MEDIA ADVISORY
June 15, 2005

HEATH, OHIO – The Board of Directors of the Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority elected officers at its regular June meeting. Stephen Layman was reelected Chairman and Ron Sheldon was reelected Vice Chairman for one-year terms.

Layman has served as Chairman of the Port Authority Board since June 1998. He is a Licking County appointee to the Board and is a principal with Anderson Layman Company in Newark.

Sheldon was reelected to his second term as Vice Chairman. He is a Licking County appointee to the Board and is employed by Holophane in Newark.

In other business, the Board accepted a $13 million 10-year capital improvements plan for the Central Ohio Aerospace and Technology Center (COATC), including an energy conservation strategy for the Base Campus of the COATC which, it is hoped, will reduce power, gas, and water consumption at The Base in coming years. The plan was developed in-house with input from tenant customers and calls for major infrastructure and building improvements through the Year 2014.

The Board also established a new Linked Deposit Program, the first in Ohio led by a port authority. State Senator Jay Hottinger successfully sought, and Ohio Governor Bob Taft signed into law, legislation that permits port authorities to provide low-interest financing incentives to businesses through reduced-rate bank investments. The program is modeled after a similar State Treasurer of Ohio program that has been in place since 1983.

The Board of Directors consists of nine members, three appointed by each of the creating subdivisions, the City of Heath, City of Newark, and Licking County Commissioners. The Port Authority owns and manages the 350-acre Central Ohio Aerospace and Technology Center in Heath which is home to 22 different employers and a greater than $200 million annual economic impact.

For more information, visit the Port Authority’s web site at http://hnlcpa.com.