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Ohio Means Jobs moves into new facility

By Nancy Taylor 4 min read

After more than three years of chasing the dream, Ohio Means Jobs moved into a newly renovated, bigger building in the heart of downtown Marietta Wednesday.

The building at 311 Third St. is the former Chase Bank drive-through facility. Now, it's a building that houses the Area 15 Workforce Development District, serving Washington, Noble, Morgan and Monroe counties.

Washington County Job and Family Services assumed operation of the Ohio Means Jobs district in 2018, and it was housed -- until Wednesday -- in part of the JFS Building at 1115 Gilman Ave.

The Third Street property had been acquired by former Washington County Commissioners, but the commissioners were forced to use the building to store paper files until masses of documents were scanned. Then came COVID. Then came an extensive renovation of the building by Verigy, the Columbus engineering service that county commissioners have hired to coordinate, track and supervise the work at all the county project sites.

The finished product has several important advantages, according to Washington County JFS Executive Director Flite Freimann.

First, there's a lot more space, almost triple what it was before, from 1,100 square feet to a little less than 3,000 square feet. It means staff from the other district counties, Noble, Morgan and Monroe, can also use the building when needed, without difficulty.

Second, the much more central location is going to be a lot easier access for both job-seekers and employers. The Ohio Means Jobs structure is specifically designed to be a clearinghouse for both tasks, getting jobs and getting workers.

Third, when the OMB function was housed at JFS, Freimann said, people assumed they had to be receiving welfare benefits in order to use the service. The truth is quite the opposite. Ohio Means Jobs is open to any resident of Washington, Noble, Morgan or Monroe county who needs to find qualified job applicants for a business, or who needs job-seeking help with posting a resume, preparing for job interviews, or getting up-to-date information on in-demand jobs, among other services.

Noble, Morgan and Monroe have satellite offices. Their residents can go to a satellite office or the new office in Marietta.

The Washington County staff who have moved from the JFS building are Amanda Sutphin, Workforce Development Administrator, and the Workforce Development Team of four additional staff members.

Three of them are Youth Career Coaches for specific schools in the area: Sherri Nolan, Marietta City Schools and Frontier School District; Brenda Robinson, Belpre City Schools and Warren School District; and Laura Adams, Wolf Creek Local Schools and Fort Frye Local School District. The fourth team member is Peggy McElfresh, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Adult and Dislocated Worker Program Coordinator.

The county owns the building and has put about $600,000 into the renovation, Freimann and Commissioner James Booth said. JFS will be paying that amount back to the county. For the first 20 years it will be in the form of a depreciation. After that, JFS will pay rent based on the value of the building.

There were some engineering challenges in renovating the building on Third Street, Freimann said. The building is in the 100-year flood plain. The floor was raised 18 inches and filtered vents to the outside are installed throughout the building. The design will allow flood water to flow through the building, if necessary.

"It's an engineering marvel," Freimann told the group assembled for Wednesday's ribbon cutting.

"And we want people to know we're here. We want to help them, we'll listen to them, support them, and we can help them," said McElfresh.

The website for more information about the state workforce program is ohiomeansjobs.ohio.gov.

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