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Ohio County commissioners said they witnessed businesses at The Highlands financially struggle through the COVID pandemic, and they told Wheeling businesses struggling through current road projects in the city to contact them for help and advice if needed.
Commission President Don Nickerson sent out the message during Tuesday night's commission meeting.
"We see the reports in the newspaper, and are keeping up with the project downtown and the struggles of some of the downtown businesses," Nickerson said.
"We want to make it clear we are aware of those issues, and we stand with the businesses downtown that are struggling. We support them -- as well as the businesses at The Highlands, in Elm Grove, Bethlehem, Warwood, Valley Grove, Triadelphia and throughout the county.
"We are all Ohio Countians, and we're all in this together," he added. "We support the downtown businesses."
The Ohio County Commission and the Ohio County Development Authority similarly dealt with struggling businesses at The Highlands during the COVID pandemic, he continued.
"And those businesses benefited from things we were able to help them with," Nickerson said. "So we want to make the offer. If any of those businesses want to reach out to the commission or any of us individually, we would be happy to share any of the things that happened at The Highlands that helped those businesses that were struggling. They may already be doing those things. But we're happy to talk to anybody who wants to reach out and talk to us."
He added that Commissioner Randy Wharton, also president of the OCDA, already has reached out to some of the downtown businesses, and that he also has spoken with some business owners.
"If they want to sit down and pick our brains about what happened during COVID, we're happy to share that information," he said.
The OCDA is set to meet at 6 p.m. on Dec. 13 at The Highlands Sports Complex.
The county commission, meanwhile, is slated to next convene at 6 p.m. on Dec. 19 at the City County Building, 1500 Chapline St., Wheeling.