Monday, August 15, 2011
Associated Press
COLUMBUS
Ohio state government is ending its ties with trade offices overseas and restructuring its Department of Development as a new semiprivate, nonprofit entity prepares to take over the department’s job creation duties, the governor’s office said Sunday.
Improvements in communications technology and faster travel choices have lessened the need for foreign offices, state officials say. And in some instances, the costs to maintain the offices have outweighed the jobs or other benefits they produced.
Development Director Christiane Schmenk says the department is shrinking its global markets division in light of the looming transfer of some functions to JobsOhio, the nonprofit corporation that will head the state’s economic development efforts under the guidance of a board of business executives and entrepreneurs.
First-term Gov. John Kasich signed the law creating JobsOhio early this year after criticizing the department as too slow and bureaucratic to keep up with business.
“It’s possible we’ll have a foreign presence under JobsOhio, just not under the Department of Development,” Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said Sunday.