Gas Natural Under Fire from PUCO on the WEB Made Public Nov
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20131216-NEWS--1-NAT-CCI-CL_-- 12/13/2013 4:33 PM Page 1 $2.00/DECEMBER 16 - 22, 2013 Gas Natural under fire from PUCO ON THE WEB made public Nov. 13, the PUCO State utilities commission orders investigative audit of two Read the Public Utilities Commission raised questions about the true cor- porate separation of Northeast of Ohio’s order at: Ohio Natural Gas and Orwell Nat- subsidiaries of company that has ties to Osborne family tinyurl.com/ndg8eoz ural Gas from their affiliates, and By MICHELLE PARK LAZETTE vestigative audit of two subsidiaries which includes members of the the “inflated” fees the two sub- [email protected] of Gas Natural Inc. and all related well-known Osborne family of and Orwell Natural Gas Co., which sidiaries paid to an affiliate compa- companies, citing concerns about Mentor. are local distribution companies ny for natural gas purchases. Following what it termed an “un- the companies’ internal controls, The PUCO, which regulates in- that serve portions of Ohio — to The PUCO in its order said its precedented recommendation” by the propriety of their executive vestor-owned utilities in the state, pay civil forfeiture fines of $26,000 staff’s call for an investigation into its staff, the Public Utilities Com- compensation system and alleged also ordered the two subsidiaries — and $50,000, respectively. the management practices of the mission of Ohio has ordered an in- self-dealing by management, Northeast Ohio Natural Gas Corp. In a 65-page opinion and order See PUCO Page 7 Vitamix searching for overseas blend end blenders could find its next Strongsville move growth-driven property deals over- seas. could be just the Tony Ciepiel, chief operating of- ficer of the company, which brands start of expansion itself as Vitamix, said the domestic growth that prompted the latest ex- By STAN BULLARD pansions in Strongsville is smaller [email protected] on a percentage basis than its Vita-Mix Corp. of Olmsted Town- growth in international sales. Thus, DO YOU ship is stirring things up in the family-owned company expects Strongsville with plans to move to decide in mid-2014 where to es- about 120 employees next month to tablish operations for the first time the former MCPc building on Drake in Asia and Europe. KNOW Road, though the maker of high- See VITAMIX Page 5 THESE Retailers banking on FACES? late shopping sprees hype of Black Friday weekend; You should. Some Northeast Ohio among them are a lack of spending They are our 2013 Newsmakers. downtime between Thanksgiving Pages 11-16 companies attribute and Christmas, an increased focus on online shopping and unseason- so-so sales to late ably cold weather. But most expect sales to pick up in the remaining Thanksgiving season days before Christmas, and nation- al expectations are for this year’s By RACHEL ABBEY McCAFFERTY sales to exceed last year’s. [email protected] Steve Presser, owner of the Big Fun toy and collectible stores in For many people, the 2013 holi- Cleveland, Cleveland Heights and day shopping season hasn’t kicked Columbus, said crowds are usually into high gear as yet, but local retail- robust about two weeks before ers don’t sound too worried. Christmas. That hasn’t been the Store owners and managers cited case this year, which Mr. Presser at- a variety of possible reasons for a tributes to a trick of the calendar. slow start to December after the See RETAILERS Page 22 50 SPECIAL SECTION 7 PATENT POWER NEWSPAPER Crain’s takes a look at some of Northeast Ohio’s Entire contents © 2013 74470 83781 most prolific innovators ■ Pages 17-21 by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 34, No. 50 0 PLUS: PATENT POWER INDEX ■ MASTER INVENTORS ■ & MORE 20131216-NEWS--2-NAT-CCI-CL_-- 12/13/2013 4:50 PM Page 1 2 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM DECEMBER 16 - 22, 2013 COMING NEXT WEEK WHERE THE JOBS ARE There were 3.9 million job openings in September, an increase of more than Learn more about all those local companies who could one day 8% from the like month of 2012, according to the latest monthly figures compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most major job categories be your clients. Check out our annual Book of Lists next Monday. showed substantial increases in job openings; the exception was government, 700 W. St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, where there were fewer jobs available in September than a year ago. Cleveland, OH 44113-1230 Phone: (216) 522-1383 Corrections Fax: (216) 694-4264 ■ In the Dec. 9, page three profile ■ A profile of Akron Beacon Category Openings Sept. ’13 Openings Sept. ’12 Change www.crainscleveland.com of Market Garden Brewery brew- Journal reporter Bob Downing on Publisher/editorial director: master Andy Tveekrem, the name of page 17 of the Winter 2013-14 Shale Total 3,913,000 3,603,000 +8.6% John Campanelli ([email protected]) Editor: one of Sam McNulty’s bars on West magazine misstated the traffic to Mr. Trade/transp.* 735,000 648,000 +13.4% 25th Street in Cleveland was spelled Downing’s Ohio Utica Shale blog. It Mark Dodosh ([email protected]) Managing editor: incorrectly due to an editing error. 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Reprints: Call 1-800-290-5460 Ext. 125 Audit Bureau of Circulation 20131216-NEWS--3-NAT-CCI-CL_-- 12/13/2013 2:40 PM Page 1 DECEMBER 16 - 22, 2013 WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS 3 INSIGHT Parking spaces are at root of dispute ground. County Council was conducting County officials fear shortage of places for vehicles because Project adviser Jeffrey Appel- an informational briefing with Mr. baum told Cuyahoga County Appelbaum that day and did not of problems that scrapped garage below planned Hilton hotel Council on Dec. 3 that the more take immediate action to approve complicated foundation will add $5 or reject the planned change. By JAY MILLER they have produced discord over mat foundation, which would have million to $7 million to its cost, but The lost parking spaces, howev- [email protected] how to resolve a parking dilemma provided sufficient depth below will not extend the completion date er, have thrown a wrench into the that impacts city, county and feder- grade for two levels of parking on of the hotel beyond its June 2016 cooperative agreement that lays Problems underground that al operations in downtown’s civic top of a steel-reinforced concrete target or increase the projected cost out various financing and opera- scotched a plan to put 280 parking core. pad several yards deep. But the of construction. He said the total tional responsibilities for the hotel spaces below the planned, $260 Cuyahoga County government complex geology of downtown cost of the hotel won’t rise because among the county, the city of million Hilton convention center and general contractor Turner Cleveland is forcing the county to the original budget anticipated the Cleveland and the Cleveland-Cuya- hotel on Cleveland’s Mall should Construction Co.