Ohio s 15th Congressional District sprawls from the outskirts of Columbus all the way down to Athens and McConnelsville, covering six Appalachian counties in a 60% rural constituency.
Even though the majority of the 15th District is distributed over rural Ohio, the district has been represented by Rep. Steve Stivers, who has lived in a suburb of Columbus for the last decade.
So when news broke that Stivers is stepping down later this month to become the CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, local leaders across the region began considering who should fill their representative s seat.
County commissioners, mayors and non-profit leaders in the 15th District s Appalachian counties say their new representative needs to know how to navigate national partisanship while also balancing the unique economic challenges rural communities face.
CARES Act spending deadline extended, but rural Ohio frustrated by short notice
The Daily Jeffersonian
After months of uncertainty and pleas for flexibility in southeast Ohio communities, Congress extended the deadline for local governments to spend their Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds from Dec. 30, 2020, through the end of 2021.
President Donald Trump signed that measure into law in the days between Christmas and New Year s.
But local officials in rural Ohio did not breathe many sighs of relief, as they pondered what-ifs and discussed their frustration with the last-minute notice of the extension from the federal government.
President Donald Trump signed that measure into law in the days between Christmas and New Year s.
But local officials in rural Ohio did not breathe many sighs of relief, as they pondered what-ifs and discussed their frustration with the last-minute notice of the extension from the federal government. Everybody was pressed to spend that money before the end of the year, Morgan County Commission President Adam Shriver said. Had they extended it earlier it would’ve been an opportunity to truly spend that money in ways that would be most beneficial.
Shriver explained that if county officials had been able to hit the pause button, rather than scramble to encumber all of their funds in late November, there would have been more consideration toward how CARES money could be used for COVID-19 inoculations.