Urbana is fortunate to have been chosen as the site for a new Weidmann Electrical Technologies, Inc. operation, which will bring 110 new jobs to the community when it is fully operational.

Weidmann will be a great addition to the community’s other fine manufacturing companies and will provide us with more manufacturing diversity in Urbana and Champaign County, which is beneficial to any community.

We estimate we have approximately 2,000 hours of staff time in working with Weidmann officials to analyze the cost and feasibility of locating in Urbana and seeking government incentives.

Many staff members devoted time to the project; however, Community Development Director Melanie Kendrick was the city’s champion for this project and did a terrific job in working with the company and coordinating efforts with all the stakeholders.

With the Weidmann project, Urbana is fortunate in many ways.

First, this project brought many people and agencies together to bring good jobs to our community. There was strong support from Mayor Ruth Zerkle and each member of City Council. Without their strong support, this project could not have happened.

There was also strong support and assistance from the Ohio Department of Development, the Ohio EPA Brownfield Division, the Champaign County Commissioners and Economic Development Director, the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce, the Champaign Improvement Corporation and our local development partners, Jerry and Brad Damewood.

Secondly, we should be proud that a quality company like Weidmann has the trust and confidence in our community to make such an investment. This trust and confidence is a reflection on the quality manufacturing work force and work ethic that is available in our community.

Thirdly, the Weidmann project is giving us experience in redeveloping our older and unused manufacturing facilities.

When an older and unused or under-utilized facility is classified a brownfield, which is the case with the Weidmann location, the redevelopment project is often eligible for Clean Ohio money to help redevelop the facility and make it a beneficial and useful property.

With this project, city staff member Doug Crabill is gaining invaluable experience in working with brownfields and gaining experience in obtaining Clean Ohio funding, which will help us work with other development partners to get more local facilities ready for new or expanding operations.

As we go along, we will continue our efforts to expand and bring good jobs to our community.

Bruce Evilsizor is the Urbana director of administration.