by Isabella Carwile | Feb 20, 2025 | Business Expansion, Community, PCED Office, Property Development, Workforce
Paulding County Economic Development Press Release February 19, 2025
PAULDING, OH – The Paulding County Commissioners, Economic Development Director Tim Copsey, and Eric Davis, from Wessler Engineering, Bluffton, met in the commissioner’s office recently to discuss a water feasibility study at the US24-Highway 127 interchange, located north of Paulding near the Crane Township – Emerald Township line.
Davis explained the scope of the project is to determine the most feasible way of making drinking water available at the intersection for potential economic development in the future. The study will also include the feasibility of bringing water to the Village of Cecil. Davis stated, “The intent of the study is to look at every possibility and determine the best potential to bring water to this intersection. Is that bringing it north from the Village of Paulding? Is it bringing water south from Sherwood under the Maumee River? Could it be connecting to a potential water line that would come from Defiance City to the mega-site near the Defiance County line? Is it establishing a well and water treatment plant near Cecil? All of these options need to be reviewed to confirm the most feasible option. The study can then be used to generate federal and state grant funding options to make this project a reality in the future.”
The county commissioners verbally committed $22,500 upon initial discussion. For the last several months Copsey met with Crane, Paulding, Emerald Townships, and Cecil Village to explain the importance of the project and to raise the rest of the funding required to pay for this study. The Townships each invested $5800 and the Village of Cecil invested $350.
Copsey commented, “The investment into this water study is a true commitment of our elected officials to the future growth of the economy in Paulding County. As Ft. Wayne grows further east, the Defiance industry grows further west, and traffic counts increase on both US24 and Highway 127, this intersection is becoming more and more attractive for future growth. We need to understand the cost for the potential development.”
Sewer system infrastructure will not be included in this study. Recent upgrades to the Cecil water treatment plant would be sufficient for initial development as the intersection is less than a mile away from the water treatment plant.
Davis noted that the study should be complete and results presented back to the group in the fourth quarter of 2025.
by Isabella Carwile | Feb 18, 2025 | Business Expansion, Community, For Sale, Funding, Jobs, PCED Office, Property Development, Workforce
Paulding County Economic Development Press Release February 18, 2025
PAULDING COUNTY – This week JobsOhio Food and Agriculture Director Tim Derickson, and Regional Growth Partnership (RGP) representative Jessica Sattler, joined Paulding County Economic Development Director Tim Copsey in conducting five business retention and expansion (BR&E) visits around the county.
The first stop of the day was at Mansfield Welding near the village of Melrose. The family-owned business team was able to display and highlight some agriculture-related fabrication and welding and highlight a new process machine that was purchased with the assistance of a JobsOhio Small Business Grant, awarded in 2024.
The group then traveled and met with team members at Cooper Farms in Oakwood. There was an in-depth conversation about agriculture and the different sectors of the Cooper Farm business, turkey, pork, and chicken. Cooper Farms continues to be a county leader in employment, Ohio TechCred training reimbursement funds, as well as Workforce Opportunity Tax Credits (WOTC).
The team made a trek to Antwerp to visit PNJ Enterprises and learn about a small fabrication business that makes automated parts for the food service industry, before heading to the village of Broughton to learn about Nutri-Plus Fertilizer. This family-owned business is annually providing plant nutrition for thousands of acres of crops in the agriculture industry.
The day closed out at Baughman Tile. Baughman is a fifth-generation family-owned business that is celebrating its 142nd year in business. The company manufactures plastic corrugated and solid-walled tiles for the agriculture and commercial industries. The conversation about workforce, business, and the economy was lively.
JobsOhio exists to empower world-class corporations, entrepreneurs, and talented individuals to build their businesses and careers in Ohio. Their advocacy and investments in partnership with the state enable sustainable economic growth and a better quality of life for all Ohioans through the power and dignity of work.
The Regional Growth Partnership (RGP) is the lead economic development organization and one of seven noted regions in the JobsOhio family and represents 17 counties in northwest Ohio. RGP partners with local county economic development offices to offer grants, incentives, and funding programs where applicable.
by Isabella Carwile | Feb 13, 2025 | Business Expansion, Community, Events, PCED Office, Workforce
Paulding County Economic Development Press Release February 13, 2025
PAULDING – The Paulding County Business Advisory Council (BAC) Steering Committee held their first meeting in 2025 at the Paulding County Economic Development office, with 16 members in attendance.
The meeting opened with Dee Basinger, from Ashland University, sharing that Ashland was the largest recipient of the Ohio Education grant. The grant allows teachers to be credited CEU hours for attending Teacher Boot Camp. The Paulding County Education Service Center (ESC) 2025 Teacher Boot Camp will be held June 2-5 & 9. The event is open for educators, administrators, and school board members to sign up now. The bootcamp is designed to equip attendees with the necessary skills and knowledge to bridge the gap between education, and the workplace, and help them understand what is available right here in Paulding County business that matches what they teach in the school.
Mike Burkholder, representing the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, talked about the High School Tech Internship program and how this program may benefit both students and businesses. He also reiterated that businesses should be using Ohio Tech Cred as cost reimbursement for upskilling their employees. Burkholder shared that many schools are using this program right now to help teachers learn more about and understand artificial intelligence. The Tech Cred sign-up is open again to all Ohio businesses in March.
The meeting continued with Paulding County Economic Development Director Tim Copsey sharing information about the upcoming Career and College Expo on April 2nd. The event will be held at the Paulding County Fairgrounds OSU Extension building. Details of the event are coming together, including the use of the YouScience data. YouScience is an assessment tool that students in all three county schools are taking to identify the best potential career paths. Students will be provided a color code for their top three career paths. The businesses will be identified with the same color codes as to what they can offer. This should help better match students to businesses in their assessed career paths. Collaboration will continue up to the event.
In preparing junior and senior students for this event, the county economic development office will be visiting all three county high schools to pass out #pauldingcountystrong T-shirts to the seniors, and sharing QR code information to the juniors and seniors for access to a Paulding County business contact booklet and collecting emails. The emails will be added for receipt of the weekly county newsletter and future open employment position postings in the county. This should help students understand what employment opportunities are available in the county while they attend college, join the armed forces, or are simply looking for local employment.
The discussion then switched over to open employment positions in the county, both for youth and adults. In the past, the economic development office shared open positions through their weekly newsletter. This became a little cumbersome, so a decision was made to use the established OhioMeansJobs website. Recently, it has been requested that this perhaps be brought back into the PCED office. PCED Office Administrator Jessica Stechschulte shared that she has recently submitted a grant application for the BAC. One of the projects that the grant could fund would be the implementation of a vehicle to share open employment positions in the county. The group suggested that however it was decided to share the information, that perhaps students could help with this detail and possibly even be compensated through the grant. Stechschulte stated she will share information about the grant once she is notified.
The floor was then opened for any discussion. There was great interactive conversation, and ideas exchanged, on how students, educators, and the county businesses can create more opportunities to engage with each other. BAC meetings continue to make significant steps in strengthening the relationship between educational institutions and local businesses, aiming to better prepare students for their future workforce endeavors, either right out of high school, while attending college, or after college.
The full first quarter BAC meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 12th at the Paulding County OSU Extension office. For more information about the Business Advisory Council please reach out to Jessica Stechschulte at the economic development office at 419-399-8295 or office@pced.net.
by Isabella Carwile | Jan 17, 2025 | Community, Jobs, Membership, PCED Office, Property Development, Workforce
Paulding County Economic Development Press Release January 17, 2025
PAULDING – The Paulding County Economic Development Board recently hosted their first meeting of 2025. The business part of the meeting was entirely devoted to the forward progression and strategic plan development for the group. The short agenda meeting was long but impactful.
Prior to the business discussion, a presentation was made by Premier Bank. Local Paulding branch CEO Nicole Robinson, Business Loan Officer Danielle Fowler and VP of Treasury Sales Doug Blackwood shared the full line of business banking options and accounts available with Premier Bank. They then answered questions about the upcoming purchase of Premier by the WesBanco Bank. Although WesBanco is already established in Ohio, this would be their northernmost branch. Board members and the banking team discussed opportunities for potential growth in the county.
Business then turned to strategic planning. The board last did an in-depth dive into the Paulding County economic development strategic plan in 2022. The two-year plan has guided the office in a positive direction over that time. Since then, many things have changed in economic development, within the board and around the county.
The January 2025 meeting was dedicated to reviewing the many goals of that previous plan. Director Tim Copsey shared the goals and results with the board. Based on the reported results, the board is now tasked with developing an immediate plan for 2025 and early 2026 and a 2-3 year plan for the future. This generated great conversation as it was discussed what might be more beneficial to now add to the plan, and what certainly needs to come off. An example that may be added to the list, that wasn’t even noted in 2022, was the great need for residential housing. The adhoc strategic plan committee will convene again before the next official board meeting in March to put together a final plan to present to the full board for approval.
by Isabella Carwile | Jan 14, 2025 | Community, Jobs, Membership, Paulding County Business Weekly Radio Broadcast, PCED Office, Shoutout, Workforce
Hear it here! What did you say? Listen this week to the Paulding County Business Weekly podcast as Kim Molitor, owner of Buckeye Hearing in Paulding, shares with is what an advantage it is to have an audiologist here in the county and what a blessing this is for anyone needing testing or hearing assistance. Huge thank you to program sponsor, OhioMeansJobs. You can tune in to PCBW on Tuesdays & Thursdays at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., or Click Here to Listen Online! Paulding County Business Weekly is also available in podcast form through Apple, Google & Spotify. #pauldingcountystrong
by Isabella Carwile | Dec 18, 2024 | Business Expansion, Community, PCED Office, Property Development, Workforce
Paulding County Economic Development Press Release
PAULDING – The quarterly Paulding County zoning inspectors meeting took place on Wednesday at the Paulding County Economic Development Office. This group morphed out of quarterly county mayor’s meetings and has developed as a way to bridge communication gaps and further effort in zoning consistency and collaboration amongst the county.
The main agenda item was to start collecting the list of zoning fees for each municipality and township. These lists will be compiled into a spreadsheet that will allow a comparison of costs and the variation of fees. Those in attendance shared their table of fees which started a comparison discussion. The group determined that if the zoning fee tables were submitted to the courthouse, they could be found on the recorder’s website.
Sarah McCabe, with the county auditor’s office, shared that they will be sharing year end data for building permit summaries. These would be regarding commercial, residential, agriculture, mobile homes, and destroyed mobile home permits issued in 2024.
Brian Harder, with the county engineer’s office, shared that since the county GIS system was implemented visits to the office have diminished greatly. It was questioned about how many zoning maps are on file with the engineering office. Harder reported that less than 50% of the maps are on file. The group will work with the office to increase this amount.
General conversation turned to the county health department and the septic verification program. Recently the county has started to lay out the plan for verifying septic systems around the county are operating correctly and efficiently. More information about this state-required program will be forthcoming from the department.
Tim Copsey, county economic development director offered information about the county land bank funds from the State of Ohio. Earlier this week, the Ohio Department of Development moved forward with committing the $500,000 allocation to the county and asked for final paperwork to be submitted by January 6. Estee Blair, with Maumee Valley Planning Organization, will submit this information for the county. Demolition bids will then be sent out for the 42 submitted properties around the county.
Participants this quarter represented Washington Township, Carryall Township, Crane Township, Paulding Village, Cecil Village, the county auditor office, the county engineer office, and economic development. The group agreed to meet again on March 19th, 2025.
