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The coalition is made up of Wabash, North Manchester and Wabash County, and the grant, which was formally announced by EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson on Monday, will be used to assess sites in the two communities and the county.

Vanlandingham said this is another example of the three local government agencies working together.

“I doubt that we would have been awarded this grant had we sought it on our own,” he said. “By working together instead of competing with one another, everyone in Wabash County wins.”

Vanlandingham represents the city during the application process. North Manchester Town Manager Dan Hannaford represented that community, while then-Wabash County Commissioners President Barry Eppley represented the county.

Bill Konyha, President and CEO of the Economic Development Group of Wabash County, also was involved in the application process.

The secret to the success, Konyha told the Plain Dealer on Wednesday, is “an acceptance of the fact that we’re all in this together.”

He said the grant is just another way of “thinking globally, planning regionally and acting locally for the betterment of Wabash County.”

EDG brought a consultant, Mike Meddock, vice president of Soils and Materials Engineers Inc., in to talk about obtaining funding for brownfield assessment, he said.

Konya said he broached the idea with the mayor, who wanted to take it farther and involve North Manchester and Wabash County.

“The mayor actually facilitated meetings with the president of the Board of Commissioners, who was Barry Eppley at the time, and Dan Hannaford from North Manchester,” Konyha said. “We brought the consultant in and the four of us sat down and talked through this whole process, and we agreed to for the Wabash Assessment Coalition.”

Konyha, like Vanlandingham, is convinced it wouldn’t have happened without the cooperation of the three entities.

“The past practice of competing with other entities within Wabash County are over,” he said. “If something positive happens anywhere in Wabash County it is positive for everyone in Wabash County. Wabash people work in North Manchester; north Manchester businesses sell goods and services in Wabash.

“The economy binds us, it does not separate us.”

Meddock also credits the mayor for including the other entities.

“Mayor Vanlandingham suggested that a combined application would be much strong, more likely to be awarded if the three entities partnered on this has they had on several projects in the recent past,” he said.

The money will be used to assess possible brownfield sites around the county.

“This will be a chance to truly understand what the issues are and develop a plan to deal with them,” Konyha said.

To see the story on the Indiana Economic Digest website follow the link below:

Brownfied Story on Indiana Economic Digest

In 2010, the Honeywell Foundation completed a renovation of the beloved Eagles Theatre;
downtown organization Wabash Marketplace leveraged $300,000 or so in facade grants into improvements valued at several multiples of that; and the county logged five major projects with capital investments that totaled almost $70.5 million and promised to create 472 jobs.

More than half the investment, and 63.6 percent of the jobs, is coming from the $37-million
expansion of energy drink manufacturer Living Essentials, according to the Economic
Development Group of Wabash County.

The Cinergy MetroNet installation of fiber-optic service accounted for $15 million in investment;the completion of the Charley Creek Inn renovation early in the year was estimated at about $12.4 million; Novae Corp.’s establishment of trailer manufacturing operations in North Manchester accounted for $6 million; and an expansion by Reynolds Oil brought an $80,000 investment.

The EDG is currently working on 11 other economic development leads, and has informal
commitments on three of those, said Bill Konyha, the organization’s chief executive officer.

One thing economic development organizations and governmental units in Wabash County
have learned is to cooperate rather than compete with each other, said Kimberly Pinkerton, president and CEO of the Wabash County Chamber of Commerce.

“I think that our efforts really started about four years ago to work together,” she said.

The cooperation that created a tax increment financing district to assist with the Cinergy
MetroNet fiber-to-the premises installation is one example. The Cinergy MetroNet economicdevelopment area includes: the entire city of Wabash; the new Wabash
East Business Park at State Route 13 and U.S. 24; the public right of way along S.R. 15
between Wabash and S.R. 114, then east on S.R. 114 to North Manchester; and the entire town of North Manchester.

“That will be instrumental in allowing us to provide a strong tax base and attract good jobs,” Pinkerton said.

Wabash Marketplace administered the facade grant program, which matched individual
investments with up to $10,000 in federal funds. About 30 recipients were awarded grants in two phases in 2010, and the downtown organization also provided loans, through another fund, to help some of those businesses put up their share of the investment.

“Because of the energy that this created, we were able to leverage millions of dollars in
investment,” said Parker Beauchamp, president of Wabash Marketplace. “And because it’s only the front of the buildings, it makes a huge impact visually.” Pinkerton said she’s seeing more interest from retailers about the possibility of locating somewhere in or around the city.

“People are liking what they’re seeing, and it goes back to seeing what’s going on at the core and the great future we have working together,” she said.

One effort in which Beauchamp and other downtown proponents did not succeed, however,
was to persuade the board of Wabash County Hospital to build a planned new facility on 19
acres at and around Bulldog Battery.

Although the board has yet to announce its selection of a site, Beauchamp was told in
November by hospital President and CEO Marilyn Custer-Mitchell that the downtown site was out of the running.

The other two properties said to be under consideration are on the southeast corner of U.S. 24and Alber Street, and diagonally opposite, on the northwest corner behind Walmart.

“It’s not really a disappointment, although it would have been a great addition to the
downtown,” Pinkerton said. “It would have been a nice enhancement, but it’s going to be a
win-win no matter where it is.”

One big enhancement for the downtown was the reopening in November of the Eagles
Theatre, which had been closed for a few months for rehab and restoration.

“It’s amazing the goodwill that created in the community,” Beauchamp said. “It’s been great to see all the lights on in the marquee and the little kids lined up out the door and down the street for free movies.”

As President of the Senate, I don’t leave the Statehouse often while the legislature is in session, but I was glad to be in Wabash County recently for the seventh time. This time I had the pleasure to give the keynote address at Wabash Economic Development Group’s luncheon.

I had many things to report with legislative session underway. We’re focused on improving education, putting taxpayers first and strengthening our assets. As legislators draft the next biennial state budget, Governor Mitch and I are also committed to do everything in our power to maintain our solid economic foundation.  We reduced state agency budgets by as much as 25 percent in an already lean state government, and we will continue to implement cost saving measures.

There are some positive signs with sales tax and individual income tax collections up compared to this time last year. Although we are more than $1 billion short of projected revenues for this current budget, we’ve already made a commitment to live within our means and not raise taxes.

This legislative session, we are proposing an automatic taxpayer refund that would allow revenue to be returned to the taxpayer if the surplus accumulates to an amount beyond a health reserve. We want Hoosiers to pump that money back into the economy, rather than let government use it.

Another positive sign is that job growth in Indiana was twice the rate of national job growth last year, making 2010 our strongest year yet for new job commitments since we came into office. We continue to work with companies that are seeking to locate or expand in Wabash County.  The Novae Corporation, a company with roots that cross county lines, has worked with the state’s Economic Development Corporation to invest more than $2 million and a commitment of 85 new jobs.

In this economic climate, we cannot afford to ignore any opportunity that would put more Hoosiers back to work and breathe new life into our communities. A new state initiative involving several state agencies is doing exactly that. Stellar Communities just accepted two pilot communities into the program, and we plan to expand it to other cities and towns.

Stellar Communities supports comprehensive community development by providing funding for long-term projects. Find out more about Stellar Communities, by visiting http://in.gov/ocra/2513.htm .

All of us are working toward the same goal, and that’s a complete economic rejuvenation for Indiana.

Lt. Governor Skillman oversees the Indiana Department of Agriculture, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, the Office of Energy Development, the Office of Community and Rural Affairs, and the Office of Tourism Development. For more, visit her on the web at www.lg.in.gov .

The Community Research Institute has continued to track business events in the 10-county Northeast Indiana region, including companies new to the region, expansions, layoffs, closings, downsizings and call-backs. With the release of the third annual Business Dynamics Report, the dominant observation is that the numbers of closings, downsizings and layoffs are now a fraction of what they were in 2009.  Companies locating in the region increased from 17 in 2009 to 24 in 2010. The numbers of employees associated with new and expanding companies rose slightly over the course of the year.

The full 2010 report can be found on the Partnership’s website .

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About the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership:  Created in 2006, the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership’s mission is to market the 10-county region and team with local economic development organizations (LEDOs) to bring new jobs and commercial investment to the area. The RP’s global marketing efforts are on behalf of LEDOs in Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wabash, Wells and Whitley counties .

About the Northeast Indiana Fund: The Northeast Indiana Fund’s mission is to support the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership and its ten member counties through the funding and coordination of charitable activities which directly contribute to increasing the region’s capacity to support new business investment and the creation of high quality jobs for the region.

About the Community Research Institute:  The Community Research Institute is one of IPFW’s commitments at the Fort Wayne campus to the growth and development of northeast Indiana. The Institute serves as one of the portals linking the academic expertise at IPFW with the needs of the public and non-profit sectors in northeast Indiana by providing research and analytical support in the areas of socio-economic data, urban planning, municipal finance, public policy and economic development.

Contact:

Dale Buuck, Vice President, Business Development

Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership

260.469.3476

dale@NEIRP.com