“Does Putnam County want to grow?”
That was the question asked and the topic that centered the annual Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center (GCPCDC) annual meeting. Community leaders, business professionals and many others gathered at Owl Ridge to hear from GCPCDC Executive Director Kristin Clary and a few other local business leaders on how exactly the county has in fact grown and will continue to grow into the future.
“Change is inevitable,” Clary said. “Whether we want it to or not change is going to happen and the big question we’re always asking ourselves is: ‘Is it going to change for the better or for the worse?'
"We, as a county, are always doing one of two things," Clary added. "Either we are planning for growth or we are managing decline. In this last year we’ve really had to make a decision on what that is going to look like.”
Clary went on to thank the three Putnam County Commissioners (Rick Woodall, Tom Helmer and Andy Beck) and the county council members for both making the decision to capture the growth that is coming to Putnam County.
Growth in the county, according Clary, was also measured in the new community leaders that took on important roles in 2025. Kate Knaul, executive director of Main Street Greencastle; Zaida Benassi, director of Putnam County Chamber of Commerce, and Jared Jernagan, executive director of Putnam County Visitors Bureau, were all recognized for their efforts and taking on new roles to lead the county into the future.
Another highlight and talking point of Clary’s was that she stated to the audience that GCPCDC has officially created the Central Putnam Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District. A TIF District is a designated geographic area where local governments freeze property tax assessments and capture the additional property tax revenue from new development to fund local improvement projects within that district.
The Central Putnam TIF District is anchored by both POET Bioprocessing located in Cloverdale and Buzzi Unicem USA in Limedale.
“We’re setting ourselves up for growth on both U.S. 40 and U.S. 231,” Clary said of the district’s plan. “Our industrial partners are our key focus because they’re our largest employers and bring many different people into our communities. Those large businesses also pay a large amount of property taxes which gets put back into our communities and local governments. Because of these sources of revenue we’re always trying to meet the needs of those industry employers and always planning for future growth.”
With the new TIF district being anchored on both POET and Buzzi Unicem, plant managers from both corporations were in attendance and spoke about what each of them are doing to help further growth in Putnam County.
Jeremy Jacobs, general manager of POET, took the podium first.
“POET is the largest producer of bioethanol in the world, producing right around 95 million gallons each year,” he said. “We operate 24/7 and employ nearly 60 full-time employees. We’re a very technological advanced plant and since partnering with the community, POET has had nearly a $2.5 billion impact to the local economy right here in Putnam County. We also partner with the local school districts and give out $40,000 a year in donations and scholarships. What we’re doing at POET help feed and fuel the entire world and all of it done right here in Putnam County.”
After Jacobs, Tim Menke took the microphone to tell the audience about what Buzzi is and the impact it’s having in Putnam County.
“We’ve been in the same location since 1919 and can produce up to 1.5 million tons of cement,” he said. “There’s just a few cement plants in each state and some even have none. We have a large quarry that we blast limestone out of and make it into a fine powder. We take all of the materials and put them into our cement kiln which is 580 feet long and gets up to 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit.
"At the plant we employ almost 195 people," Menke said, "so we’re a very large employer here in the county and we’re still looking for people. We train and promote within. We’re also in the process of expanding our storage capacity by building a 50,000-ton silo.”
In conclusion, as she rounded out her comments, Clary stated how Putnam County is always looking toward the forefront of growth.
“How growth looks is different for everyone,” she said. “However we are continuing to push growth, we’re excited about growth and we love growth. We have to work together as a county to make sure that the county achieves its fullest potential.
"We’re really excited about our industrial growth, especially in Greencastle. We couldn’t do what we do without all of our partners who make this possible.”
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