What's in store for 2024 in Minerva? Workforce development center, pocket park, new chief
Editor’s note: The Canton Repository asked leaders in each of Stark County’s 17 townships, 11 villages and six cities to share some highlights about what's in store for 2024 in their communities.
The responses include the return of some family-friendly events, a variety of new businesses and some much-needed improvements to longstanding structures. We will be presenting these community highlights to you throughout the upcoming months.
MINERVA − Minerva leaders have big plans for 2024, including a $3.5 million workforce development center, a new downtown pocket park and a customer service station, while also welcoming a new police chief and the return of popular community events.
Here is what’s in store for 2024 in the village of roughly 3,600 people that straddles Stark, Carroll and Columbiana counties:
Workforce development center coming to downtown
Village officials want to transform an unused building on the southeast corner of Market Street (state Route 183) and Line Street, into a workforce development center. The $3.5 million project would allocate space for a restaurant on the first floor of the building and establish the workforce development center on the top floor.
Village Administrator Benjamin W. Gunderson said the goal is to create a centralized hub to help businesses and residents with job certifications, educational programs and workforce training opportunities.
He said the project will restore the original look of the building, which has been used for a variety of businesses over the years, including a grocery store and butcher shop.
The village recently received $200,000 in state capital funding for the project. It also is seeking funding through the state’s Appalachian Community Grant Program and a state transportation grant.
If the project receives the Appalachian Community Grant, the project is expected to be awarded to a contractor by the end of the year and completed by 2026, Gunderson said.
New police chief takes office
Dale A. McDorman, who started his policing career in Stark County, has come back to Ohio to be Minerva’s new police chief.
McDorman, who served in the U.S. Air Force for eight years, worked for the Stark County Sheriff’s Office from 1988 to 1990 before moving to South Carolina where he worked for the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office and then spent nearly 29 years with the Beaufort Police Department. In 2020, McDorman was named Beaufort’s police chief. He retired from the department on Jan. 26 and was sworn in as Minerva's police chief earlier this month.
During his tenure with the Beaufort Police Department, McDorman established the department’s first K-9 program and helped the department earn accreditation. He also was credited by Beaufort city officials for making the department more transparent to residents by posting monthly reports about police calls and crimes and establishing a community alert system. He also began the department’s various outreach activities such as Chill with a Cop and movie nights, worked to get additional school resource officers at each public city school and established a mentoring program for at-risk students, according to Beaufort city officials.
Larry Gardner, a sergeant who had served as Minerva’s interim police chief since August 2023 following the retirement of Chief Chris Miller, has been named the department’s deputy police chief.
The police department has roughly 12 employees.
Pocket park proposed for High Street
Village leaders are looking to create a downtown pocket park along High Street to attract more visitors to downtown and create more customers for local businesses.
The park would be located on High Street, between Main and Market streets, within the village's outdoor drinking district and would be utilized as a multiuse outdoor space that could hold a music stage, seating and other activities, such as permanent cornhole boards.
Customer service station planned
A customer service station will be created in the next few months to help residents and businesses with permits, community rentals, pool passes, water bills and questions they have about village operations.
The station will be manned by two village employees and will be located in the space of the existing utilities department within Village Hall at 209 N. Market St.
Nights on North Market, other community events to return
The popular Nights on North Market event is back this year and will once again be held on the second Fridays of each month, starting in May. Each month will feature a different theme for the free festivities, which will include live music, food trucks, family-friendly activities and local shopping.
Also in May will be the Villagewide Garage Sales from May 2 to May 4, village cleanup on May 11 and the 12th annual Brick Street Art & Jazz Festival on May 18.
The Minerva Chamber of Commerce's Cars Are The Stars fine auto exhibition, an invitation-only show of rare and high-end vehicles, will be Sept. 14; followed by Oktoberfest on Sept. 28 and Downtown Wonderland on Dec 7.
Details for other popular village events still are being finalized. More information will be available on the Chamber of Commerce’s website at www.minervachamber.org.
Reach Canton Repository staff writer Kelli Weir at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Minerva leaders to create workforce development center, pocket park
