Contractor a target of complaints

An east central Indiana contractor was in the spotlight this week in the Indianapolis Star, facing accusations that he’d failed to perform work he’d been paid for.

Paul Vaughn with Patriot Heating and Construction was hired by Steve and Carolyn Lazzuri to renovate two houses, one in Redkey and another in Upland, that they planned to flip.

“The Lazzuris and Vaughn agreed to a written contract in April that specified the scope and cost of the work and set June 15 as the completion date for work on the Upland home. Work in Redkey was to be completed by late July at the latest,” Star reporter Billy Kobin wrote. 

“But after flying to Indiana to inspect the properties a few weeks ago, the Lazzuris discovered little work had actually been done.

“The Lazzuris said they contacted Vaughn to express their disappointment and that he agreed to meet with them.

“However, according to the Lazzuris, Vaughn never showed up to arranged meetings and stopped answering calls and emails,” wrote Kobin.

The Star article said the Lazzuris had already paid Vaughn $24,000 for his work on the Upland house and more than $8,000 for work on the Redkey property. 

This is not the first time Vaughn has been in the spotlight.

According to the Star, Vaughn owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in a variety of small claims, check fraud, civil collection and theft cases in east central Indiana.

He has a pending Level 6 felony charge of theft in Delaware County.

Upgrade planned

Indiana Michigan Power is planning to upgrade its Hartford City area electric grid, which will strengthen its electric system in southwest Jay County, Blackford County and northern Delaware County. 

The plans include rebuilding 8 miles of lines between Hartford City and Dunkirk, building 3 miles of new line in Dunkirk, upgrading 4 miles of transmission lines from 34.5-kilovolt to 69-kilovolt, building a new substation in Eaton and upgrading two substations. Wooden power line poles will be replaced with steel monopoles, which will average 75 feet in height. These upgrades will help ensure a reliable flow of electricity to its customers, I&M said in a press release. 

The company is holding an open house from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Aug. 7 at Eaton Community Center, 600 E. Harris St., Eaton, for community members to learn more about the project and offer input. 

More information about the project, which is expected to be complete by late 2021, will be available later this year. 

Open house

A local law firm is hosting an open house to introduce the public to its legal team. 

Coldren, Frantz & Sprunger will have an open house from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 17 at 112 N. Meridian St., Portland. Lunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

The firm recently expanded with the addition of attorneys Cory and Allison Sprunger of Berne. It was formerly known as Coldren & Frantz, owned by Phil Frantz and John Coldren.

 

Weak quarter

Share prices in Ardagh Group tumbled by 9 percent after its second-quarter results missed market expectations on the back of deteriorating conditions in the North American glass-production industry, The Irish Independent reported Friday.

Chief executive officer Paul Coulson blamed the problems largely on cheap imports from China and Mexico.

Coulson also said he welcomed a possible move by the U.S. government to include glass packaging under tariffs planned for Chinese imports, The Independent said.

“Initiatives to improve profitability (in North America) are expected to deliver benefits on a more gradual basis than previously expected,” Coulson said in a press release.

Meanwhile the last of Ardagh’s glass manufacturing facilities in North America has received certification recognizing its work toward environmental improvement. 

The company announced its Dolton, Illinois, plant recently received ISO 14001:2015 certification. ISO 14001 is an internationally recognized standard for environmental management and guides businesses in reducing their impact on the environment, following related laws and working toward environmental improvement. 

The plant is the last of Ardagh’s 14 glass manufacturers in North America to be certified, the company announced in a press release. Ardagh is the parent company of glass manufacturing plants located in Dunkirk and Winchester.

Approved

A new ethanol plant is in the works in the southern part of Indiana. 

POET received approval this week from Shelbyville’s planning commission to continue with the development of an 80 million gallons per year ethanol plant 5 miles outside of the city.

The proposed facility will take in about 28 million bushels of corn annually and will cost between $150 and $160 million in capital investment, Ethanol Producer Magazine reported. It’s estimated to have a $200 million annual economic impact on the area.  POET is the parent company of POET Biorefining in Portland. 

Combating 

CVS Pharmacy announced progress in its efforts to combat prescription opioid abuse.

All CVS Pharmacy locations now have signage and radio messages to educate customers about access to naloxone, which reverses opioid overdoses. The drug is available in most states without a prescription, including Indiana and Ohio. 

The company has installed 750 safe medication disposal units in its pharmacies, as well as donated more than 900 units to law enforcement offices.

These units have collected more than 436,000 pounds of medication nationwide since they were installed. 

Trading 

Two high ranking employees at Walgreens Boots Alliance, who are also partners, recently traded stock with each other. 

Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Stefano Pessina and co-chief operating officer Ornella Luisa Barra switched up their ownership of company stocks earlier this month. 

On July 16,  Alliance Santé Participations, which is controlled by Pessina and employs Barra as a director, bought all of Barra’s directly held 1.7 million Walgreens shares for $108.5 million. On that same day, Barra bought 1.7 million Walgreens shares from UBS for $110.8 million through her entity OLB Holdings.  

Alliance Santé Participations now holds 144.8 million Walgreens shares, a 14.6 percent stake according to Barron’s. Pessina also directly owns stocks representing at least 1.18 million shares and is Walgreens’ largest shareholder. Barra owns stock representing at least 386,820 shares, and now indirectly holds 1.7 million through OLB Holdings. 

Good quarter

Richard Harshman, chairman and chief executive officer of Allegheny Technologies Inc., told investors he’s pleased with the company’s most recent performance.

“Both the first and second quarters exceeded our elevated expectations and clearly demonstrate our ability to deliver technically advanced products on time, aiding our customers and meeting their manufacturing schedule commitments,” Harshman said in a conference call. He said the company’s second quarter revenue grew by 15 percent compared to the same period last year. ATI is the parent company of Portland Forge.

“It's worth noting that our business has significantly changed over the past three years,” said Harshman. “In the second quarter 2018 the High Performance Materials and Component segment delivered nearly 60 percent of ATI’s total revenue, up from approximately 50 percent in the second quarter of 2015.”

He said the shift will result in more predictable revenue and operating profit in the future since those segments of ATI’s business are covered by long-term agreements.