Monday morning members of the Marshall County Council approved the Tax Abatement Compliance Form for Headsight Inc. The Bremen company was granted a tax abatement in October of 2012 when the family operated business decided to expand their operations with a new 18,000 sq. ft. building to house new research and development (R&D), Computer-aided Design (CAD), and prototype production equipment. Total investment was estimated to be over $3 million along with the creation of six new positions. Headsight was granted a 3 year real property abatement and a 5 year personal property abatement.
Jim Conklin, Director at Headsight and Brenda Hostetler, CPA presented the compliance forms to Council members and noted that they started production in the new facility in December of 2013 and the office spaces were occupied in March 2014. The company just hired the 6th employee last week so they are in compliance of the tax abatement application.
County Attorney Jim Clevenger presented the intergovernmental agreement between the City of Plymouth and Marshall County for the Metronet project. Highlights of the agreement provide high-speed fiber-optic services from South Bend through Marshall County and around Plymouth. The companies have been selected to install the conduit in the ground for both the city and county and as part of the agreement a joint board will be created to deal with issues that may arise. The make-up of the board will include one County Commissioner, Mayor Mark Senter, one City Council member, Steve Harper representing the County Council and someone who have interest in the Metronet that will be selected by the other four members. The council approved the agreement by a 5/1/1 vote with Judith Stone abstaining due to the infrastructure going along her husband’s business property and John Benedict voting no…because the scope of the project was decreased from the initial concept.
