PRESS RELEASE   

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

November 6, 2024

LICKING COUNTY MUNICIPALITIES ORGANIZE TO FACILITATE REGIONAL WATER AND SEWER SERVICE  

The Municipalities of Johnstown, Alexandria, and Granville Have Renamed their Collaborative Provision of Water and Wastewater Services as the Municipal Utility Coalition of Licking County  

 LICKING COUNTY, OHIO, November 6, 2024 – Formerly known as JAG, Johnstown, Alexandria, and Granville have rebranded their partnership as the “Municipal Utility Coalition of Licking County” to facilitate its plan to advance growth and prosperity in western Licking County while preserving the sense of neighborhood and natural resources that have attracted residents and business to call western Licking County home.  This new name will take effect on November 6. 

The Coalition is currently the water and wastewater service provider to over 12,000 people living and working in western Licking County and seeks to provide these services to the region as it grows so as to preserve local control over local resources. Given the significant economic growth in western Licking County, led by the 2022 announcement of Intel’s $20 billion computer chip manufacturing facility, municipalities like Johnstown, Alexandria, and Granville are looking ahead to plan and manage the residential and spin-off commercial growth that accompanies such a monumental manufacturing project.  

“It will be an economic boost to everyone in Licking County, but as municipal leaders, we must work together to implement a holistic development plan that is best for everyone,” said Herb Koehler, Granville Village Manager.  “The Coalition is committed to working with all the stakeholders—state, township, and county officials, area residents, and businesses—to promote financially sound long-range regional development,” he added.  “To that end, we have engaged the respected utility planning firm EMH&T to develop a comprehensive facility plan which will evaluate projected needs for both water and sanitary sewer service in the region over the next 20+ years and determine how the Coalition can best meet these needs.”   

Licking County schools have come out strongly supporting the Coalition.  “As a consortium of local governments—Johnstown, Alexandria, and Granville—the Coalition is directly accountable to residents and committed to collaborative, strategic community planning.  Unlike a sewer district, whose statutory vision and purpose is limited to utility growth alone, the Coalition will integrate infrastructure development into a broader community development strategy.   

“The Coalition’s strategic and collaborative approach ensures that our region’s growth enhances rather than diminishes quality of life for residents of Licking County, setting a model for successful development for the 21st century,” wrote Denison University President Dr. Adam Weinberg to Governor DeWine and Ohio EPA Director Anne Vogel.  

“Unless economic development is thoughtfully and holistically managed, expanded water and wastewater services will result in unplanned and fragmented growth and that, in turn, would create a crisis for western Licking County schools. Therefore, utility expansion should always be aligned with a comprehensive strategy, a strategy that has been developed with input from and the acceptance of the residents and other stakeholders,” said Jeff Brown, Superintendent, Granville Exempted Village Schools.   

The organization of the Coalition provides significant benefits: 

• As municipalities, the members of the Coalition are responsible for public infrastructure such as parks, streets, sidewalks, storm sewers, and lighting; public services such as police; land use planning, and economic development; as well as water and sewer services.  As a result, the Coalition is constantly aware of and responsive to ALL the interests and concerns of local residents. 

• The Coalition has access to two planning and development departments, which have expertise and years of experience in all aspects of development and land use planning, including zoning, economic development tools (including Tax Increment Financing (TIFs), Community Reinvestment Areas (CRAs), Cooperative Economic Development Agreements (CEDAs), and Joint Economic Development District’s (JEDDs), income tax programs, grants and small business loans, financing tools and increased debt capacity, and creative revenue financing.  Such tools can be best utilized by municipalities and can be used in partnership with the County and Townships for the benefit of economic development, public infrastructure improvements and public services like roads, sewer, water, parks, recreation, and more. 

• The Coalition is actively supported by the Johnstown-Monroe School District, the Granville Exempted Village School District, and Denison University, principally due to its holistic and planful view of growth and the Coalition’s recognition that haphazard development would likely devastate the excellent schools that are essential to the community’s long-term desirability and prosperity.   

• The Coalition believes that water and wastewater service should be viewed and managed to facilitate financially sound long-range regional development, not merely immediate development to maximize near-term revenue.