Have You Heard?
06-14-2007 9:39 am

Dave Claborn
July, 2007

I took a call the other day from a gentleman in Findlay who said he’d “heard good things about Marion” and was calling to check into sites for a business he and his father will be operating. There have been similar calls from attorneys, real estate professionals and developers in Columbus and other locations in and outside Ohio.

Has the tide turned for Marion? I think so. Through a combination of marketing and new development of industrial and commercial projects, Marion is on a lot of peoples’ radar screens. The community is developing a reputation as a place with a lot of options and the ability to get a deal done. Not to say it’s always easy. Significant negotiations have taken place on some of the commercial tax increment financing deals in recent years. But the bottom line is, the deals are getting done.

Marion’s repertoire of viable sites and buildings is getting noticed. If you are doing anything with rail, Marion is a community you should be looking at. With three major rail lines intersecting the community, rail sites are plentiful. In fact, we’ve developed an industrial park around the concept of competing rail traffic.

The Marion Industrial Center’s year-old intermodal operation is another manifestation of rail-oriented commerce. A dedicated unit train pulls into the Depot each day, laden with containers from the western United States that will be delivered within 150 miles of Marion by truck. During the day, westbound containers arrive at the Depot, are loaded back on the train and sent west. The arrangement makes the best use of transportation modes—rail for the long haul and trucks for the short trips on either end of the journey. The fact that Marion’s intermodal operation is up, running, and growing is being noticed around the country. It’s one of the reasons people have “heard good things about Marion.”

It takes a concerted effort to get the news out about our community. It takes frequent conversations with companies and developers, amplified by advertising and public relations. Those things cost money—money that currently is in short supply. We’re working on strategies to increase funding for this important effort.

However, advertising and public relations won’t do the job alone. Reputations are built on performance. People develop reputations by doing what they say they’ll do—or not. It’s the same with communities. Does a community live up to its billing? Do its officials and public servants deliver what they say they will? Do people feel welcome and find what they need when they arrive? On such things are reputations built—or destroyed.

It really comes down to a matter of trust. We trust those people around us who make pledges and honor them. In your circle of acquaintances, I’m sure you could name those people you can count on—those you can trust to do the job who will be there when they say they’ll be there. And, I’m sure you can name those who make promises, but for one reason or another, don’t follow through. Reputations, positive or negative, are built on the evidence of experience.

In business relationships, trust is especially important. McDonalds built an empire on trust. The key to the hamburger chain’s success is making sure the McDonald’s burger you buy in Marion, Ohio is exactly like the one you buy in Marion, Indiana, or Marion, Georgia. You can trust that no matter where or when it’s served, a McDonalds hamburger will live up to the company’s standards.

Increasingly, I think, Marion, Ohio is developing a reputation as a community with lots of options and the people who can help turn those options into successful projects. In the process, more jobs are created providing more and varied employment opportunities for those who choose to call Marion and Marion County home. Have you heard? “Good things are happening in Marion!”