By GLEN WERLING
Big things may be happening in Ossian’s downtown.
Wells County Economic Development Executive Director Chad Kline informed members of the Ossian Town Council that he’s ready to move forward with Requests for Proposals for the downtown development project on the west side of Jefferson Street between Craig and Mill streets.
“Part of the process of developing the RFP is to show any potential developer that’s looking at the project the possibility of considering incentives to help and support that project,” Kline said.
One of the incentives would be creating a tax increment financing district for the downtown area that would capture any new tax dollars generated by new development and channel those monies toward the benefit of the downtown.
“We would like to start the process of evaluating a TIF,” Kline explained. “That could possibly be used. We don’t know. But we would like to have that out there as a tool to be able to support a development,” he continued.
The council, which had earlier approved a recommendation by Kline to seek RFP’s, gave its nod of approval for him to continue the process.
Kline plans to meet with Town Manager Luann Martin and the Ossian town attorney to discuss exploring the legal requirements for establishing a downtown TIF district.
Council members Josh Barkley, Jason House and Dennis Ealing received copies of the WCED strategic plan from Kline for their review of the plan. He encouraged council members to direct any questions or comments back to him.
Kline also presented a proposal for the creation of a master plan for each of the incorporated communities in Wells County. Wells County Economic Development has contracted the strategic planning company Abonmarche, with offices in Fort Wayne.
Abonmarche is already performing a strategic master plan for Zanesville. “We felt there was a lot of overlap in a lot of the work they were doing that would allow us to receive a proposal that would be a little bit more cost effective for the community,” Kline said. “A lot of the processes are going to be similar and the data collected is going to be similar,” he added.
It will take Abonmarche about 24 weeks to assemble the data and put together a plan to be presented next spring, he added.
The cost to Ossian will be an amount not exceed $25,000.
Kline said that the council didn’t have to make a decision Monday night. Barkley said that the proposal should be reviewed by council members Brad Pursley and Jeff Kemper, who were not present, before the council makes a commitment.
The total cost of the study is expected to be $90,000 with the three smaller incorporated communities — Uniondale, Vera Cruz and Poneto — requested to contribute $5,000 to $10,000 each and Bluffton to pick up the remainder of the expense.
Markle was not included because it is already working with Region 3A through Huntington County for its own strategic plan.
“Abonmarche is doing a great job with Zanesville. They’re extremely happy with the work that they’ve done so far,” Kline said.
“The master plan will set forth a vision for your community over the next five, 10, 15, 20 years,” Kline said.
Regarding the downtown business block on the west side of Jefferson between Craig and Mill streets, Larry Heckber, representing Ossian Revitalization, presented the council with two quotes for placing metal siding on the north side of the NAPA building, and the south side of the BKM real estate building bordering the open space created by the demolished building. That space has often been referred to as an “alley” because that is what it appears to be. However it is not an actual platted alley.
The town last year had the former Sile building demolished after purchasing it because its owner would do nothing to improve the building. The roof had fallen in and trees were growing inside the walls of the structure. However, when it was demolished, it opened the north wall of NAPA and the south wall of BKM to the weather.
The siding is intended to protect both buildings from weather deterioration.
Heckber added that he was informed by a contractor that the bricks at the top of the north facing wall of the NAPA building have deteriorated to the point where they present a safety hazard to anyone walking on the small parcel of land between NAPA and BKM.
Heckber added that if the town does decide to do something with the small plot, that Revitalization would be willing to provide some financial assistance for any project.
Heckber also informed the council that Revitalization would also like to see LaFever Street extended to the Archbold-Wilson Event Center.
Martin said that a LaFever extension is a favorable project (Martin even made several overtures toward it several years ago in an attempt by the town to purchase a house that borders where the street would be located), but currently the Woodcreek Drive/Greenwood Trail project in the Sandalwood housing addition is occupying all of the time and resources of the street department. Once that project is complete, an extension of LaFever will be considered.
Heckber then brought up a topic that seemingly has mesmerized the Ossian/East Jefferson Township community — the potential four-laning of Ind. 1 and a bypass of Ind. 1 to the east around Ossian.
As explained by Barkley, Kline and Ossian’s appointee to the Wells County Area Plan Commission, Melissa Woodworth:
• The project is merely a proposal at this point and the council is trying to keep an open mind about it.
• Kline explained that due to the amount of commuter traffic between Bluffton and Fort Wayne, the state will eventually do something with Ind. 1. The attempt by Wells County Vision 2035 — the title of the plan that sets forth a vision by the county for a project — is intended to give Wells County, Ossian and Bluffton a say in whatever the state decides to do with Ind. 1. Without having a vision and a plan, the state may simply make its own decision regarding what to do with Ind. 1 without any input from the county, Ossian or Bluffton.
Barkley added that the Wells County Commissioners have initiated the discussion.
Kline continued that the project is a state project. At the state level they have to decide what’s the best way to improve the flow of traffic between Fort Wayne and Bluffton.
But he added that any project to improve that flow is not an “if but a when.”
The council members also held a public hearing for the council to waive certain non-compliance features on statements of benefits for tax abatement the council had already approved for Rethceif Properties LLC and Rethceif Enterprises LLC. Rethceif is a manufacturer in the Ossian Industrial Park.
Officials at Rethceif realized that one of the pieces of equipment they sought to be abated from property taxes had already been put into service when the firm was submitted for the council approval. That in effect made the abatement retroactive to the date of installation rather than the date the council approved of the form.
The second non-compliance was because the name of the entity that owns the property that was abated for the expansion of the factory was listed as the wrong name. That had to be corrected through a waiver of non-compliance.
The council members also approved compliance with statements of benefits for tax abatement for Roembke Manufacturing and Design in the Ossian Industrial Park.
The tax abatement was for a variety of equipment that was installed at Roembke in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020. The compliance with statement of benefits is simply a statement by the company that the abated property has created the benefits to the manufacturer that the manufacturer claimed that they would.
And they did, Kline explained. Any hopes of adding more people to the payroll are hindered more now by the inability to find qualified employees to fill positions, not because of any fault of the company not being in compliance with their statements of benefits, he added.
Fire Chief Ben Fenstermaker wants to replace the record management software for the fire department.
The current software is through “Firehouse” but they’ve been bought out by ESO, which is shutting down “Firehouse” at the end of the year.
The replacement software will cost the town $4,365.75. The cost of the software replacement is in the fire department’s budget, he explained.
He also requested to spend a portion of the fire department’s budget for a Ziamatic rescue tool holder for the new rescue unit. Ossian Fire Department Inc. purchased $35,000 worth of rescue equipment, Fenstermaker explained,.He wants to use the town’s fire budget for $1,700 for the tool needed to hold the equipment.
The third request made by Fenstermaker was to pay Premier Signs of Bluffton $1,254.65 for lettering for the new rescue unit. The lettering has already been applied to the truck.
glenw@news-banner.com
