December 2, 2014
Executive Director of the Marshall County Economic Development Center, Jerry Chavez updated the County Commissioners this week on economic development in the county.
Since taking the position about six months ago Chavez said, “There are a lot of changes with MCEDC. Some of those are very visible but a lot of them are not.” He noted a new website which allows site selectors to get a good picture of what Marshall County has to offer. Bringing new wealth into the county is their main goal.
Looking locally at economic development Chavez laid out various projects being undertaken by the city and towns in the county. He noted the new shovel ready site in Argos and they just adopted new tax abatement guidelines and are working on an incentive policy. Bourbon is working on acquiring new land for industrial use, plan to extend public utilities and are working on a downtown restoration project. In Bremen they are working on a comprehensive plan update and are looking for additional sites for industrial users. Culver has adopted a new comprehensive plan and is developing a five year plan for capital investment plan and work to develop affordable housing. LaPaz is working on strategies to reposition the downtown since the new US 31 has diverted so much traffic. They also want to work on a water system for the town. In Plymouth the new shell building is bringing interest to the industrial park and with the new Metronet being installed they hope to expand the Metronet to other local businesses. The City, county and Bourbon are working on a Brownfield identification grant. Marshall County has been working on workforce development regionally and are beginning to look at the design of the next phase of the new US 31 project.
Looking at a snapshot of 2014 Chavez said, “Existing businesses in the county have invested nearly $46 million dollars for capital investment this year.” He continued, “About 350 news jobs are planned to be created with that capital investment.” He also noted that the unemployment rate is currently at 4.8%, lower that the region average and state average.