Sen. Brenner visits Coshocton

Leonard L. Hayhurst, Coshocton Tribune
·2 min read
Sen. Andrew Brenner of the Ohio Senate talks with Commissioner Rick Conkle during a recent visit to Coshocton County. Brenner is the Republican candidate for the new 19th District that will include Delaware, Knox, Holmes and Coshocton counties.
Sen. Andrew Brenner of the Ohio Senate talks with Commissioner Rick Conkle during a recent visit to Coshocton County. Brenner is the Republican candidate for the new 19th District that will include Delaware, Knox, Holmes and Coshocton counties.

COSHOCTON — Connecting with the people of Coshocton County to learn about the issues and projects important to them is a goal of Sen. Andrew Brenner.

The 51-year-old Republican from Delaware County recently visited Coshocton to speak with local elected officials and stakeholders. This included attending a meeting of Coshocton County Commissioners that also included representatives from other county offices. Those were engineer, auditor, treasurer, sheriff and recycling and litter prevention.

Brenner currently represents the 19th District of the Ohio Senate, which includes Delaware, Knox and part of Franklin counties. Due to redistricting, that district will include Delaware, Knox, Coshocton and Holmes counties after the first of the year.

Brenner is running unopposed in the special primary Aug. 2 for the Republican nomination. In the fall general election he will face the Democratic primary winner of either Chrissie Hinshaw or Heather Swiger.

Brenner is the chair of the primary and second education committee and serves on the finance, rules and reference and insurance committees. He was recently appointed to the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review as well.

Prior to serving in the senate, Brenner was in the Ohio House of Representatives and was Delaware County Recorder for six years. He's licensed to sell real estate and insurance.

If elected, Brenner promised to visit Coshocton at least once a quarter and possibly have monthly Zoom meetings with local officials to keep everyone on the same page legislatively.

Brenner said he would continue to work on helping local governments hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic and preparing the region for the expected economic boom of the Intel plant opening in Licking County. As chair of the education committee, Brenner wants to work on catching students up from pandemic woes too.

Commissioner Dane Shryock told Brenner about the $5 million broadband project they're working on with Ohio TT, the need to increase the workforce, Skip's Landing on County Road 1A nearing completion, the multi-use path on County Road 621 and connector to Lake Park, and the importance of state funding to assist the local foster care system.

While Brenner is not overly familiar with Coshocton County, he wants to learn more and feels it has a lot of common with eastern Knox County, which he's been working with for the past four years.

"This is to get to know more abut what's going on in Coshocton and get to know your issues so I'm better prepared to deal with them going forward," Brenner said on the trip. "If there are certain things that come up that need to be dealt with locally or you need your representation in the Ohio Statehouse, that's what I'm here for."

Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with close to 15 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on Twitter at @llhayhurst.

This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Sen. Brenner visits Coshocton