New construction tops $31.4 million

Building permits were issues for more than $31.4 million in new construction in September in Jay County.
The largest project was for five to seven chicken confined feeding buildings at J Star Farms LLC, 7500 E. Ind. 26, for $28 million.
The second largest project was a new barn being built Richard Haffner’s 5618 N. 450 East, Bryant, property for $1.1 million.
The third largest project was an exhibition hall at 504 E. Votaw St. for $800,000.
Other permits were issued in September to TLS by Design, 410 S. Bridge St., for a $60,000 canopy entrance; R&R RV Repair, 103 W. Lincoln St., for a $5,000 building addition; Dennis Homan, 5552 E. 400 North, for a $45,000 machine shop; Kerry Muhlenkamp, 3536 E. 600 North, Bryant, for a $40,000 machine shop.
Also to Brian Addington, 12218 W. 600 South, Dunkirk, for a $20,000 grain bin; Matt White, 5930 E. 300 North, for a $500 pole barn; Mitchell Stammen, 3270 E. 500 South, for a $80,000 storage building; Leon Muhlenkamp, 6089 E. 500 North, for a $40,000 for a machine shop; Steven Muhlenkamp, 5843 E. 400 North, for a $27,000 grain bin; and Chad Fifer, 8812 E. 300 North, for a $100 barn lean-to.
Also John and Mary Overman, 5605 E. 100 South, for a $309,800 swine feeding building; Greg Westgerdes 7587 E. 500 North, for a $480,000 turkey confined feeding building; Kerry Muhlenkamp, 3536 E. 600 North, Bryant, for a $110,000 barn addition; Jake Schwartz, 7436 N. 200 East, Bryant, for a $25,000 calf barn; Portland Fire Department, 1616 N. Franklin St., for a $2,800 generator building; Alvin Graber, 4830 W. 500 North, for a $3,700 building addition; Stephen Lambert, 1511 S. Meridian St., for a $4,000 building addition; Greg Huelskamp, 935 Boundary Pike, for a $1,200 barn addition; Karl Kaise, 2404 W. 850 North, Bryant, for a $25,000 building addition; and Brian Hayes, 1680 W. 400 South, for a $1,500 building lean-to.
Other permits were issued to Jonas Schwartz, 1531 E. 800 North, Bryant, for a $4,000 building addition; Jorge and Dilcia Ruiz of Ruiz Services, 110 E. Baker St., for a business occupancy; Joseph Schwartz, 7727 N. 250 East, Bryant, for a $40,000 new home; Randall Rains, 2251 S. Brookview Dr., for a $40,000 pool and fence; Dean and Margie Jelter, 2832 W. 125 South, for a $25,000 residential addition
Also to Mary Gabbard, 3439 N. 1100 West, Pennville, for a $12,000 sun room; Donald Shauver, 3972 S. 500 East, Salamonia, for a $14,700 front porch; Roger Teeple, 3718 E. Ind. 67, Bryant, for a $15,000 enclosed porch; Todd Thornburg, 140 N. Park St., for a $25,000 residential remodel; Kelley Poore, Jr., 310 E. Seventh St., for a $700 patio roof; and Dustin Halzell, 3815 S. 700 West, for a $30,000 storage building.
Also Rebecca Stafford, 1119 S. Ind. 167, Dunkirk, for a $10,000 pole barn; Carl Muhlenkamp, 3707 N. 550 East, for a $25,000 detached garage; Michael Wentz, 691 N. Meridian St., Pennville, for a $200 carport; Randall Morgan, 6278 W. 300 North, Pennville, for a $16,000 pole building; Jack Chowning, 1928 S. Manuel Dr., for a $2,000 storage building; and Charles Tague, 304 E. High St., for a $3,000 carport.

CenturyLink offers security blog
CenturyLink is launching an Internet security blog for National Cyber Security Awareness Month. The blog will provide tips to help protect Internet users’ privacies while online and to avoid common Internet pitfalls.
To access the blog, visit www.centurylink.com/securityblog.

New vice president
at Berne bank
First Bank of Berne announced this week Rick Gentis will serve as the new senior vice president/head of lending.
Gentis graduated from Purdue University, the Barret School of Banking and the Midwest Agricultural Banking School at Purdue.
He has more than 20 years of experience in agriculture lending and has worked with hundreds of farm operations.
Gentis will be located at the new operations center in Berne.

Plans new infrastructure
Indiana Michigan Power plans to enhance its Indiana infrastructure system. The plan is a seven-year project.
The Reliability Enhancement Project plans to replace miles of electric cable and thousands of poles.
The project would also improve line clearance and underground networks in South Bend, Fort Wayne, Elkhart and Muncie.
The company is seeking approval to invest $787 million needed for the project, which is scheduled to begin in 2015.
If approved, the project would add less than one percent to the average bill.

Energize ECI
Active on East Coast
Energize East Central Indiana’s president and chief executive officer, Mindy Kenworthy, recently spent two days in New York City and New Jersey. During the trip she met with site development consultants to promote the East Central Indiana region for business development.