A Wilmington man who keeps his mind and hand in public affairs apprised Wilmington City Council at its latest meeting about his efforts to help tackle the primary local economic challenge: Recovering from the massive job losses at the DHL Air Park and lessening the recoiling effects upon residents.

Paul Hunter told council members he attended, “with the assistance of the Ohio Department of Development,” a wind turbine supply workshop in Columbus. At the workshop, he made contact with a Cincinnati firm that’s interested in becoming a manufacturer of commercial wind turbines, Hunter said.

Hunter maintained contact with the firm and feels he established a relationship with the company. After months of correspondence, a company representative attended an informational meeting and an air park tour conducted in December, primarily for companies wanting to market the 2,200-acre air park but also suitable for a company simply wanting to learn more about the facilities for possible use of their own.

According to Hunter, the representative recently returned for another look and met with Hunter along with three of the key economic development players in Clinton County — Clinton County Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Chris Schock, Clinton County Administrator and Economic Development Director Mark Brooker and Rafeal Underwood, economic recovery coordinator for Clinton, Highland and Fayette counties. Afterward, the company representative met with air park officials, Hunter said.

What’s more, an acquaintance of the turbine representative, interested in developing a solar panel business, accompanied the original contact, increasing the exposure to what the air park has to offer employers.

“Messages after that meeting indicate the interest level is still high for both wind and solar,” Hunter told council.

Meanwhile, a German solar developer based in Tempe, Ariz., responded to one of Hunter’s many mailings to alternate energy companies around the world. The developer indicated he is “very interested” in establishing a presence in Ohio, Hunter informed council.

“After several months of information-sharing, this contact was passed to Mr. Schock for further cultivation,” said Hunter.

To further the prospects of contacts wanting to locate at the air park, Hunter arranged for the Cincinnati solar representative and the Arizona contact to exchange information between themselves “concerning any mutual and complementary interests they may share about locating here,” Hunter said.

He mentioned another turbine manufacturer prospect, then briefly discussed research he’s done — started prior to the DHL restructuring announcement — in which he sought areas of Clinton County where installation of commercial turbines is “a practical consideration.” Hunter said this project led him to a State Route 72 wind corridor. The turbine manufacturer is interested in this possible venture “for obvious reasons,” remarked Hunter.

He concluded by observing the hundreds of hours and hundreds of dollars he has devoted to the cause of economic recovery might be in vain, “but, as they say, ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained’.”