Williams County Economic Development Co. (WEDCO) has several projects it is looking to push forward in the county.
WEDCO Executive Director Ashley Epling provided the board of directors an update Tuesday morning on local projects she has been working on for the county.
“There are a handful of projects going on in Williams County,” Epling said.
She supplied the board with project code names but no specific names of businesses were provided.
One project has a company wanting to move a metal stamping business from Goshen, Indiana, to Bryan, while another company is considering options for a 95,000 square foot expansion in either Montpelier or Kendalville, Indiana.
Pioneer is in line for a 20,000 square foot building for manufacturing, inventory and assembly. Another company has purchased the former Ferguson Tool location in Edgerton and will be moving its maintenance there and consolidate operations.
An existing Bryan company is working on a 5,000 square foot expansion, while another company is looking at building a new e-commerce facility in the Bryan North Industrial Park on 15 acres.
Bryan’s former Unique Chardin building on Union Street may also be leased to expand current services for a business.
Epling said there have been some leads from the state on potential new businesses to the county, but a common sticking point often is whether enough electricity can be provided.
“A lot of it is still that EV push with really large electrical demands and water usage, a lot of which we can’t support,” Epling said.
She added there was a recent possibility of a company moving in but they needed 10 megawatts of power just to start up.
“I’m not saying it’s not doable, but as far as when they look at site selectors, they are looking for reasons to eliminate us,” Epling said. “So if we don’t have that capacity, we already have a check on why they wouldn’t come here.”
However, she said she continues to work with the communities in the county on what they do have to offer and what providing certain infrastructure requirements might cost.
“So if we don’t have the infrastructure, we can at least have a plan in place that says, ‘Ok, we don’t have this, but we could have it and this is what the cost would look like and this is how long it would take,’” Epling said.
Bryan Mayor Carrie Schlade also invited other Williams County communities to encourage companies they may have to reach out to Epling and try to retain local employees that may soon be out of a job due to a closure in the city.
“One sad thing to note that I think is new since the last board meeting is North American Stamping Group has sent their warning letter out, they will be closing Sept. 1,” Schlade said.
“So if you guys have tool and die makers and welders in your community and that is a group you need in some factories in your community, I would reach out to Ashley,” the mayor added. “It’s always been a goal, at least since I have been mayor of Bryan, that if a factory closes down we try to retain that local talent in Williams County, rather than losing it to Indiana or Michigan.”
Board chair Mari Ivan also reported the L.E. Smith Co. was recently sold to a Perrysburg company, but will remain in Bryan.
In other business, the board:
Learned six new members have been added for the year to date.
Was informed goals set for WEDCO are on track, including increasing awareness of economic opportunities in the county and revenue growth.
Discussed changes to insurance coverage to increase the amount for office contents and to add computer fraud.
Discussed edits to the board’s bylaws. Montpelier Village Administrator Jason Rockey, who is a board member and serves on the bylaw committee, suggested one more committee meeting before presenting final proposals to the board.
Agreed to form a committee to create a board manual that would assist new members as they come onto the board.
Set the next meeting for Sept. 24 at 8 a.m. in the WEDCO conference room.
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