The Henry Township Trustees received another visit from Rex Huffman with the Northern Wood County Port Authority at their meeting Tuesday night. Huffman left behind words of encouragement, words of warning and some paperwork to be reviewed concerning Henry Township joining this regional group for development, funding and expertise.

The words of encouragement were that there is going to be growth, probably growth beyond what we can comprehend. He mentioned the addition of train crew changing facilities and office jobs from Chicago, as well as the potential for many manner of freight handling facilities located near the $186 million intermodal yard project. The words of warning concerned the apparent "disconnect" in communication and cooperation between the township, the village of North Baltimore and the North Baltimore Local Schools. And the paperwork, is a contract to be reviewed by the County Prosecutor's Office, authorizing joining the NWCPA.

Dan Murphy with CSX said, "We had some people from various counties and the City of Toledo at the facility and they were so excited they couldn't see straight!" But, he added, "CSX can't keep spending like there is no tomorrow!" Referring to the increasing costs of land acquisition, the estimated cost for the grade separation (overpass) at Liberty Hi Road and other infrastructure needs due to the project. The township and CSX would benefit greatly by the potential for funding from grants that might come along with joining the NWCPA. Although, at this point, CSX has not committed to joining the group.

Huffman said that funding for a by-pass and widening of I-75 has been moved up on the ODOT TRAC project list (as told last week in TheNBXpress), but these projects are still likely many years down the road. Huffman said the southern county area should not wait for others to figure out a plan. That the township and village should be proactive and come up with a plan to put on the table, that works around our area's needs, as we see them. After all, "you guys will have to live in the middle of all this, when all is said and done."

The trustees hope that the contract is found to be doable by the prosecutor's office and that joining this entity can be put on the fast track, so as to expedite the funding acquisition process! There is no cost to joining NWCPA, which would provide much needed expertise in the huge development. As trustee Jay Baltz said, "We know something is coming, but we don't what it will be for sure. And we need help since we don't have the funds or the know-how for this type of thing!"