VW City Council hears ED, CVB reports

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert City Council heard annual reports from two local agencies and also approved a Community Reinvestment Area request during its regular meeting Monday evening.

Van Wert Area Convention & Visitors Bureau Executive Director Larry Lee first reported on activities of that organization, noting that local tourism has increased over the past 12 months, something confirmed in part by Mayor Don Farmer, who noted that hotel-motel tax revenues are up more than $6,000 over last year ($103,300 in June 2015, versus $97,000 at this time last year).

Lee said the Van Wert Rib Fest held this past weekend was another financial success, although he said he didn’t have all the figures in yet on the event. He also talked about the increasing number of bus tours going through Van Wert and the updating of the CVB website to provide more information to those looking at Van Wert as a place to visit.

Lee said the latest CVB brochure was “probably the most complete visitors guide to Van Wert that there has ever been”, noting that the company stocking information centers has requested 30,000 of the brochures, more than twice what has been printed at this time.

“We’re going to send them what we can, but if they believe it’s going to take 30,000 to finish out the year, you know that people are taking these off the shelf,” Lee said, adding that he would also like to create a tour magazine/publication to take advantage of bus tours and other tourism opportunities. Lee noted, though, he could be looking at requesting more money from City Council to accomplish that.

Van Wert City Economic Development Director Cindy Leis, who is also an Ohio State University Extension educator, provided economic development highlights from the past 12 months, noting that the certification of the 1,600-acre megasite provides an important economic development tool to the city, as does the addition of 60 acres to the Vision Park Industrial Park off Grill Road and the availability of land at the Van Wert Industrial Park site on the south edge of Van Wert.

Leis said the county added a net total of 60 new jobs since June 2014, while noting that unemployment in the county was also down from 6.9 percent in June 2013 to 4.3 percent this past June.

A Business Retention & Expansion (BR&E) survey with the top 25 manufacturing companies and five largest service companies/organizations was mostly positive, Leis said, while also noting the importance of maintaining a good relationship with the county’s top employers.

“We grow that relationship so that, when they do have both positive things happening to them, as well as if there are negative impacts their businesses are having, we want them to share that with our office,” Leis told City Council.

She also talked about the city Revolving Loan Fund, which has a balance of nearly $300,000, while four loans totaling $217,500 have closed in 2015. There are currently 18 open loans through the program, and Leis said all of them are current at this time.

The city development director also touted the Starting Right entrepreneurship program that provides information and assistance to those thinking of starting their own business. The class was taught in several area villages, as well as in Van Wert, and a class was also taught to 78 Van Wert High School seniors as well.

Leis also noted that longtime business consultant Gary Corcoran, who has taught the Starting Right classes, as well as provide start-up business information through Wright State University-Lake Campus’ Business Development Center, has now retired. Former Celina banker Tom Saddler has replaced him in that position.

She also said a Reverse Job Fair held at Vantage Career Center that featured 28 job seekers and 44 prospective employers was a success, with approximately half of the job seekers finding jobs through the event.

Also on Monday, City Council approved a Community Reinvestment Area agreement with Jim Collins, doing business as The Edition LLC (see photo and caption on this page). Collins plans to renovate the former Wilkinson Printing building and locate a watering spot in the building.

Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming reported that Phase I of the West Main Street reconstruction project is nearly completed, with Phase II possibly starting as early as Monday.