by Isabella Carwile | Jul 9, 2025 | Uncategorized
Paulding County Economic Development Press Release July 9, 2025
PAULDING – The Paulding County Land Bank committee was updated on a plethora of projects taking place around the county this week, many of which are nearing completion.
Abby White, representing Maumee Valley Planning Organization (MVPO), began by sharing that the remediation of the Land Bank-owned Paulding trailer court, located at 802 North Main Street, has been completed. Dangler Excavating, of Paulding, has removed the dilapidated trailers, cement pads, and streets associated with the property and backfilled the open lot with topsoil. With the project complete, the Land Bank will move forward and sell the property to the neighboring property owners, the Paulding Exempted Village School.
Dangler Excavating moved their equipment south to 119 South Main Street in Paulding. This demolition is the former Caring & Sharing food pantry building, owned by the Paulding County Carnegie Library. The future plan is to build a new community center on the open lot.
The next completed project is the former church building located at 201 North Williams Street in Paulding. The building was removed by Advance Demolition, McComb, Ohio. The church structure, basement, and surrounding sidewalks were removed and backfilled with clay soil. The clay was heavily compacted as the finished site will be purchased by the Paulding VFW Post 587 for the future site of the Paulding Veterans Memorial. Fundraising continues for the beautifully designed monument.
White then shared updates on many next-round commercial and residential projects ready to take place in villages and townships around the county. Many easily noticed demolitions will take place around Antwerp, Grover Hill, Haviland, and Melrose, along with environmental testing being completed in Antwerp, Grover Hill, Oakwood, Paulding, and Payne areas.
On the Brownfield Program side of blight clean-up, Matt Wagner, representing the county EPA consulting team, Tetra Tech, shared good news as well. The remediation of the former Mercer Landmark Grain Mill in Antwerp has been completed. It will provide additional parking and turnaround room for grain-hauling semi-trucks and hopper wagons at the Mercer Landmark facility. With the completion of the project, the property will be sold to the Patriot Railroad.
Wagner was eager to share that the new Ohio budget has allowed another $200 million in funding for continued brownfield and blight cleanup in 2026 & 2027. The committee will now be tasked with putting together a new list of potential sites to continue clean-up around the county. This will allow the preparation of sites for future residential and commercial development.
Wagner then reminded the committee that the Ohio Department of Development awarded Paulding County $85,074 in funding for asbestos removal in the Paulding Village-owned former Winkle Chevrolet building, located on the square. The building has asbestos-wrapped pipes and flooring that will be remediated to make the building safer to work in and allow a seamless future sale if the opportunity arises.
Wagner finished by providing brief environmental updates on the former JJ Ross gas station in Grover Hill and the former Stokely pond property in Paulding.
Paulding County Economic Development Director Tim Copsey noted that zoning changes have been completed on a Land Bank-owned property within the Village of Cecil. This will allow the group to move forward with selling a designated parcel to Patriot Railroad for a potential future transload site.
Copsey also provided the committee with information about the former Grizzley property. It is now under the EPA consultant oversight of T&M Associates in Cleveland. They will continue to collect data with an end goal of providing a clean property to the Land Bank in the future.
In addition, Copsey shared that a recent blighted residential property, purchased in Paulding at 621 Sugar Street, is currently being mowed and maintained until demolition takes place later this year.
Committee discussion then turned to the Welcome Home Ohio (WHO) grant funding. With the help of MVPO, the county has been awarded $300,000 to use for residential blight rehabilitation projects over the next 24 months. The current Land Bank financial balance is $63,904.08, but it was decided that with the influx of funds expected from the previously discussed property sales, the committee will begin looking for one or two residential home rehabilitation projects to purchase and target using these grant funds. Additional discussion will now begin with realtors, financial groups, and contractors to develop a plan to use the funds accordingly.
by Tim Copsey | Nov 17, 2021 | Uncategorized
Paulding County Economic Development Press Release November 10, 2021
Paulding County Annual Business & Industry Appreciation Banquet
ANTWERP, OH – The Paulding County Economic Development Board of Directors recently hosted their
Business & Industry Appreciation Banquet. The event is hosted annually to recognize business and
commercial growth and prosperity within the county.
Following a networking and socializing hour, the event was opened with a welcome by PCED Board
President Larry Manz. Manz shared updated financial statistics about the office. He was followed by
Dennis Recker who led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. Recker was then presented a small token
for his years of service to the board. Recker is completing his second term on the board that will
complete at the end of the year. Recker then introduced Economic Development Director Tim Copsey.
Copsey also welcomed guests before acknowledging the nineteen Diamond, Platinum and Gold Level
investment member businesses, who helped sponsor the banquet event. It was noted that this was the
21st annual event, although there was not a banquet held in 2020, due to covid pandemic restrictions.
Dinner was served by Grant’s Catering, who was also the event site host. During the dinner the Vivace
String duo of Carman Martin and Elsie Manz, played the violin and cello respectively, for the over 150
banquet attendees.
Following dinner several businesses made presentations. The first ever Diamond Level investment
business member, Union Bank, addressed the crowd to share their business plans to the group and also
updated the county on the status of their exciting building rehabilitation, taking place in downtown
Paulding. This will be their northmost of 17 bank branches in Ohio. Also presenting were newly
developed businesses that have invested in the economic development office: Brown Made Media,
EAW Keepsake Beads and MySportsLive.org. The new business Grounded Coffee and Crumbs provided
each attendee a cookie to try to promote their business.
Copsey shared the five businesses that have invested into the PCED office for 20 consecutive
years. This year those businesses were: Baker-Shindler, Schweller Electric, Foltz Insurance,
State Bank and Ohio Gas. Copsey and new PCED Office Manager Kristen Schilt will visit each 20
year investment member to acknowledge and thank them for their dedicated investment and
present them with an appreciation plaque soon.
Copsey then walked the guests through a two-year review and update of the PCED office. The
review included changes in the office, recent successes, upcoming projects and futuristic
thoughts. The evening ended in revealing a new marketing video that will be used to entice
and encourage anyone that views it to take a more in-depth look into what Paulding County has
to offer. The video can be found on the PCED Facebook or LinkedIn social media pages.
Photo Credit: West Bend
by Tim Copsey | Nov 17, 2021 | Uncategorized
Paulding County Economic Development Press Release November 11, 2021
Palmer Energy presents to Paulding County Mayor Association
PAULDING, OH – Amy Hoffman, with Palmer Energy Co. was a guest of the fourth quarter
Paulding County Mayors Association meeting. Palmer Energy is the consultant for the County
Commissioners Association of Ohio (CCAO) and Ohio Municipal League (OML) that consults with
the Paulding County Commissioners to review county and municipal electric bills with the intent
of providing competitive energy pricing. It was noted that the villages of Payne and Latty have
already benefited by participating in the county’s electric aggregation program. Hoffman will
soon be working with other interested villages in the county.
Paulding County EMA Director Ed Bohn then shared with the group that the 2022 County
Mitigation Plan needs to be reviewed and approved by each community. This will take some
time so the sooner this review can begin, the more accurate the plan will be when submitted
with the state.
The meeting was then turned over to Austin Serna with Maumee Valley Planning Organization
(MVPO). The attending representatives from Antwerp, Cecil, Grover Hill, Haviland, Latty,
Melrose, Oakwood, Paulding and Payne were joined by members representing Not for Profit
groups from around the county. The county is available for Community Block Development
Grant funds in 2022. Serna explained how the program works and how applications are
submitted. It was shared that from all applications, only three will be selected to be completed
in the county.
The PC Mayor’s Association is guided by Paulding Mayor Greg White with organizational
assistance from the PCED office. All 11 mayors, or a representative from their village, are
invited to attend the meetings to receive village related communication and information from
county offices.
