By Matt Sanctis, Staff Writer Springfield News-Sun
Downtown Urbana has seen a spike in activity this fall, with three businesses moving into the city’s historic Monument Square District, along with other improvements designed to bring more residents into the heart of the town. Over the next several weeks, Big Willie’s Smokehouse will open a new barbecue restaurant at 23 Monument Square and Mark Joseph Floral Design Studio will open at 15 Monument Square. The law firm of Thompson, Dunlap and Heydinger also plans to open a downtown office in Monument Square by the end of this year, said Chris Moell, an attorney at the firm based in Bellefontaine. Improvements have also been made at Legacy Park, including fresh paint and a kiosk that highlights available businesses downtown, said Marcia Bailey, economic development coordinator for the Champaign Economic Partnership. The new businesses are a sign that interest and investment downtown has improved in recent years, she said. “We’re fortunate that if somebody does close, it doesn’t take too much time before someone else opens up, which gives us a variety of stores downtown,” Bailey said. >>RELATED: Agency focuses on economic development in Champaign Local leaders hope to see progress on other projects downtown, including finding a use for the former Douglas Hotel, Bailey said. That project hasn’t moved forward for years, but she said local officials have placed a renewed emphasis on that and other projects to promote further investment downtown. Bill Curtis of Big Willie’s Smokehouse said he had a five-year business plan to open a restaurant when he opened a barbecue food truck earlier this year. But the business took off so quickly he joked it ended up being closer to a five-month business plan. “We opened in March and we were overwhelmed,” Curtis said. “If I smoked 50 pounds of brisket, I could have sold 75. If I’d smoked 75 I could have sold 100, which is a great problem to have.” The restaurant, which is expected to open in October, will be decorated with large photos of downtown Urbana’s history. It will focus on serving items like brisket, pulled pork and smoked chicken wings. The store will likely hire six or seven employees. “We definitely want to see these buildings filled,” Curtis said of downtown. “We’re excited about the growth and the changes we’re seeing in our town.” >>DETAILS: Urbana’s Legacy Park nears completion Just across the street, Mark Mefford will open the floral design studio at 15 Monument Square. And the law firm will open its office in the square by the end of the year. It will be the firm’s fourth, along with offices in Bellefontaine, West Liberty and Lakeview. This year is the firm’s 50th anniversary. Mefford has been working in downtown Urbana since he was 19 and owns Bill’s Enchanted Flowers and Gifts. But he recently purchased H Holding Co. and will open the design studio in the square in a larger location. The new store will be open in mid-October, and will offer a variety of home decorations, gifts and the flower shop in a single location. The store employs about eight workers. Mefford’s brother is also building a custom-made cooler to show off the business’ floral products, he said. The former flower shop at 221 N. Main St. will close once they move into the new location. “It’s only doing better and better,” Mefford said of downtown. “I’ve watched it change over 21 years with ups and down. I think right now its only getting stronger. It’s becoming a destination town, which is really nice.” Unmatched coverage The Springfield News-Sun provide extensive coverage of jobs and the economy in Clark and Champaign Counties, including tracking local unemployment rates and expansions at Navistar. by Nick Walton, Urbana Daily Citizen - [email protected]
Robert Rothschild Farm CEO Andy Deister gave Champaign County commissioners an update on the company’s progress Thursday morning. During the conversation, Deister outlined the company’s progress over the last couple of years, steps they have taken to stay competitive and the company’s future locally. Deister said over the last few years there had not been investment in the business and the company had strayed away from its roots. Over the last year and a half, Deister said the company has been focused on doing the necessary thing to meet different challenges. One of the challenges Deister referenced was competition from other companies. He said other companies have probably done a better job of marketing their businesses than Rothschild. Deister said the company has focused on getting the sizing, pricing and product label right, innovation and doubling down on manufacturing. As a result of efforts to improve marketing, Deister showed off a redesigned container the company launched in June aimed at modernizing the package in a move he said has been met with positive feedback. Moving to the next phase, Deister said the company recently had administrative restructuring to get their administrative overhead in line with their sales. “What that allows us to do is really focus our efforts now on our manufacturing and doubling down here in Urbana so no production or manufacturing or distribution jobs were affected by that,” Deister said. “We’re excited to be in partnership with the community here and we’re looking to increase our presence and our emphasis here in Urbana.” As the company looks to ramp up production and hiring in manufacturing, commissioner Steve Hess asked if the company has enough capacity on production. Deister said right now the company does and production is an area they have made progress in. Along with Deister, Marcia Bailey, economic development director of the Champaign Economic Partnership, and Urbana Director of Administration Kerry Brugger, were in attendance during the conversation. Previously, officials from the county and city of Urbana approved a sewer line extension for the company. Nick Walton can be reached at 937-652-1331 Ext. 1777 or on Twitter @UDCWalton. Urbana native and third generation business owner Kyle Hall has been appointed to the Clark State Community College Board of Trustees by Governor John Kasich.
Hall serves as president of the Hall Company where he oversees all facets of day-to-day operations, company strategies, developing and executing short- and long-term plans, finances, key customer relationships and hiring decisions. “Kyle Hall brings excellent industry and management expertise that will serve our students, and his skill set truly complements our Board. We are pleased to have board representation from Champaign County,” said Clark State President Dr. Jo Alice Blondin. Hall said he is excited to be part of the Clark State Board of Trustees and looks forward to giving back to the community. “I think if you are in a position where you are able to run a company and be a leader in a community, you need to give something back,” he said. “I like to focus on things that I think I can benefit.” The Hall Company is a global, technology-based firm that provides switches, controls and overlays for a variety of industries including medical devices. “I’m excited by the steps Clark State has taken to partner with manufacturers and offer a wide curriculum of skills to help improve manufacturing,” said Hall. Hall currently also serves as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hall Company and is a member of the Champaign County Manufacturing Council. He previously served on the board for the Dayton Development Coalition, Urbana Lions Club and the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce. He holds a bachelor of science in marketing from Wright State University. “I believe firmly that it’s important for people to better themselves through education,” said Hall. “There is a need in the workforce for additional skills and education that Clark State is very well suited to help with, and I’m excited to be a part of that.” by Kirk Koennecke, Superintendent Graham Local Schools Lost in news about workforce availability, recessionary economics & restrained government funding is an essential truth that can transform urban and rural America, one student at a time. We have all wanted to be treated like “adults” and we have all gone through Rights of passage in our lives. Who decided 18 was the magic number for the workforce? Does anyone know anymore? The legal “age of majority” has been set into laws and adjusted since the 1870’s, and has been considered 18 now for well over 45 years. If it could be lowered before, why not now? Don’t historical demands on our economy and socio-political trends that affect the U.S. matter now as much as they have in other eras? The Ohio Department of education has actually added a new portion to the state report card to judge graduates “preparedness” to enter the workforce, college, or the military. Can’t our government provide more flexibility for schools as another unfunded mandate is thrust upon us? By allowing half of the eligible teenagers under 18 to earn even $8 hourly, working part-time, this country could have been injecting another 1.6 Billion consumer dollars into our local economies and driving more production and more profits for businesses in high-demand industries over the past decade. In many states there are no hourly restrictions on the number of hours 16 & 17 year olds may work, yet these same states have antiquated occupational barriers in place keeping 17 year olds from doing exactly the work America demands of them in schools, and that our country needs right now in industries such as carpentry, machine trades, manufacturing, roofing, and operating power equipment. Forget about hi-tech for a moment, how about necessary labor? We should trust a teenager to drive a car and make money at the same time, hammer a nail, and weld and form metal after they have taken hours of certification courses in school, before they graduate. There are over 20 Million teenagers working in America now. In the past year the youth labor force grew another 600,000. There are another 275,000 16-17 year olds unemployed in this country, and for the majority of them, this is not by choice, it’s because they can only find seasonal jobs in retail, hospitality, or educational temp jobs. As the national drop-out rate has gone down for over a decade, the number of eligible “qualified workers” has not increased. Abby Urquhart is a 17 year old junior at Graham High School in Saint Pairs Ohio. She walked into the city government building and asked to volunteer. She now works 3 days a week for various hours, saving Saint Paris countless thousands of dollars in man hours and salary for the benefit of the citizens of that town. Why did she have to ask? Why aren’t we doing more for Abby? At the Graham local schools our mission is to provide adaptive and flexible learning opportunities for students like Abby, and to work with community partners like local government agencies, businesses, and other organizations to find new job ready certifications, internship and apprentice roles, and jobs for Graham’s high school students. As a school administrator I am asked constantly by community members and educators alike to build partnerships and connect members to our 17 year olds, and to promote career education in our state. Harnessing their ideas and work ethic, along with recruiting their personal talents, should be the goal of every business man and woman in America. Let’s harness tomorrow’s workforce today, and realize the power of 17. by Kermit Rowe, Contributing Writer Springfield News-Sun Graham Local Schools will start “a new era” when classes resume Wednesday with a new superintendent and a new strategic plan for the district’s next five years. Kirk Koennecke’s first official day as superintendent was Aug. 1. A principal at Marion Harding High School last school year, he has also been a principal of the Springfield High School’s arts and communication academy. He replaced interim superintendent Matt Curtis. “I am so excited to be here, and about the plan and the work our community and staff has done,” said Koennecke, 43, a Cleveland area native. “We want to see Graham capitalize on this momentum that we feel we have here.” Koennecke already has his marching orders as the school board approved the five-year plan, which cost the district $4,000, at its July 25 meeting. In fact, he said he had a major hand in drawing up the plan during a four-month transition period into his new job. Administrators, staff and community partners and board members also had input. The district worked in collaboration with the Ohio School Boards Association on the plan, known as “Graham 2020.” “It gives us all kind of a road map to where we are heading, and for me it’s something that will allow me to direct my energy into the work that really matters,” Koennecke said. “I feel that every district has to have a vision, a plan. Our board and our community have signaled that we are moving into a new era.” The plan identified several district goals, its core values and its overall mission. Each goal include actions to be taken, which staff will work on the actions and a deadline to reach each of the objectives. “The No. 1 goal is making sure that our students have an adaptive learning environment,” said Koennecke. “We are going to personalize learning for all students. … It’s about making instruction more relevant for each individual student.” The continued employment of a school resource officer is among the staffing suggestions. One has already been hired for this school year, the first time any Champaign County school has had one, according to Koennecke. “This is an attempt to make sure that safety is a priority,” he said. Among other new staffing possibilities are using a grant writer, and hiring a social worker/education support worker and social media/technology coach. The district will consider a pre-school schedule change, looking at starting a mentoring program and possibly reducing homework and the cost of the latch-key program. It plans to implement an elementary art program for kindergarten to fifth grade, identify new K-8 math programming strategies and launch a new district website with a parent portal. “The extra-curricular and opportunities like art, music and athletics are all important in developing a holistic approach of educating our children,” Koennecke said. One of the key financial objectives is to investigate putting a levy on the ballot, possibly by 2017, and get a levy campaign going soon. “At some point, our board wants to lay the groundwork for a future campaign,” said Koennecke. “There’s not a set time or date, but we want to make sure we are in a position to provide quality services. Everybody can rally behind shared goals, but you have to create that environment.” The plan set other financial objectives that include examining all current expenditures and vendor contracts for possible savings, investigating comparable competitive benefits models, increasing staff development opportunities and support, and better communicating spending priorities. “Some of the goals are broad and require being smart with our dollars,” said Koennecke. “It’s also about reaching out and deepening our partnerships with our community and area organizations. That’s a new kind of vibe that hadn’t been around for a few years.” The Champaign Economic Partnership produces a quarterly newsletter, informing Champaign County of recent and upcoming developments in business and community news. Past and current newsletters can be found here. There is also an option to Subscribe to future newsletters on that page. The Summer of 2016 newsletter can also be read or downloaded below. Have something you'd like to see in a future newsletter? Contact Us! Get your Champaign Economic Partnership news and information faster than ever before by liking and following CEP on Facebook and Twitter! Business development, tax incentives, newsletter notifications and more right in your own feeds! Stay up-to-date with all things Champaign County on two great social media channels.
By Joshua Keeran
[email protected] Over a century has passed since city-owned land at 1263 Muzzy Road in Urbana was developed to house the city’s first wastewater treatment facility in 1915. On Wednesday, city officials gathered at the site for a mayoral ceremony officially unveiling the new and improved City of Urbana Water Reclamation Facility (WRF). In September 2013, Dugan & Meyers Construction, Columbus, broke ground on the Wastewater Facility Improvements Project – a $20 million overhaul of the former Water Pollution Control Facility. The project entailed renovations to the existing wastewater treatment plant and the construction of a new plant next to the old one. The new WRF now consists of what Wastewater Superintendent Chad Hall called a “north and south train.” “Basically, the facility has two plants operating that parallel each other,” Hall told the Daily Citizen during construction last year. “At the end of the facility, all the water comes together for one final treatment before going to the Mad River.” Hall added the project was an important one for two reasons – the age of the infrastructure and the need to increase capacity at the facility. When WEIDMANN Electrical Technology Inc. came to Urbana and began operating out of the old paper mill in 2012, Hall said, the city’s wastewater treatment plant reached 85 percent capacity, which meant the city needed to look at expanding the facility’s capacity. Through the expansion and upgrades to the old facility, the new WRF, designed to handle 4.5 million gallons of wastewater, is expected to operate at or around 57 percent capacity and could handle two more companies equivalent to WEIDMANN if needed, Hall said prior to the facility going online. Along with helping to increase capacity, the project involved the installation of a tertiary filter and UV (ultraviolet) disinfection system, both of which allow the city to discharge a higher quality of water into the Mad River, Hall said. The project also resulted in the WRF being outfitted with the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) operating system, meaning it’s now a computer-controlled facility featuring remote access. Project costs City Community Development Manager Doug Crabill said the original estimate of the upgrade/expansion of the wastewater treatment facility was slightly below $20.7 million, and the actual cost of the project is not yet known as the final piece of equipment was just recently delivered and installed. Currently, the city is in the process of working with Dugan & Meyers Construction to finalize the invoice. “When the project is officially closed out, we should be slightly below the total estimated project cost of $20,697,045.57,” Crabill said. Funding for the project was secured through a 20-year loan from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Pollution Control Loan Fund. The loan, Crabill said, includes a 2.57 percent interest rate, which when applied to the estimated total project cost, amounts to $5,902,650.43 in borrowing costs, bringing the total estimated cost of the project with interest to $26,599,696. To offset the cost of the project, Urbana City Council voted in July 2013 to raise the sewer rate (debt service/capital improvement portion only) by 15 percent on Jan. 1, 2014; 7.5 percent on Jan. 1, 2015; and 8 percent on Jan. 1, 2016. The first loan payment was made in January with another payment scheduled later this year as the city’s payback involves two payments – estimated at $664,992.40 each – per year for the next 20 years, Crabill said. The Champaign Economic Partnership and Champaign County Chamber of Commerce recently helped two businesses celebrate their new downtown Urbana locations with ribbon cuttings. And the CEP began a new tradition—presenting “open” banners to new businesses.
Roxy and Ashley are happy with the help they received from the CEP and plan to refer others.
If you need assistance locating space for your new or growing business, or other resources, please contact Marcia Bailey at (937) 653-7200, stop in the office at 3 Monument Square Urbana or send an email to [email protected] First Posted on UrbanaCitizen.com: 9:59 pm - May 20th, 2016 By Joshua Keeran - [email protected] Hughey & Phillips, an Urbana-based company specializing in obstruction lighting, announced Tuesday it’s rolling out a new product line on June 1 known as the DC HORIZON LED Series. According to a company press release, the new line features medium-intensity strobe LED-based obstruction lighting systems for the daytime and nighttime lighting of tall structures such as communication towers, wind turbines and smokestacks that pose issues for aerial navigation. “Our customers have come to rely on Hughey & Phillips to provide the next generation of cutting-edge LED obstruction lighting solutions,” said Jim Sullivan, vice president of sales for Hughey & Phillips. “The new H&P DC HORIZON LED Series fills the need for both daytime and nighttime strobe lighting technology and outperforms legacy incandescent fixtures by substantial margins.” The new line, which has been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, features a white strobe LED system for daytime use as well as a red-flashing LED beacon for nighttime use. The company, located at 240 W. Twain Ave., is marketing the new DC HORIZON line as the “most innovative products available in the market” in that the lighting system is safe, energy efficient and a green energy alternative to alternating current (AC)-powered LED beacons. “The new DC HORIZON can be powered in a number of ways including DC (direct current) battery or solar panel to create green lighting systems for use in all obstruction applications,” the release states. “They also provide an increased level of safety on the structures they light by being DC powered, which virtually eliminates the possibility of electrocution or electric shock while installing or servicing the light.” Local impact Champaign Economic Partnership (CEP) Economic Development Director Marcia Bailey called the new DC HORIZON LED Series being manufactured in Urbana a “win-win” for everyone involved. “Obviously, when any company gets a new product line, that is seen as a huge retention piece for our county in terms of helping to retain local jobs even if no new jobs are created,” she said. Sullivan added the new product line won’t result in new jobs initially, but as volume increases over the next year or two, the company could add a few positions. Along with manufacturing the new LED series, Hughey & Phillips’s in-house engineering department designed the product, which took 18 months to develop. Having engineers experience this type of success within the county, Bailey said, is important to attracting both skilled individuals and potential employers to the county. “When we are looking at our future workforce, it’s always tough to get engineers to work in smaller communities like ours, so the fact that their engineering department designed this product line is a big deal for local groups to know that this type of work is being done in the county,” Bailey said. |
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