ANNUAL REPORT FY2023
Governor DeWine, members of the General Assembly and fellow Ohioans:
I’m proud of how our agency continues to become more united each day. A simple but not easy task given that we’re a department of seven divisions and three programs that support vastly different industries. But what brings us together as the state’s chief regulator, impacting the success of more than 6 million licensees and regulated entities, is that we all have the same mission — to promote prosperity by protecting what matters most.
Our agency and staff has carried out the mission by executing the following priorities:
- Leveraging technology to improve services for our customers and stakeholders.
- Supporting first responders, Ohioans, and businesses.
- Increasing outreach and education for our licensees, stakeholders, and all Ohioans.
- Promoting a positive community impact.
It’s not about what we’ve accomplished but how those accomplishments improve our interactions with first responders, businesses, and Ohioans in our great state. That sentiment is reflected in this year’s annual report as we highlight not what each division has accomplished but what each accomplishment means for our state’s residents and businesses.
Our efforts with the Volunteer Firefighter Task Force this year, for example, provide a roadmap to tackle the decline in volunteer firefighters — a critical need as more than 70% of registered fire departments rely on volunteers.
Within the first quarter of the fiscal year, we introduced the Ohio Investor Recovery Fund to help eligible victims of investment fraud receive relief dollars when restitution is unfortunately not often available.
During the same quarter, we launched our Recovery Within Reach campaign to provide resources for financial professionals to help their clients who are struggling with, or have family members struggling with, addiction. Additional resources are included to help those struggling with substance abuse to find nearby treatment facilities.
I love how these stories alone demonstrate how we achieve our mission through each of our four priorities. This is only a fraction of what we’ve accomplished this past year, and we can’t express our appreciation enough for our employees as showcased in our engagement events throughout the year.
All of this is important as we continue to navigate a world that’s come out stronger after the onset of Covid-19 to attract and retain our workforce. To an extent, our agency of divisions and programs is more unified than ever in our mission to protect all of Ohio’s families through their homes, health, money, and safety.
As the state’s chief regulator, we not only engage with first responders, businesses, and the public daily but also rise to address their critical needs.
For instance, Gov. Mike DeWine created the Task Force on Volunteer Fire Service Issues in April 2022 to provide recommendations to improve the sustainability of volunteer fire departments in Ohio. Ohio has 1,180 fire departments, and 70 percent of the state’s fire services are provided by volunteers in under-resourced and under-served communities. The number of volunteers continues to decrease.
Our State Fire Marshal Kevin Reardon chaired that task force, and hosted regional roundtable discussions from July to October to engage with members of the fire service throughout Ohio. The 25-member task force released its 31-page recommendations report in January. Gov. DeWine included some of the recommended items in his Executive Budget including the creation of a full-time volunteer coordinator role at the Division of State Fire Marshal (SFM), waiver of SFM academy fees for volunteer firefighters, and an increase in equipment grants – all without an increase in fees or taxes.
“These quick actions will make a direct, positive impact on improving the volunteer fire service in Ohio’s communities,” said State Fire Marshal Kevin Reardon.
We also prioritized supporting Ohioans who have been victimized by financial fraudsters. Implementing one item from the Governor’s approved budget plan in 2021 we launched the Ohio Investor Recovery Fund in August 2022.
The fund is for eligible Ohio investors who worked hard to save for their futures, only to lose it to someone they trusted, and those funds cannot be recovered. It provides victims with critical short-term funding.
The fund has provided more than $1 million in relief to Ohio investors since its launch. All the money for the fund comes from the Division of Securities’ excess operating revenue so no taxpayer dollars are used. An online portal was created to streamline the application process through our website. Applicants who meet all eligibility criteria can be awarded relief in amounts not to exceed 25% of their loss or $25,000, whichever is less.
“We work with a lot of families who’ve lost almost everything, from retirement funds to their child’s college fund. We may have retirees who now must rejoin the workforce just to make ends meet,” Securities Commissioner Andrea Seidt said.
“While we obviously cannot reimburse them for their entire loss, this fund provides a bridge to weather the storm for such a loss and help affected Ohioans get back on their feet.”
Supporting innovation in the financial sector, in early 2023, we successfully rolled out an alternative regulatory mechanism for financial technology services.
In December, the Governor signed legislation to create a regulatory sandbox that provides applicants the opportunity to offer and test new financial products and services in a live environment for a trial period without going through the usual licensing process. We launched a fully functional website within weeks after the legislation was authorized, while states that had authorized sandboxes earlier in 2021 are still in the implementation phase.
“Along with other policy initiatives, the sandbox is a tool that can help promote economic development and innovation in Ohio,” said Kevin Allard, superintendent of the Division of Financial Institutions.
“Additionally, the sandbox has the potential to benefit all Ohioans to the extent successful applicants are able to offer and test novel financial products and services in the Ohio marketplace.”
In the past fiscal year, our department has leveraged technology to improve the customer experience across several divisions and programs.
For example, some of our technological upgrades now offer a more secure way for stakeholders to submit sensitive information to our agency. We partnered with Ohio Business Gateway to establish a method for banks and credit unions to make online payments to cover the costs of the examination and supervision we provide. Ohioans also can electronically submit the supporting documentation required to collect their unclaimed funds.
“It’s easy to use because it is consistent with the other familiar online tools, we use monthly, quarterly and annually within the Ohio Business Gateway,” said Mark Malone, executive vice president of the Old Fort Banking Company in Tiffin, Ohio.
We’ve also improved the customer experience by providing an online way to interact with our agency. For example, we began offering beer, wine, and mixed beverage manufacturers and suppliers an online way to register their product labels. This will reduce turnaround times allowing businesses to get their products out in the state faster. We partnered with a third-party vendor and together held several trials runs with different manufacturers to get their feedback and fine-tune the experience.
Other technology projects that have been updated or launched include:
- Online applications for liquor permits for transport companies in addition to liquor permit renewals and temporary event permit applications.
- Online applications to become a real estate agent, transfer from one brokerage to another, and improved online renewal functionality.
- An eLicense Portal for medical marijuana licensees that features a user-friendly, mobile-compatible design providing quick access to pending applications.
- An inspection program with an online customer portal and software to help track, schedule, and perform fire safety inspections in the state. The program allows schools to enter emergency evacuation and tornado drills required by law; and allows the flammable and combustible storage tanks permitting process to be completed entirely online.
- A new National and Ohio Fire Incident Reporting System is in the live testing phase and will be made available not only to our agency but to fire departments in the state at no cost. This will help standardize all Ohio fire incident reporting into one records management system capable of high-level data analysis.
- The transition to a cloud-based software solution for our OHLQ operations. The effort provides us the opportunity to enhance our system for a better user experience for Ohio’s 490 liquor agencies, suppliers, vendors, and broker partners.
We also worked with OGRIP to create a map of Designated Outdoor Refreshment Areas, or DORAs. These areas allow people to purchase alcohol from a licensed business and consume it outside but within the DORA’s boundaries. We used map data provided by local governments from their submissions to create a DORA for our online map. You can find the map at com.ohio.gov/doras.
Our collective of divisions and programs seeks opportunities to promote a positive impact across communities in Ohio.
We embraced the Governor’s challenge to state agencies to find ways to address the substance abuse and mental health crisis in our state. Substance use disorder including opioid addiction, can wreak financial havoc on those with addiction and their families. The cost to feed or fight the addiction can range from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Staggering sums like these can wipe out a family’s life savings.
In August 2022, we launched the Recovery Within Reach campaign in collaboration with other state partners, such as RecoveryOhio and the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. The campaign includes an online training course designed to train Ohio financial professionals on the disease and help them connect their clients with critical information regarding treatment options, costs, and funding sources. The campaign also consists of a dedicated website with an interactive map to find local treatment facilities.
Visit RecoveryWithinReach.Ohio.Gov for more information.
“This curriculum empowers financial professionals to start those important conversations with individuals who may feel recovery is out of reach,’’ said Aimee Shadwick, director of RecoveryOhio.
“This is an opportunity to decrease the stigma that comes from a disease impacting so many Ohioans and get them into treatment.”
It’s a great example of how our agency tackles big challenges such as the addiction crisis.
We’re also capable of seizing the small moments, too. We continue our tradition to mend stuffed animals that we cut open to test their filling for safety. We then donate them to a local charity in time for Christmas.
In addition, our Sound Off program makes elementary students aware of the dangers of fire in their homes. After taking part in the program, a Ross County first grader encouraged his family to get smoke alarms installed. Those same alarms alerted the family to exit their home safely when a fire broke out there.
“This is an amazing outcome from our outreach program,” said State Fire Marshal Kevin S. Reardon.
“It is incredibly encouraging to see a young child take the lessons they learn and apply them to real-life situations; fire prevention always pays off."
At the heart of our mission is providing education and outreach to Ohioans. We continue to find creative and effective ways to conduct our trainings, seminars, speaking engagements, events, panel discussions, and interviews.
We also continue try and true methods, too. We have hosted Ohio’s Bankers Day, for example, for senior executives and board members from Ohio’s banks for more than 30 years.
“This year’s event in April was back to full attendance with over 185 registered bankers and industry participants,” said Ingrid White, the Division of Financial Institutions Deputy Superintendent for Banks.
In June 2023, we held a training session for medical marijuana licensees, hosting nearly 140 attendees.
“Bringing everyone together provides a chance to meet face-to-face with industry employees with whom we speak to on a regular basis,” said Gregory McIlvaine, Senior Policy Advisor of Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Control Program.
“The training provides an opportunity for us to walk through some requirements for them to be compliant with program rules and address some pain points we hear from the licensees so we can continue to improve our processes and communication.”
We now have more tools than ever to educate our stakeholders through our website, e-newsletters, and webinars. For instance, some of our virtual and in-person events about safe investing practices and the steps to avoid becoming a victim of investment fraud connected with more than 4,200 people including seniors, law enforcement, social workers, social clubs, and adult protective services staff. This also includes our annual Ohio Securities Conference, held since 1973, and the quarterly Ohio Securities Bulletin, now in its 50th year of publication.
Our Division of Real Estate and Professional Licensing rigorously continues to keep its 53,000 licensees informed. Our real estate team conducted more than 30 outreach activities including 21 speaking engagements and panel discussions, talking about the latest updates to the Division’s technology upgrades and real estate trends.
We make efforts to educate the public, too. Our podcast Protecting What Matters has more than 2,000 plays. In January, we started broadcasting the podcast on WCBE radio on Saturday mornings. Podcast topics included how to become a more educated homebuyer, fire safety during the holidays, and financial-themed New Year’s resolutions.
We play a strong role in the classroom at all grade levels. In March, we attended Building and Zoning Day at Fort Hayes Career Center to teach students about opportunities in trades and with building departments; and have also held several labor law presentations with Ohio’s Career and Technical Education centers.
Our Ohio Fire Academy has been educating the state’s first responders for more than five decades. It is fully accredited by the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress. Our academy ranks in the top 5% out of 48 US state fire academies, 29 international fire academies, and 40 college-based fire training programs worldwide. This is just one indicator that Ohio’s first responders have access to world-class training right here at home and is a significant factor in making all Ohioans safer.
Our reach is almost limitless, and we continued to find new avenues to get our message out. Our first-ever Unclaimed Funds Month in February included in-person events, webinars, advertising, media interviews, how-to videos, strategic partnerships, and mailings. All of this was followed up with Gov. Mike DeWine’s subsequent Facebook Live Takeover event to connect his 300,000 followers on how to check to see if the state is holding any of their funds. Website analytics indicate that our efforts were effective – we had four times more visitors and claims generated than any other state.
Combined Charitable Campaign
In 2022, our employees donated $38,259 to charities through the state’s Combined Charitable Campaign. The annual initiative encourages state employees to donate to one or more of 1,100 charitable organizations through payroll deductions or a one-time gift. To raise funds, the department organized a cutest pet contest where employees submitted photos of their pets and then gave a donation to vote for their favorite pet.
Operation Feed
Our employees contributed more than $2,500 to the Mid-Ohio Food Collective with the 2022 Holiday Meals campaign and Operation Feed. The donations provided more than 7,000 meals to families in need over the holiday season. In addition, our DEI Council sold cookbooks featuring cultural recipes from our agency employees to benefit Operation Feed.
State Fire Marshal Toy Drive
We got creative this year and hosted a Masked Singer contest to raise funds for our annual toy drive fundraiser to benefit the burn unit at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Much like the popular television show, our SFM staff performed with masks covering their faces. To vote for their favorite singer, employees were encouraged to give a donation. In total, we raised $1,181 and collected nearly 200 toys for the effort.
Field Staff Lunch with Leaders
Since her appointment in 2019, our director has made it a point to visit with our more than 300 field employees. Over the summer of 2022, Director Maxfield, Assistant Director and Chief of Staff Charity Robl and Assistant Director Josh Hahn hosted Lunch with Leadership events in all five regions of the state. The events gave our employees an opportunity to interact with their colleagues and ask questions of leadership in a collegial environment.
Public Service Recognition Week
During Public Service Recognition Week, our leadership held special events in each division. Staff were recognized for their milestone years of service and some divisions provided snacks and games for staff to enjoy. Virtual care packages, including motivational and uplifting content, were also sent to employees via email.
Our Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Council continuously strives to achieve the mission of cultivating a more collaborative and inclusive environment through awareness and education.
The Council has diligently worked towards this mission by hosting DEI events/activities including:
- Tackling the Wealth Gap: At the intersection of Gender, Race and Ethnicity; Identifying and Responding to Human Trafficking in Ohio
- “The Six Triple Eight” documentary about the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-female, African American unit
- 30 days of educational “tidbits” on Hispanic Heritage/Culture in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month
- A new Ohio DEI Summer Roadmap
Through these efforts, almost 50% of our employees who took the Employee Opinion Survey, “agreed or strongly agreed” that the DEI Council is cultivating a more collaborative and inclusive environment.