Interview with Jay Maners, owner of Ohio Rental in Mount Vernon and Johnstown.
Question: Can you tell us more about yourself as a businessman and as a member of the community?
Answer: I came to Mount Vernon back in 1986 to go to college. I left and then moved back here in 1996 when I bought Ohio Rental. I've been here ever since. I'm very active in the community. I've helped coach multiple sports. I've helped with community projects. I've been on the City Council. I have been a youth pastor in town. I've been very active in the community.
Q: You are building a retirement castle in Mount Vernon for when you retire from the Ohio Rental business. Do you want to talk more about that?
A: Family is important to us. We have since moved my wife's grandmother, her parents, her brother and sister-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles to the area. We have a family dinner once a week and it ranges anywhere from 20 to 30 people. We decided to build a retirement home here in Mount Vernon. It's a unique retirement home.
As a little kid I used to go to Cedar Point and I was in love with Fort Sandusky. For years above my dresser I had a picture of a castle from Ireland. I always thought the idea of building a castle to be cool. The castle will be very secure and energy efficient. It will also have a low environmental impact. It will use a lot of natural material, like stone. Our goal is to have solar panels to supplement the electric. We will also have an outdoor wood-burner so we can use local resources to heat the castle with.
Q: What are your political views in terms of our community?
A: I do feel that for our local community politics should be a concern. I am concerned with a lot of the things that have happened over the last year. Some of the results of those things will be higher taxes— more taxes to offset a growing government. That concerns me. It's going to change our small-town community with all of the events that have occurred. I think we need to fight to maintain the feel of a friendly, small-town community. I think we need strong leadership to help us focus on community and family.
You're going to see some inflation also as a result of some of the things that have been going on in our community. You're going to see some financial changes. That's usually hard for a government to adjust to. For example, in the future we have electric cars, which are great, but we aren't really coming up with a tax to offset the loss in gas tax to help maintain our roads and infrastructure.
Q: What are your views on the protests/BLM movement?
A: I would say that all the movements and all of those things, to me, I think that if we just follow the Golden Rule of treating your neighbor with respect and dignity and maintain that in a small community, we should be somewhat shielded from that type of behavior. The great thing about living in a small town versus a big city is that you get to build relationships with people. I think once a population gets to a certain size, those relationships get lost. It makes it much, much harder to value life.
Q: What are your views on the COVID-19 crisis?
A: The COVID-19 crisis is a very difficult thing. I feel that it became a political item instead of a safety item. When it became political it became very difficult. The implemented safety standards are not consistent, which causes confusion, frustration and anger. I feel that the media should not be allowed to hype something like a pandemic or a virus. If they want to hype up politics, that's perfectly fine; but I think they need to be level-headed and present the facts carefully with deliberate thought into not creating panic. I feel that more people are being injured by isolation and fear than maybe the pandemic itself.
I think that we should have a giant community party, maybe at Ariel-Foundation Park, when we lift these restrictions on COVID-19. We should have a celebration of putting our lives back together.
Ohio Rental
Mount Vernon location:
200 Columbus Road
Mount Vernon, OH 43050
740-397-2783
Johnstown location:
7658 Johnstown-Alexandria Road
Johnstown, OH 43031
740-967-7368
Hours for both locations:
Monday through Friday: 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday: 8 a.m. to noon
Website:
ohiorentalequipment.com
