NW Ohio entities awarded grants totaling over $1M

2/9/2007

Northwest Ohio cities and counties got more than $1 million in government grants this week.

Fostoria got $500,000 and Putnam County got $232,700 from the Ohio Small Cities Community Development Block Grant Economic Development Program.

The village of Leipsic in Putnam County got $550,000 and Ottawa County got $200,000 from the Business Development and Roadwork Development Grants, contingent upon business expansions there, according to announcements from the Ohio Department of Development.

Fostoria, which is where Hancock, Seneca, and Wood counties meet, got the funds to assist Kiser Enterprises Inc. in acquiring and expanding Machine Tool and Fabrication Corporation Inc., a metal fabricating and diversified tool-and-die business that designs and builds automation equipment for the automotive, appliance, food, and medical industries.

Machine Tool and Fabrication Corporation also manufactures roll-up fabric doors for the aeronautics industry.

The $3.1 million project is expected to retain 13 positions and create 10 jobs.

Putnam County's grant will assist W.C. Wood Co. Inc. with an expansion intended to consolidate its Canadian and Ottawa operations and expand the business on Woodland Drive in Putnam County.

The funds are to improve roadway and install four culverts along Road L-9 for an increase in traffic to the project site. The $1.6 million project is to create 100 jobs.

Leipsic got a $500,000 Roadwork Development Grant and a $50,000 Business Development Grant for improving the village's sanitary sewer system, rails, and roads for Summit Ethanol LLC.

The company is considering constructing an ethanol production facility in the Iron Highway Industrial Park.

The 50,000-square-foot building would produce 60 million gallons of ethanol a year from 21 million bushels of corn.

Ohio is in competition with Indiana and Michigan for the $74.6 million project, which is expected to create 41 jobs within the first three years of the project's initial operation, according to state development leaders.

Ottawa County's $200,000 Roadwork Development Grant is to complete public roadwork improvements for Fenner Dunlop Inc.'s proposed expansion in Port Clinton.

Fenner Dunlop, which manufactures conveyor belts and other products, is considering an expansion of its fabric belt division.

Ohio is in competition with Fenner PLC facilities in Oklahoma City and Ontario, Canada, for the project, which is expected to create 75 jobs and retain 136 positions within the first three years of operation.