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NEWS
RELEASES
Williams
County, Ohio & U.S.EDA
Collaborate to Develop Economic Strategy
Dream
nearly reality
By MARCI
HUMMEL
Times Business Editor
Published:
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 10:43 AM EDT
With funding
dollars falling into place, Ruralogic Inc. is closer to opening its
doors.
Ruralogic CEO Joseph Burmester is happy about the way things are going,
he said in a phone conversation Tuesday.
“The thing that’s really important to us, and gratifying in how
things are going, is that we’re looking at this as truly a regional
effort,” he said. “And so having the three communities and three
counties working closely together, that’s critical for us.”
The regional effort Burmester referred to is tentative funding —
nothing has been signed yet — from the revolving loan funds or similar
sources in Bryan, Archbold, Napoleon, and Williams and Henry counties.
All are loans
except the funding from Williams and Henry counties, which will be
grants.
Ruralogic could receive $350,000 from Bryan, $150,000 from Williams
County, $400,000 from Archbold and $100,000 from Napoleon and Henry
County.
The company also was awarded a 60 percent job creation tax credit for
$707,700 from the Ohio Department of Development.
Burmester said he is confident local financial incentive documents will
be signed within the next couple of weeks.
“But we can now officially be in business here so we can tell people
we are headquartered in Bryan, Ohio, which is exciting,” he
said.
The CEO said the company also can begin putting together its own
internal systems and infrastructure.
“We have to be able to communicate with our clients,” he continued,
“so we’re now talking with prospective clients to get some initial
contracts in place. We’re still a start-up.”
It’s not a new process for Burmester. He has 38 years of experience in
information technology and has been involved in the creation of several
companies including Attevo, a global information technology consulting
firm headquartered in Cleveland.
“This one is particularly interesting because ... we want to do well
but we’re also doing good, and that’s a cool combination,” he
said, referring to the area’s high unemployment rate.
Burmester also said the 121 positions cited by the Ohio Department of
Development in its tax incentive for Ruralogic is a starting point.
“We are hoping before we get to the five-year point that there’s a
total of 500 jobs amongst the four-county area,” he said, in a
reference to a possible future location in Defiance. “That’s a
number that we’ve pulled back because anything beyond that sounds even
further unbelievable. But we really think there’s potential beyond
that.”
Burmester said the only limiting factor will be the number of people
with aptitude and interest.
“If you’ve never had technology training before, that does not mean
that you can’t do the kind of work that we’re going to have,”
Burmester said. “We’re not looking at people who are building
applications for Google. ... This isn’t necessarily all going to be
really senior development kind of stuff.”
He also confirmed the company will not necessarily be looking for
individuals with degrees in computer science. “In fact, we’re going
to end up hiring people who have no degrees at all,” he said.
Burmester said the company is working with area Workforce Investment
centers and one-stops to compile the criteria for employment. Reasonable
math skills could be helpful, “but a lot of what we do is
communicating with people,” he said. “What we’ve found is
that communication skills in general are important to be successful in
technology.”
Burmester said jobs could entail manipulating data in terms of reports,
testing other companies’ software and “cleaning data,” a
form of editing to remove extraneous or redundant information to
standardize the data.
Burmester’s previous experience with starting new companies has not
dimmed his enthusiasm.
“All you have to do is talk to somebody local and see the enthusiasm
that they’re reflecting on what you’re doing, and it gets you going
again. It’s very, very exciting,” he said.
GROUND
BROKEN FOR SERVICE PLAZA WEST
UNITY - Described by Gov. Ted Strickland as often humble and unheralded,
the Ohio Turnpike service plazas in Williams County drew the state's
attention Tuesday when ground was broken for the new Indian Meadow and
Tiffin River plazas near West Unity.
Ohio Turnpike Commission Chairman Joseph Balog, Executive Director L.
George Distel, Commission member and Pioneer Mayor Ed Kidston,
contractors, the Williams County Commissioners, West Unity Mayor Peggy
Bernath and others attended the ceremony.
Below is the article that was printed 5/10/10 in the Bryan Times:
WEST UNITY -
Described by Gov. Ted Strickland as often humble and unheralded, the Ohio
Turnpike service plazas in Williams County drew the state's attention
Tuesday when ground was broken for the new Indian Meadow and Tiffin River
plazas near West Unity.
Ohio Turnpike Commission Chairman Joseph Balog, Executive Director L.
George Distel, Commission member and Pioneer Mayor Ed Kidston,
contractors, the Williams County Commissioners, West Unity Mayor Peggy
Bernath and others attended the ceremony.
The Indian Meadow and Tiffin River plazas originally opened in October
1955 and were closed for demolition in January 2006.
The new plazas are expected to open in May 2011.
Each new plaza
will feature a central building of 47,176 square feet compared to the
original facilities of 19,040 square feet, and will offer seating for 232
people per plaza compared to 170 in the past.
Each building will house up to three "food concepts" plus a
coffee service and a 24-hour convenience store. Other amenities will
include a truckers' lounge with showers and laundry services, ATMs,
vending machines, large restrooms, arcade-style games, information centers
with real-time road and weather conditions and nearby lodging information.
The plazas also will have parking for recreational vehicles, picnic areas
and places to walk pets.
Each plaza will be able to accommodate up to 163 automobiles (compared to
59 previously), 110 trucks (48), four buses (three), 10 RVs (none) and
will have 43 part-time employees (30).
Indian Meadow and Tiffin River visitors will be able to gas up with 85
percent ethanol fuel and charge the batteries in their electric vehicles.
The price tag for all this is a hefty $29-plus million for both
facilities.
According to Balog, the plazas will be the first in the state to operate
by means of alternative energy. "Either solar or wind," he said.
"We're going through the process now (of choosing), but we will
definitely have alternative energy in the plazas."
Balog also said the plazas will be a pilot project for electrification for
trucks. Truckers will be able to plug into electrical sources instead of
idling their engines. "They use a gallon of diesel fuel an hour when
they're idling," he said.
If the electrification service is successful, Balog indicated the Turnpike
Commission will add this feature to other plazas. "And the buildings
will be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified in
construction," Balog said.
Both Balog and Strickland acknowledged the role Turnpike Commission member
Ed Kidston played in bringing the plazas back to Williams County.
"I think we all know Ed worked tirelessly on this whole
project," Strickland said.
"Ed, as a Commission member, has been out front on this project ...
and we thank him for that," Balog said.
Kidston said when the economy took a downturn, he wasn't sure the project
would be approved. "I kept bugging and bugging them," he said.
"But the plazas mean a couple hundred jobs (including construction)
in Williams County, and that's important now. ... It's a win-win situation
and a big deal for us."
Bernath said her village annexed the plaza property and will receive
income tax revenue from its employees.
"It will be a boost to the economy, plus it's jobs. Jobs are the
biggest thing." She predicted the plazas will benefit surrounding
counties as well as Williams.
West Unity Administrator Randy Mahlman said he expects the plazas to bring
revenue of about $84,000 a year to the village for water and sewer
service.
Another plus is that all contractors involved with the project are from
Ohio: Miller Brothers Construction of Archbold, Rudolph/Libbe from
Waldbridge, L.R. Babcock Plumbing and Heating of Napoleon and Romanoff
Electric Company LLC of Toledo.
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