{"id":202907,"date":"2026-02-20T22:35:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T03:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=202907"},"modified":"2026-02-20T22:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T03:35:10","slug":"klopfenstein-named-legislator-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/02\/20\/klopfenstein-named-legislator-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Klopfenstein named Legislator of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>COLUMBUS &#8212; State Representative Roy Klopfenstein (R-Haviland) was recently named 2025 Legislator of the Year by the County Engineers Association of Ohio (CEAO). The award recognizes his dedicated leadership and significant legislative achievements on behalf of Ohio\u2019s county engineers and local infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a press release, CEAO highlighted Rep. Klopfenstein\u2019s leadership on several key legislative initiatives in partnership with Ohio\u2019s county engineers. Most notably, he was the&nbsp;primary sponsor of the bill to increase County FORCE Account limits, giving local governments greater flexibility to manage road and bridge projects efficiently and cost-effectively. The measure represented a major modernization of an important tool supporting local infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"350\" height=\"339\" src=\"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Rep.-Klopfenstein-CEAO-Award.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-202908\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">State Representative Roy Klopfenstein was named 2025 Legislator of the Year by the CEAO. <em>Photo submitted<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>In addition to championing the FORCE Account increase, Rep. Klopfenstein played a central role in&nbsp;protecting the Professional Surveyor (P.S.) qualification, a vital safeguard ensuring that Ohio\u2019s surveying and mapping standards remain precise and professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCounty engineers do essential work that keeps Ohio moving,\u201d Rep. Klopfenstein said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a privilege to work alongside them to ensure they have the tools, resources, and flexibility needed to serve our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRepresentative Klopfenstein has been a tireless advocate for our counties,\u201d said&nbsp;Doug Cade, P.E., P.S., President of the County Engineers Association of Ohio. \u201cHis understanding of what local governments need to maintain safe and reliable infrastructure has made a real difference in communities across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The County Engineers Association of Ohio represents Ohio\u2019s 88 county engineers and works to advance sound, efficient transportation and infrastructure policies statewide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Klopfenstein represents Ohio\u2019s 82 House District, which includes all of Van Wert, Putnam and Paulding counties, along with the southern half of Defiance County.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Submitted information COLUMBUS &#8212; State Representative Roy Klopfenstein (R-Haviland) was recently named 2025 Legislator of the Year by the County Engineers Association of Ohio (CEAO). The award recognizes his dedicated leadership and significant legislative achievements on behalf of Ohio\u2019s county engineers and local infrastructure. In a press release, CEAO highlighted Rep. Klopfenstein\u2019s leadership on several [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-202907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 00:28:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202907"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202909,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202907\/revisions\/202909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}