent area manufacturer noted it had greatly expanded its employment.  This was a company that had seen layoffs in 2008 into early 2009.  And, most notably, the company was actually having trouble finding workers in a certain specialty skill set.

The latter was something that our local Workenomics Director set out to help solve and, I'm confident, the company and he will find the solution.

The other anecdotal tidbit is the growing number of job postings at http://ohiomeansjobs.com/. 

A recent search of jobs available within 10 miles of Heath found 642 postings.  Over 1,200 engineering jobs were being advertised within 50 miles of Newark.

Times are still tough, but, choosing to be positive, I'm watching employment.

But Isn't It a White Elephant?

It's the definition of White Elephant--it has value to one, but may have little to no value to another.

I'd wonder what a building with miles of marble, a rotunda, and ornate meetings rooms could otherwise be used for, but I can see someone wanting it anyway.  Yes, I'm talking about the Statehouse.

Dayton Daily News statehouse reporter Bill Hershey wrote a piece Sunday that, indeed, the Statehouse might be among the items for sale as a one-time fix to what ails our state government when stimulus dollars from Uncle Sam run out in 2011. 

His piece was sparked by an analysis circulated on the looming "$8 billion" deficit in Ohio's next biennial budget and written by the Ohio Public Expenditure Council. 

Someone had shared that OPEC piece with me last week.  It predicts a scary mix of health and education cuts, state workforce cuts, and, yes, tax increases awaits us in Fiscal Year 2012.  A budget "fix" that contains just one of these elements won't be enough to make even a dent.

It's unavoidable. 

No economic recovery can be so swift to make up for $8 billion.  In fact, OPEC predicts a budget correction bill will likely be needed this Summer to rescue the current budget.

So, you may want to get your offer in now.  The Statehouse might be yours for. . .

My First Communion Money

I don't still have my First Communion money.  Though it lasted a long time and some may consider me miserly enough to have pulled it off, I can no longer say I still have my First Communion money.

In 1975, with the money, I bought some goldfish, including the tank and bubbly thing that goes with it.  The rest, I saved.

I combined the cash with my newspaper money and bought a CD.  No, no that kind of CD.  I put the money in a certificate of deposit that earned some big money (interest rates where higher then) by the time it matured.

Then, in 1984, I bought a car with it--a 1980 Chevy Monza in fact.

The car couldn't go to college with me, so I sold it and bought some stock.  I bought Gannett stock in 1987 when USA Today was still fairly new.  The stock doubled soon enough for me to sell off half of it a few years later and buy another car.

The other half stayed in the form of stock shares.

Then, I sold my stock in 2002.  My kids used it. 

It went to pay for Catholic schools, among other things.

It's the Little Things

I couldn't find a dollar bill.

After seemingly hours of talking my son into letting me pull the tooth that was, literally, dangling from his lower row, I had to help the Tooth Fairy fulfill its mission.

So, I grabbed a coin that was sitting on my dresser since I got it as change a few years back.  It was a Golden Dollar coin with Sacagawea on it.

I wasn't sure what to expect this morning.

After I explained that the Tooth Fairy hadn't given him a quarter, Brooks was elated.  "This is the best day of my life," he exclaimed.  Of course, he says that about every other day so the full effect of that phrase is lost on those who live with him.

He's proud to have a Dollar coin and plans to take it to school with him (along with the extracted tooth) to show it off. 

Proof.

It's the little things.

What Would I Do If I Were Steelers President?

I'd trade him.

If I were Art Rooney, I'd try to get the most I could and trade Ben Roethlisberger.

I'm a life-long Steelers fan and I'm grateful for the skills on the field he demonstrated that let me watch two more winning Super Bowls for my team.

I was proud to boast he was from Ohio and is a fellow Miami University grad.

But I can't help but think of my daughters when I read the police reports and other material about his recent exploits in Georgia and elsewhere.  I wouldn't want my daughters anywhere near this guy.

I can't see myself being able to faithfully cheer him on if he remains the Steelers quarterback.  My #7 t-shirt will never be on my person again.

He deserves what he gets.

And I'd trade him.

Facebook First?

Our plans are coming into focus.

That's the teaser line we've been deploying for several weeks along with out-of-focus views of the exterior like the one below on our websites.

Wednesday, after our Board gave its final blessing to our design but before we go to Heath's Planning Commission, we pushed out an image of our building's main entrance to Facebook.

We'll be ready to show the full plans after Heath's Planning Commission meeting next week.

But the question we ponder is:  is it fair to unveil it on Facebook first?

Our http://Facebook.com/OhioPortAuthority page has over 200 fans.  It's proven to be a good place to feed the grapevine of a mix of our customers' personnel, customers' leadership, community leaders, and our federal and state "caucus" too.

Why not make it a mass outreach launchpad too?

We're asking for input on this idea.  Of course, that's at our Facebook page too.

Schedule M - Almost Missed It!

I was about to file my income tax return.  Just out of the blue one of my staff members mentioned "Schedule M."

I've never paid someone to do my taxes for me.  My taxes are, apparently, too complicated for the software programs.  The two times I tried them I couldn't get them to work right.  I proudly remind my oldest daughter every year that I even did my McDonald's manager's taxes for him when I was 17.

All my skill at doing my own taxes almost cost me.  I'm humbled.

I missed Schedule M.

Or almost missed it.

Here's a great article about the up to $800 credit that it means.

In a nutshell, this is it: Schedule M is our way to claim the $800 per couple tax credit in the stimulus package. The withholding tables were adjusted to "give" the credit but the tax tables in our IRS tax form instructions were adjusted to take it away, unless you file Schedule M.

I have tonight to get my tax form fixed and get that credit.   I'll still owe the treasury, but not as much now. Thanks, Dave!

Did you remember your Schedule M?

Opening Day 2010

No need to sneak in or sneak down to better seats this year.

Though the 4-2 loss was disappointing, there's nothing quite like Opening Day. 

Opening Day

I'll be there today for the Indians' home opener at Progressive Field.

Opening Day is my thing.  I've seen a few.

Photo from April 6, 1993 front page of the Canton Repository.

This photo appeared on the front page of The Canton Repository on April 6, 1993 after an opener--the last opener in the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

And what a story it contains.

My friend Dave and I were late meeting up with our friends for the opener.  Neither of us had cell phones (who could afford one in 1993?) and being ten minutes late was enough for our buddies to sell off our tickets and go in to the stadium without us.

We walked the mile around the stadium a couple of times as the game started hoping to snag some cheap seats.  It didn't happen.

People were already leaving as the Tribe was down and the place was cold, as it always was in April.

With a woman watching both the media gate and another, we found a way to sneak in.  And did.

Can't say I'm proud of that, but years of going to games at Municipal Stadium for a horribly bad Indians' product partly justified it.  Or so I'll argue.

It gets better.

Dave and I got into the box seats right away and looked for the moment. 

We knew how to do this.  Years of going to games where there were more ushers and vendors than fans in the seats let us hone the skill of sneaking to the good seats.

We boldly went to the front row, right behind the visitor's dugout. 

The fans around us might have clued in the ushers but for the fact that they were compelled to think we were celebrities.  It wasn't long after snagging prime seats that we struck up a conversation with the photographer who had a familiar Obie the Tiger logo on his camera case.  Learning we were from his home county, he started taking photos.  Tons of them.

The next day came this souvenir.  Front page.

Voting "Yes" for Quality of Life in Licking County

I'm voting yes on the trio of levies that directly affect our community's quality of life--C-TEC, Licking County Library, and Licking Park District.

C-TEC benefits extend to every corner and beyond Licking County. There's practically no manufacturer and major employer in the community that hasn't benefited from C-TEC's "product"--a skilled workforce. C-TEC's value to the community is measured many times over greater than the cost of this modest levy.

For my family, quality of life has come from the C-TEC pre-school. Three of my kids have attended and were better-prepared for Kindergarten because of it.

State budget woes are to blame for why our library system is asking taxpayers for money. Nonetheless, we have to retain this great asset at its fullest capacity. Again, the value of our library to retaining our history, preparing families for the future, and providing technology assets for a wider part of our population are just a few of the things that add to our quality of life.

Quality of life has come to the Platt family from stacks of books my family has taken out to add to our learning and entertain ourselves.

The Licking Park District is in serious danger of not being able to properly maintain our 44-mile recreational trail network and man its parks without this 0.2 mill levy. For the cost of just a bit more than a Big Mac or Whopper meal, the average Licking County property owner can continue to keep this quality asset in our lives.

Quality of life for the Platts comes from being able to walk, go by stroller, and (in my kids' case) bike along the trail network. As my kids get older and as their dad got a new bike recently, we want to be able to ride on the trails further and longer.

On May 4, I'll be voting "yes" for these three levies.

Won't you join me in support of quality of life in Licking County?

Nerkfest! The O.U. Alternative

Something happened to my now twenty-year-old daughter.  Her Facebook page reads, " . . .working on homework and hanging out with the family the rest of the day."  She's home for the second weekend in a row from college.

What?  No Ohio University 'fest for her?

Ohio University, from my experience gained from her two years there, rolls out street parties every Spring and labels them [INSERT NAME HERE] Fest. 

The photo below is from one such 'fest in 2009. 

It's not exactly a parent's dream to raise their child to be among the horse-hitting, porch-overloading, arsonist-leaning sect.

So, I like this transformation to family-oriented that my until-recently-a-teenager daughter has suddenly made.  When she asks to come home, I'll oblige with 6-7 hours of extra driving on my weekend.

Anything to keep her from another 'fest in Athens.

Instead of beer, we drink orange juice.  Instead of setting fires, we play the Wii.  Instead of joining thousands on the streets, we fill the minivan to capacity and visit the tranquil nature at Dawes Arboretum or some such quiet alternative.

It's the O.U. Alternative in Newark, Ohio.  We'll call it Nerkfest.

Be a Positive Force

I gave a speech to the Newark-Heath Rotary Club this morning under the theme "Be a Positive Force."

I filled the speech with a mix of positive happenings in the community.  The message: Licking County and every community in our country needs to get ourselves out of the doldroms of this down economy and community leaders have the power to improve our economy by being a positive force.

Two quotes I used that I believe were fitting:

Power was defined by Professor Al Gini as, "To do, to be able, to change, to influence or effect."

And  Elizabeth Dole, former cabinet secretary to two presidents and former U.S. Senator, said, "We have learned power is a positive force if it is used for positive purposes."

Pear Trees Blossoming

Washington has its Cherry Blossoms.  We have Pear tree blossoms.  I'm seen the blossoms in both places.

I'm not sure D.C. has anything on Heath, really.

These bloomed mid-day Monday, April 5.  Early Monday photos show nothing blooming.

It's really breathtaking.

Relax, We'll Be Fine. . .in the 'Burbs

New York Times columnist David Brooks' column today was an upbeat look at life in America in the next 40 years.  And I loved it.

His column was titled Relax, We'll Be Fine.

The theme in it that I picked up most of all was a theme for which I've been blogging since I first started blogging years ago--suburban life.

Brooks points out demographic predictions of the return of bigger families and, consistent with that, the continued importance of suburban life to the betterment of America.  Citing a new book, he says, "Over the next 40 years, Kotkin argues, urban downtowns will continue their modest (and perpetually overhyped) revival, but the real action will be out in the compact, self-sufficient suburban villages."

He credits our nation's suburbs, again backed with statistics, with the rise of philanthrophy and community service--two things that make America, America.  He writes, "Suburbanization helps. For every 10 percent reduction in population density, the odds that people will join a local club rise by 15 percent. The culture of service is now entrenched and widespread."

Search for Brooks' name on Twitter today, though, and one will some some urban elites have fired back.

I'll take his advice, though.  I'll just relax, in the 'burbs.

Discrimination in Ohio Against Rural and Suburban Areas Must End

Ohio Senator John Carey called it discrimination.  That's a strong term, but he used that word at an Ohio Economic Development Association panel recently to describe the growing "urban bias" among many state policy makers.

Under the themes "Restoring Prosperity" and SmartGrowth, a bias against suburban and rural areas that support growth is taking hold.  Underpinning those themes are Brookings Institution influences that frequently contain an urban bias.

Discrimination is defined by dictionary.com as: "treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit."

Senator Carey is right.  It is discrimination.

Recent policy reports favor removing the tools that help Ohio compete for internationally-competitive jobs.  Why should it matter as to what the density of the place is in Ohio where a new job-creating manufacturing project lands?  It shouldn't.

Recent policy reports would see Ohio invest next to nothing in growing its highway capacity.  How can a government that doesn't add infrastructure capacity and only funds re-building and re-doing ever grow their tax base without a bigger tax burden?  It can't.

Recent policy committees have only had token suburban and rural participation.  How can report after report on Ohio policy exclude balanced input from suburban and rural areas and yet claim to be inclusive and unbiased?  They can't.

It's time to end discrimination.  Ohio can restore its prosperity and grow to produce a greater Ohio only through removing an urban bias and working to grow all of Ohio.

Understanding Commuters at $6 a Gallon

Workenomics, Licking County's unique marriage of workforce development and economic development, was established in 2004 to prepare Licking County to compete for business capital investment at a time when competition for labor was fierce.  Despite present economic times, those days are still expected to come as the Baby Boomer generation ages and more and more opt for retirement.

Couple retirements with high gas prices.  Some economists are predicting at or near double-digit inflation in coming years with fuel prices leading the way.

Should the perfect storm of labor-in-demand and high gas prices hit, it will be important to understand what commuters from Licking County will do. 

The last numbers I saw showed 42% of Licking County's workforce commutes outside of the county for employment.  That's a potential source to fill open jobs.

Workenomics needs to understand what these commuters might do so it can, predictably, inform our existing and prospective new employers what to expect.

If the unemployment rate is down and jobs are going unfilled again, what would a commuter do facing $5 or $6 a gallon gas prices and more employment choices? 

Will more commuters move their home to their job or their job to their home?

Ultimately, that's the question.

What would you do?

A Dad's Advice

My brother and his wife came to visit. Knowing my kids got bikes for their birthdays, they wanted suggestions for belated birthday gifts.

I suggested kick stands.

Inexplicably, the kids' bikes came without them, and I hadn't made that much-needed investment, yet.

Not surprisingly, my advice went unheeded.

A cornicopia of gifts were bestowed instead.

My son Brooks broke the bike horn a few minutes after I installed it. The squirt gun won't fire now, and his frisbee is on the roof. One kite is detached from its string already. The bubbles spilled in the bag on the way home.  I don't give the sidewalk chalk a chance at long life either.

Ah, the value of a Dad's advice. That kickstand would be giving back right now so much more than it cost.

April Fools Joke?

Bill Wright on the Port Authority staff produces a feature on our website called Through the Years. It's a month-by-month look back at the history of the Aerospace Center and its predecessor, the Newark Air Force Base.
One of the best stories may have actually been an April Fools joke either played by someone on the story teller or played on the readers by the Base newspaper. Or maybe it actually happened. You be the judge.
Here's the excerpt:
30 Years Ago - April 1978
There's something fishy in Metrology! The following story was told by metrology physicist, Howard Hopkins. " A live goldfish was recently discovered swimming in a trash can in the engineering office of Metrology's DC and Low Frequency Standards Lab. The trash can was being used to catch water from roof leaks during the recent heavy rains. Apparently, the fish had slipped into the building with the rain water through the crack in the roof and had fallen into a plastic sheet used to channel the water into the trash can. Hopkins speculated that the fish may have been swept up from a pond and dropped on the roof of Building 4.