The Bluffton Common Council approved compliance forms for six tax abatements Tuesday night. One of the abatements was an original statement of benefits from Pretzels Inc. for a new oven being placed at the company’s facility at 123 Harvest Road.
Craig Anderson, the company’s chief financial officer, said the new oven and additional equipment will amount to a $2.4 million investment. Anderson said an older oven is being removed and the new oven should be installed on or before May 31.
“This should be a more efficient, a more reliable oven,” he said.
Anderson added that 2017 was a good year and the company expects the same in 2018 — if they can hire enough people.
“We have just short of 300 employees and 60 open positions,” he said. He said the company’s human resources employees are using social media to get the word out that workers are needed. “They’re making progress, but it’s a challenge,” he said.
He added that the company also hires college students for summer work.
The council also approved three tax abatement compliance forms for Randy Harnish and his Wells County Lock-Up storage facilities. The most recent was $87,000 in construction.
Two compliance forms were approved for Gerber Development, which leases property to Edge Manufacturing Inc. Eric Gerber, manager of the business, said the company has purchased another site in Bluffton and is looking to make $2 million in improvements to expand.
All of the abatements were approved on 5-0 votes.
Also Tuesday, the council informally agreed to change the Keebler Fund and get out of the loan business.
John Whicker, the council member who brought up the idea earlier this year, said that he’d carry the effort forward if the council members wanted him to. While not requesting a formal vote, he did want a consensus from the board that they would support it. As Mayor Ted Ellis told him, he did not see anyone shaking their head “no,”
Ellis said he would see if there were any restrictions on changing the use of the fund, which is left over from a Community Development Block Grant given to Keebler when it had a facility in Bluffton. Part of the original covenant covering the program was that at least 51 percent of the beneficiaries of the individual activities must be low- and moderate-income persons.