Development Official Touts Region

By MIKE BURKHOLDER
Managing Editor
The Evening Leader

ST. MARYS — A local economic development official says he believes a recent trip to the Windy City will help spur growth in the region.

St. Marys Development Manager Todd Fleagle, along with a contingent of economic development officials from Auglaize County, attended a conference May 4 and 5 in Chicago. The event, Fleagle noted, was geared toward meeting with site selection consultants in hopes of getting the region on the radar of companies looking to expand.

“Site selection consultants are nationwide consultants and know the companies and manufacturers that may be considering expansion,” Fleagle said. “They work with them on what they may be doing in the future.”

The contingent traveled to Chicago to sell the region. Fleagle said officials touted Ohio’s tax reforms regarding businesses as well as the region’s labor force.

“We need to get our name out there and the regional assets that we have to offer to new businesses,” Fleagle said. “We have to promote the state and our region and as they look, we are getting our faces and names out there that this is a good place to invest in.”

Dealing with site selection consultants is more common now than a decade ago. Fleagle said the consultants help narrow options for end-users.

“I’d say 75 to 80 percent of the larger projects use site selection consultants,” Fleagle said. “Before, it was the opposite.”

Rural areas have assets that large metropolitan regions lack, Fleagle said. These benefits often attract large companies.

“We have an outstanding quality of life,” Fleagle said. “We tell them this region has an attendance rate of 97 percent and a graduation rate of 98 to 99 percent — that’s unheard of and something we need to promote. We have a lot of large corporations that have established operations here.”

The city has an option on 32.2 acres of land along McKinley Road for possible development. The parcel is zoned for industrial use.

“It’s shovel ready,” Fleagle said. “It’s got utilities all there.”

To help promote the site, Fleagle uses the city’s website to get information out to site selection consultants.

“When we are talking with them, a lot of times they don’t have time to look at printed material so the companies look at the website,” Fleagle said. “They need it dialed down for their questions that they may have regarding the project.”