County groups get $27M from state

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File photo. Construction
workers are seen on the site of the new BCI lab on the campus of Bowling Green State University. (Photo:
Enoch Wu/Sentinel-Tribune)

Nearly $27 million will be given to Wood County agencies and organizations as part of the state’s capital
budget.
Only five counties in Ohio received more money under the program.
The capital budget bill totaling nearly $2.4 billion, approved by the Senate earlier this week, was
signed by Gov. John Kasich on Wednesday. Funds will be available by July 1.
Math and science instruction at Bowling Green State University gets a major boost in the capital budget,
including $16 million to renovate Moseley Hall, one of the university’s original buildings, into a
state-of-the-art home for science and math on campus.
In November, university officials said work would begin in about a year. Earlier this year, university
trustees approved spending $1.6 million for architectural and engineering work on the project that has
an estimated price tag of $23 million.
The budget also includes $1,250,000 to renovate space yet-to-be determined as the home for the Math
Emporium, the university’s initiative to provide the basic math instruction. The program is now in
temporary space in Olscamp Hall.
The ongoing construction of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation lab on campus received $2.5 million for
its second phase of the $11.9 million project.
Owens Community College is poised to get $4.75 million for renovations to former Penta Career Center
buildings and $290,000 for manufacturing training simulators.
The Ohio Higher Education Funding Commission recommends Owens receive $1.9 million for Kingsley Hall
renovations and $2.85 million for the final phase of the Heritage Hall renovation, totaling $4.75
million.
The Kingsley Hall work is planned to adapt office space into veterans services, career services and
workforce development training space, plus an event space for large groups that is ADA compliant for
such programs as orientation and transfer fairs.
The Heritage Hall plans will create 30 multi-discipline "smart" classrooms to replace
classrooms eliminated in College Hall renovations.
The remaining amount will be used to purchase hydraulic and pneumatic equipment that is mobile and can
transported to company sites for training.
The Wood County Historical Center and Museum in Bowling Green will receive $600,000, which will go toward
a $1 million project to expand access to the museum for people with disabilities, said Andrew Kalmar,
county administrator.
The project involves installing an elevator as well as handicap-accessible restrooms, while removing some
steps that prove to be barriers for those with disabilities. The remaining portion of the price tag will
likely be made up with museum funds and through fundraisers.
In Pemberville, a $220,000 appropriation will go toward the estimated $330,000 cost of installing an
elevator and handicap-accessible restrooms at the Village Hall on Front Street. The elevator will allow
patrons to easily reach the restored second-floor Opera House in the 1891-vintage structure.
"This has been a 10-year dream of the Pemberville Historical Society," Mayor Gordon Bowman told
village council Tuesday night. "They will need private funding to fill the gap, but this makes it
look like that dream may be very close."
"Put us down as thrilled," Dr. Michelle Grigore, Bowling Green’s director of parks and
recreation, said of the $50,000 her department received toward the renovation the Rotary Nature Center
at Wintergarden/St. John’s Woods Nature Preserve.
The city had applied for $100,000 toward the estimated $300,000 cost of the project. "We have cash
and pledges of just over $90,000 and this will bring us close to 50 percent," Grigore said.
The grant will be made through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Grigore said she is looking
forward to hearing the details.
A separate year-round restroom facility is part of the project.
Grants were funneled through the Toledo Chamber of Commerce, which Grigore said conducted a hearing under
the auspices of the state to make recommendations.
The Cocoon Shelter will receive $47,500 after pushing for some of the funds to pursue a new building.
"It’s no accident that this money is coming back to the community through The Cocoon," said
Michelle Clossick, executive director of the Wood County domestic violence shelter. "There was such
a letter-writing campaign. We got bumped out of the first consideration round and there were hundreds of
letters written from all parts of the county."
Cocoon will use the money to acquire federal funding to either renovate the current shelter, or purchase
property and build anew – "whichever is best. It lets us do all the studies needed to get a shelter
that more effectively helps us meet the needs in Wood County."
Clossick said the current shelter is almost nine years old, "and for about eight of those years
we’ve exceeded the capacity of the shelter space. This money helps us do something we’ve needed in the
county for that many years."
While the final decision – relocation or renovation – hasn’t yet been made, the state appropriation
allows for the next phase of the project, to submit a federal application to the Ohio Housing Finance
Agency by June of this year, Clossick said.
Some of the $21 million total allocated to BGSU will go to its Firelands campus including $1 million for
the renovation of its Allied Health and Sciences Building. Another $250,000 is going to programs at the
Norwalk Area Opportunity Center for a collaboration with BGSU Firelands.

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