Tax abatements get OK

Portland City Council voted Monday to approve two tax abatements for local businesses that have experienced unexpected difficulties.
Council also decided to amend the city’s hard surface ordinance and approved a resolution designating U.S. 27 as a national historic road.
Council approved two tax abatements for Fisher Meats, including a 10-year abatement on $375,000 in improvements to its facility. That will save the company $51,000.
The other is a five-year abatement on $100,000 in new equipment that will save $3,700.
Fisher Meats suffered substantial damage from a fire in July, and repair work is ongoing.
Fort Recovery Industries was granted a five-year abatement on a $1,725,000 piece of equipment that failed unexpectedly. The abatement will save the company about $56,000 over a five-year period.
A request for an amendment proposal for the city’s hard surface ordinance was also made during council’s Monday meeting, after council members discussed the stringent current ordinance that requires all parking areas be hard surfaces. Mayor Randy Geesaman explained that as written, if properly enforced, the City of Portland itself would have to be cited for having a gravel parking lot. Council forwarded a request to city attorney Bill Hinkle to draft an amendment that would allow gravel parking lots, provided they be properly maintained.
Council members Mark Hedges, Bill Gibson, Judy Aker, Michele Brewster, Don Gillespie, Kent McClung and Janet Powers also voted to designated U.S. 27 as a national historic road. The resolution is part of an effort to designate all of U.S. 27 as a national historic road.
In other business, council:
•Discussed leaf piles in the street, which can lead to accidents and clog sewers. Council members encouraged the community not to dump leaves in the street.
•Discussed the approximately $17,000 remaining in grant money from the state’s Blight Elimination Program. Council members and the board of works are trying to find other homes that the money could be used to purchase and demolish.
•Heard from Hedges and Gillespie that lack of action by county officials on river maintenance was disappointing, considering their previous discussion of working on it this year.
•Heard from Geesaman that work to replace an 18-inch sewer line with a larger 42-inch line on the bank of the Salamonie River is almost complete. Geesaman said work will begin soon on the project to replace the collapsed sewer line under the now-demolished 509 W. High Street home.
•Approved $733,548.58 in claims.