Construction activity picking up

Building is picking up locally as the weather begins to warm up.
The Jay/Portland Building and Planning Department issued only three building permits in February, but permitted 17 projects in March.
Those projects are led by Fort Recovery Industries, which received a permit to perform a $725,000 remodel on its building in the Portland Industrial Park on county road 100 North.
Total construction for the 20 projects is $2,244,000. Permits were issued to:
Christina Bishop, 212 N. Meridian St., Portland, building renovation, $6,000; Adam Morehous, 1315 East 650 North, Bryant, pole barn with lean-to, $10,000; Drew Beiswanger, 805 South 825 West, Portland, two swine confined feeding buildings, $470,000; Fort Recovery Industries, 700 East 100 North, Portland, building remodel, $725,000; Kathryn Subler, 410 W. Votaw St., Portland, stoop roof, $900; Andy Landon, 398 North 600 East, Portland, grain bin and dryer, $200,000; Byron Fiesher, 1290 East 650 South, Portland, grain bin, $24,000; Minnich Poultry, 8563 East 300 North, Portland, two storage buildings, $15,000.
Hartzell Farms Inc., east county road 100 North, Portland, two chicken confined feeding buildings, $600,000; Tony Spafford, 2963 Blaine Pike, Portland, garage addition, $3,500; Aaron and Janessa Wallace, 512 E. Race St., Portland, fence, $800; Jay School Corporation, Jay County High School, 2072 West Ind. 67, Portland, baseball announcers booth, $16,000; Bobbi Ward, 631 E. Water St., Portland, deck and privacy fence, $1,300; Joe Gaskill, 544 N. Charles St., Portland, front porch, $2,500; James Smitley, 610 East 700 North, Portland, pole barn, $13,000; Christie S. Schwartz, 168 West Ind. 18, Bryant, storage building, $26,000; Eli E. Coblentz, 3232 East 500 North, Portland, barn, $17,000; Richard Martin, 2857 East 200 North, Portland, storage building, $25,000; Randall Mansfield, 436 S. Knox Road, Dunkirk, residential addition, $63,000.

CDL class
John Jay Center for Learning, Ivy Tech and Sage Truck Driving School have teamed up to offer a commercial driver’s license class.
The class will be held at JJCL and a driving course will be held at Jay County High School. Classes will begin May 9 and financial assistance is available, up to 100 percent of the cost.
Interested candidates must be 18 years old, have a valid driver’s license, pass a physical exam and pass a drug screen.
An informational meeting will be held Wednesday 6 p.m. at the John Jay Center. Those unable to make the meeting or wanting more information should contact Josh Gibson at (260) 726-5525 ext. 235.

Kakes joins
Kellie Menchhofer, owner of Kellie’s Kakes, has joined with The Tin Cupboard in Fort Recovery to offer pastry service to the area.
Menchhofer started her cake decorating career baking and decorating her children’s birthday cakes before taking a cake decorating class and expanding her offerings. She offers cakes, cupcakes, cookies and other baked goods.
The Tin Cupboard will be open for longer hours from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. to accommodate new pastry business.

Corn oil
POET plans to increase production of corn oil, which could be used produce up to 60 million gallons of bio-diesel fuel.
The corn oil, branded Voila, is created through a low-energy fermentation process that reduces the amount of fatty acid in the oil, allowing it to be utilized by bio-diesel producers.
With new plant upgrades in place, POET could produce more than 500 million pounds of corn oil per year, which could translate to around 60 million gallons of renewable diesel fuel.
Lawsuit won
A Bluffton man won a lawsuit in Wells County Superior Court against PNC Bank.
Aaron Mason filed suit against the bank to try to claim money and interest from a certificate of deposit issued in his name in 1986 from Old First National Bank. That bank was purchased by National City Bank and then purchased by PNC Bank.
When Mason tried to claim the COD, the bank told him there was no record of it and would not award it. Mason filed the lawsuit and a jury determined that although that unclaimed money should have escheated to the state, there was no record of it doing so, thus the bank was held liable to make the payout.
The case was argued by attorney Eric Orr of Berne.

Solar plant
Saint-Gobain inaugurated a new solar glass furnace at a plant in Renedo, Spain, this week.
The $35 million equipment will allow the Renedo site to produce high-tech glass for use in the solar energy market. The plant will be able to produce 60,000 tons of the extra-clear glass.

No. 50
Tyson Foods Inc. was ranked No. 50 on Forbes’ annual list of America’s Most Reputable Big Companies.
The rankings were aggregated by the Reputation Institute based on a 0 to 100-point score based on trust, esteem, admiration and good feeling. Tyson scored 72.51.
The top five companies were Amazon.com, Kraft Foods, Johnson and Johnson, 3M and Kellogg’s.
Tyson has taken on several anti-hunger initiatives as part of its community outreach programs.

Loan officer
Bank of Geneva announced that Andy Myers has been promoted to Loan Officer.
Myers joined Bank of Geneva in 2009 and is currently earning a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Indiana Tech.
Myers is an Adams Central graduate and resides in Decatur with his wife and seven-month-old son. He also is a volunteer coach for the South Adams High School wrestling team.

Scholarship
The Indiana Bankers Association selected Timothy W. Dubach of Bank of Geneva as recipient of the Prochnow Educational Foundation/IBA Scholarship.
He will receive $3,750 over three years to attend the graduate school of banking at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Attended
South Adams Trails Inc. member Doug Milligan recently attended the Bike and Pedestrian Trail Network Summit in Carmel.
The summit was sponsored by the Department of Natural Resources, Indiana Park Recreation Association, Indiana Department of Health and National Park Service and drew about 65 representatives from around the state.
Attendees discussed trail-related issues at the meeting, which is planned to become an annual event.
Dairy conference
Pennville dairy farmers Philip and Amy Weaver recently attended the Dairy Farmers of America Inc. Mideast Area Young Cooperator conference in Newark, Ohio.
The conference contained breakout sessions covering issues facing dairy farmers and included a tour of the Kroger Co.’s Tamarack plant in Newark.
The Weavers milk 250 Holstein cows on 650 acres.

Truck hub closing
Ruan Transport Corp. will close its Decatur truck hub, leaving 58 employees out of work.
The company lost a contract for soybean oil transport for Bunge North America. Ruan, based in Des Moines, Iowa, was out-bid by a transportation company that doesn’t utilize a union.
Ruan drivers are paid by the mile as well as stops and rest, with average annual pay falling between $40,000 and $55,000.
Thirty-eight of the affected employees are part of the Teamsters Local 414.[[In-content Ad]]