Celebrate Small Business Week Every Week
By: Chamber Executive Director
Miranda Jones
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Thank you Galion and Crestline for supporting our local businesses. We appreciate all that you have done to support each other and rally our communities to a common goal since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Stay at Home order from Governor DeWine is certainly not how any of us expected to spend our last few months of 2020.
There is still so much to learn and still so many ways that we will need to adapt moving forward. Events have been canceled. Many will never be rescheduled. Community members and organizations will struggle in the coming months to cope. Support them all.
Make sure as the reopening plan is released and implemented, that we take the time to continue to support our local businesses, entrepreneurs and community members. Shop local first when looking for gifts for mother's day, graduation and father's day.
While the process of closing down our state was swift, it will take weeks, months, years, to get back to where we were before. And it will take the entire community. We are honestly all in this together.
Be respectful to one another.
Be patient with one another.
May 4th - 8th was scheduled to be National Small Business week and while the SBA is busy processing PPP Loans, we will look forward to celebrating our small businesses every day this week and every week for months and years to come.
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Freezer Fresh, 820 W Main Street, Crestline, Ohio 44827
Joe & Judy Kleinknecht, Couple, Galion, Ohio
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The May and June Galion Safety Council meetings have now also been cancelled in light of the state of emergency declared by Governor DeWine and as advised by the BWC due to concerns surrounding the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
As a result of these cancellations, we realize it is impossible for many of you to complete the program’s FY20 rebate eligibility requirements.
Therefore, we will provide the FY20 rebate to safety council members who, as of Feb. 29, 2020, had attended at least FOUR
safety council
meetings. This determination was based on crediting each member with one meeting credit for each cancelled meeting, the maximum of two external training credits and waiving the CEO attendance and calendar year 2019 semi-annual report requirements.
Although we realize a small number of safety councils host more than one meeting a month late in the program year, we are granting relief for only one safety council meeting credit per month in March, April, May, and June. This resolution reinforces the program’s goal of active participation for the purpose of education, networking and resource sharing and, unfortunately, members who condense participation to the latter part of the program year will not appreciate relief from this solution.
Ultimately, employers we determine have earned the rebate under the revised guidelines will receive the maximum percentage rebate allowed per their BWC group-rating status:
- 2% for employers enrolled in BWC’s Group-Retrospective-Rating Program and eligible for the participation rebate.
- 2% for employers enrolled in BWC’s Group-Experience-Rating Program and eligible for the performance bonus - there will be no claims data measurement calculation.
- 4% for employers not enrolled in a BWC Group-Rating Program.
Your safety council sponsor will submit July 1, 2019 through February 29, 2020 attendance records to us when normal business operations resume. The timeline for the processing of these rebates is yet to be determined but we will continue to update safety council sponsors when you should expect FY20 safety council program rebate checks.
Our most sincere interest is the health, wellness and safety of Ohio’s workforce. Be safe and take care.
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- The Chamber office will be open from 9am -12pm Monday thru Friday or by appointment during the month of May. Please call 419-468-7737 to make an appointment.
- Our May Annual Meeting, scheduled for May 5th, has been postponed.
- Our May Third Friday in Galion, scheduled for May 15th, has been canceled.
- Joe's Retirement Party, scheduled for May 30th, has been postponed as well. Once we have a better understanding of when we can reschedule - we will announce the date.
- Our June 25th Golf Outing has been postponed until August 27th. Please watch for more information as it becomes available.
- We will be transitioning email addresses in May from Joe to Miranda. Please update Joe's email to his personal email: johio78@hotmail.com
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On Friday, May 1st, we held a question and answer with The Galion City Health Department to help us understand how to prepare to reopen our business communities. The video from that morning's Q&A is below.
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Recommendations for Water Supply Flushing for Reopening of Buildings
Under Statewide COVID-19 Transition Plan
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Dear Building Occupants, Owners and Tenants,
In accordance with Ohio's statewide transition plan announced April 27, 2020, and as buildings re-open that have had little to no water usage during the Stay at Home Order due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to flush water that has been stagnant in both cold- and hot-water distribution lines and fixtures. Low water usage can contribute to bacterial growth, including
Legionella
which can cause a serious type of pneumonia called Legionnaires' disease. It can also cause other water quality issues with potential health risks due to the build-up of lead and copper in stagnant water that's been collecting in older pipes and fixtures.
As buildings reopen, it is critical to drain, flush, and if necessary, based on a review of building conditions, disinfect the hot and cold-water systems to remove harmful contaminants. Devices that store water, such as drinking water fountains, water heaters, storage tanks, and any droplet or mist-forming devices such as cooling towers, humidifiers, showerheads, and certain medical and manufacturing devices and process equipment should also be flushed and disinfected in accordance with manufacturer's recommendations or industry best practices.
Please note that this guidance applies to the water systems of all types of buildings that are unoccupied or partially occupied during the COVID-19 pandemic, including but not limited to office buildings, manufacturing facilities, medical offices (e.g., physician and dentist offices, ambulatory surgery centers, outpatient centers, etc.), government facilities, and religious institutions. If you are a tenant of a building, we recommend that you share this information with the building owner, building manager, or management company and ask them to consider taking these precautions.
If you have any questions, please contact:
Ohio Department of Health
Bureau of Environmental Health & Radiation Protection
(614) 466-1390
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