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Miami County EDA to host Groundbreaking Ceremony

Posted on May 14, 2012 by admin

Miami County Economic Development Authority (MCEDA) will host a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 2 p.m. to celebrate the kickoff of the Hangar 200 renovation and expansion project to accommodate Dean Baldwin Painting’s new location at the Grissom Aeroplex. This historic event will be the first aviation re-use for Hangar 200, a 129,000 sq ft. facility that the community received from the Air Force back in the 1994 base realignment. Aviation re-use is consistent with the county wide economic development strategic plan and utilizes the community owned aviation assets, as well as the joint use agreement between MCEDA and Grissom Air Reserve Base. This project offers a tremendous boost to North Central Indiana by helping to diversify the regional economy, as well as providing the opportunity to make use of the state’s longest runway of 12,500 ft. at Grissom.
The $13.8 million project will expand the hangar on the east and west sides by approximately 50,000 sq ft. total to accommodate wide body aircraft. The project is being funded jointly by the USDA, EDA, OCRA, and the local match provided by Miami County.
In attendance will be -Barbara Baldwin, CEO of Dean Baldwin Painting, Karl Anderson, COO of Dean Baldwin Painting, Dan Hasler- Secretary of Commerce for the State of Indiana, as well as other Federal & State Representatives, Regional Mayors, and local elected officials
Dean Baldwin Painting has signed a 30 year lease with Miami County and will employ 200 people within 2 years. They have been in business for 45 years and have 3 other locations in San Antonio, TX, Roswell, NM, and Phoenix, AZ.

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Gardeners Caring for City Entrance

Posted on March 28, 2012 by admin

By Jonathan Kleyer, Peru Tribune

Local members of the Master Gardeners are working this week to keep the Main Street and Business 31 entrance to Peru looking good.

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Master Gardeners started tending to the plants in the space around the “Welcome to Peru” sign last year. It is being coordinated by Carla Denham, member of the Master Gardeners and employee at Garden Gate Greenhouse.

“The goal is to make it look nice, and bright, and welcome people into Peru,” Denham said.

Work on the project involves cleaning up paper trash, pulling weeds, and applying Preen weed control. Unfortunately, there is a problem with people littering, and weeds get into the island when seeds blow across the roadway and get stuck in the gravel in the area, Denham said.

“So we need to weed and trim everything up,” she said.”It’s not so bad this year.”

The first year, there was more work, and the group started working in April. Denham said the warm weather prompted her to look at getting it started earlier this year. Last year there was also tall grass growing in the space that the group removed due to complaints drivers had their vision obscured by it.

In the past, the welcome space was cared for a Boy Scout working on his Eagle Scout award, and people have been trying to help out since. The Master Gardeners got involved out of a desire to help, to fulfill project hours and to meet the group’s goal of also working to educate the public on plant care.

Members of the public coming out would be shown how to do things such as apply weed control. Since the Master Gardeners are an organization out of Purdue University, education is half of its drive. Denham added that while she works at a greenhouse, her participation in the Master Gardeners still teaches her things.

Denham’s own interests also lie in beautification of the area. She said she was drawn to the project out of pride in Peru.

“It looks nice when people come in to town, and when employers are looking,” Denham said. “It’s about first impressions.”

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Bid Reopening on Hangar 200

Posted on February 7, 2012 by admin

By Jonathan Kleyer, Peru Tribune

The search for contractors to renovate the Grissom Aeroplex’s Hangar 200 begins again this month.

Jim Tidd, Miami County Economic Development Authority executive director, updated Miami County Commissioners on the status of the project during their meeting Monday.

MCEDA started advertising for contractor bid packages Friday, with a pre-bid meeting at 10 a.m. Feb. 15 in the Grissom Aeroplex building 109. Bidding closes at 3 p.m. March 14, with a special meeting of the MCEDA board held at 3:30 p.m. to open the sealed bid packages.

Officials have been reworking details to bring the project cost down since bids in October were rejected for running over the $10.3 million in funding available. Funding includes money from the EDA, USDA, Office of Community and Rural Affairs and some funding commitments from local entities such as the county.

Officials may need to look at the possibility of seeking additional funding for the project, as well, Tidd said.

“We’re not going to award contracts until we know we have the funds,” Tidd said.

During the meeting, commissioners acted on a recommendation by Miami County Highway Superintendent Sam Waltz to halt pursuit of Highway Safety Improvement Program funding to upgrade county road signs.

Miami County was approved for grant money to pay for a sign inventory project going over what the highway department has, which would be followed by grant money for a sign replacement project. HSIP provides up to $50,000 to carry out a sign inventory project, and up to $100,000 to work on sign upgrades.

Laura Slusher, of Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program – which helps administer the program – notified the county in an email that the sign replacement portion for the project was given the status “approval pending” due to a lack of available funding.

The project would remain eligible for funding for at least a year without officials having to reapply, according to Slusher.

VS Engineering prepared the grant application for the county, and the county had received 11 letters of interest to carry out the sign inventory, said Miami County Engineer Ken Einselen.

“Not that we don’t want the money. … But I can’t in good conscience make a recommendation on these proposals,” Waltz said.

After consulting the highway department’s sign man, David Hartleroad, Waltz said the department has more than 5,000 signs in its inventory, with sign locations marked in GPS.

The inventory seems adequate, so with HSIP’s limited funds, Waltz said it would be better to leave the funding for areas that have a higher need at the moment.

In other business, adoption of the proposed ordinance to combine the county’s planning and zoning department with the building department was unanimously approved.

In January, county attorney Pat Roberts introduced a draft of the ordinance changes previously discussed to combine the planning and zoning department and building department. The changes would allow the county to go forward with cross-training a building commissioner and planning and zoning administrator to officially work in the same office and cover for each other’s duties as needed. The topic will also have to go to the Miami County Council.

The commissioners also received a letter stating intent to resign from Jerry Klein, Perry Township Trustee.

Commissioners signed a resolution presented by Richard Vonnegut, vice chairman of the Hoosier Rails to Trails Council, to route National Bicycle Route 35 from the intersection of the Nickel Plate Trail and Lover’s Lane, east to Indiana 19, and then south through Peru.

Commissioners Chairman Craig Boyer voted against the resolution, saying he felt it would make the county liable to lawsuits if a cyclist were involved in an accident along the bicycle route.

Vonnegut originally asked to take the route into Peru by going west on Lover’s Lane, then south on Broadway – a route he said would give long-distance bikers easier access to local businesses they would need to restock on supplies – but the commissioners said they felt the route was too unsafe.

“We just feel this other way may be safer,” said Commissioners Vice Chairman Jon Faust.

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Florida Company Coming to Kokomo

Posted on November 2, 2011 by admin

Florida company coming to Kokomo

Daniel Human, Kokomo Tribune Staff Writer

A Florida-based metal, alloy and scrap supplier plans to expand into Kokomo and hire about 15 people over five years, the city announced Monday.

EAC Corp., which has its headquarters in Stuart, Fla., expects to begin operations in the city by the second quarter of 2012.

About $200,000 will go toward new equipment in a 7,500-square-foot facility. The company has not settled on a location.

EAC distributes base metals, high-temperature scrap and ferro alloys.

Jim Courts, vice president for the company, said the expansion from Florida to Kokomo, where he used to work for Haynes International Inc., will allow the family-owned business to begin processing specialty metals and alloys and distributing them more easily to customers.

“This is a complete new operation and expansion of the company,” Courts said. “We currently do not have anything like this.”

About 95 percent of EAC’s customers are in the Midwest, so the Kokomo facility will make the company’s deliveries easier.

“This business is about being able to get materials to your customers quick,” Courts said.

EAC plans to hire about five people initially to begin the Kokomo operations, then ramp up to about 15 employees over the next five years.

Mayor Greg Goodnight pointed to EAC’s investment as a step forward for the city’s strategy of creating jobs through many small investments, as opposed to a few large ones from major corporations.

He cited a report stating about 80 percent of job growth will be at companies of 100 employees or fewer.

Economic strategy has heavily revolved around diversifying Kokomo’s economy beyond the automotive industry while maintaining its factory-oriented roots.

“We have to capitalize on our talent here, which is manufacturing,” Goodnight said.

Courts said EAC has been lining up people to step in as managers once operations begin next year. The company also will need people to work in a variety of areas, such as processing, shipping and logistics.

© 2011 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.

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Delphi expects new $25 million Kokomo facility to be finished by December

Posted on October 28, 2011 by admin

Daniel Human, Kokomo Tribune Staff Writer

Kokomo — About a dozen people need to move and construction touch-ups need to be finished, then Delphi Electronics & Safety will have completed its physical separation from its former manufacturing facility across the street.

Employees of the auto parts supplier in Kokomo began shuffling in July from the north side of Lincoln Road to the south side. A $25 million lab building and accompanying utility building opened this summer at the southwest corner of Goyer Road.

U.S. Department of Energy official Patrick Davis, who manages the Vehicle Energy Technologies Program within the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy office, will visit Kokomo today for a ribbon cutting at the building.

About 5 percent of the construction and move remains, and Delphi expects that to be finished by December.

The building will rein in about 170 people scattered in offices the company has rented throughout General Motors Components Holdings.

As Delphi Automotive, then operating as Delphi Corp., emerged from bankruptcy in 2009, the company handed over its manufacturing facilities to General Motors Co. GM then created GMCH as an umbrella for the facilities it received from Delphi.

Joe Hendricks, program manager for Delphi’s site transition, said earlier this week the new construction has improved efficiency.

Rather than having close to 200 people traveling among Delphi’s rented offices in about 1 million square feet of another company’s property, employees will work in a little less than 100,000 square feet.

Floor space used by Delphi has decreased by about 30 percent, Hendricks said.

On top of the $25 million for construction, Delphi has spent about $5 million more on new equipment, said Gary Cameron, director of Power Electronics and Forward and Advanced Engineering at the company.

Four primary departments — Validation, Proto Engineering, Power Electronics and Delphi Product and Service Solutions — spread throughout the new lab building.

Validation Lab

The most area is reserved for Validation labs, which take up more than half the first floor and part of a second-level mezzanine.

Employees in Validation test for faults and durability in Delphi products.

Chambers are set up to examine effects on devices, from environmental factors and dynamics as well as the equipment’s electromagnetic compatibility.

“All three of these areas, what we’re charged with is simulation of the environment from the real world,” said Rob Bugher, engineering group manager for the Validation lab. “You might have a warranty that’s good for 100,000 miles. We’re making sure that the products Delphi produces are meeting those standards.”

Chambers in the environmental area can barrage Delphi products with temperature or humidity extremes to determine how well they hold up.

Dynamics equipment can jolt products with vibrations, like what a car might experience on a brick road in Europe, Bugher said.

Equipment for electromagnetic compatibility, also known as EMC, tests what would happen, for example, to a car battery when someone improperly places on jumper cables.

One of the most significant changes that came with Delphi’s new building, Cameron said, was the inclusion of Anechoic chambers in the EMC area. Structures the size of small garages have sound-absorbing walls that allow employees to test radar products without noise interference.

Power Electronics Lab

Delphi expects the hybrid vehicle market share to grow between 20 percent and 40 percent, Cameron said in August. That has led the company to start designing and producing components for the cars’ batteries.

“Now you’re pulling down huge amounts of voltage,” Hendricks said.

That has meant Delphi is working with a lot more electricity in the Power Electronics area in its new lab building.

There, employees have been working on converters, inverters, battery packs and other parts for hybrid vehicles, such as the Ford Fusion.

Also within the area are dynamometers, which can measure the force, torque and power of the electrified engines for which Delphi is developing parts.

Proto Lab

Drivers of almost any GM vehicle have likely had their radios pass through Delphi’s Proto Lab, which has moved into the company’s new building.

Lab employees make prototypes for all the products that come out of Delphi Electronics & Safety.

Jana Royal, engineering group manager for the Proto lab, said the company orders parts from around the world and stores them in a stock room in the area.

Engineers and designers bring in plans they have been working on, then lab employees produce the auto parts exactly as prints dictate.

Prototypes then go back to engineers and designers for any changes, move on for testing or ship to customers.

Product and Service Solutions

A 20-year-old radio regains a little more longevity in the Product and Service Solutions Lab.

The area’s overall intention is to work with customers to save money on products, such as remanufacturing old parts.

One area Delphi managers highlighted was an office in which the company refurbishes in-dash radios.

Joe Matura, electronics senior product line manager for Original Equipment Service in DPSS, said the department works with original equipment manufacturers to identify problems with old radios, some from as far back as the 1980s, then sends out solutions for repairs and updates.

Delphi uses a couple of selling points for the reconstruction.

The method is a cost-cutter for the customers by essentially fixing a used part, Matura said. And restoring radios can allow owners of vintage vehicles to update their cars’ electronics while maintaining some of the originality and integrity, he said.

© 2011 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.

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MCEDA Rebidding Hangar 200 Work

Posted on October 28, 2011 by admin

Miami County Economic Development Authority board members voted to reject all 10 bid packages opened in the board’s regular meeting earlier this month.

Engineering firm Bascon reviewed the bid packages and recommended rejecting them because they came “significantly over” the project’s $10.3 million budget, said Jim Tidd, MCEDA executive director.

Rejecting the bids will not be the end of the project, though it does affect the project’s schedule, Tidd said, adding he could offer no specific date for when the project will be able to move on.

Officials will be working on adjusting project specifications before putting the project out again for new bids. They said they hope to bring the project back under budget.

“We’re working on trying to restructure things,” Tidd said. “We’re very sure we will get this project done.”

Funding for the work includes a $6.2 million loan from the Office of Community and Rural Affairs, a $2.5 million grant from the Economic Development Administration and a $4.89 million loan from the USDA.

Specifications also need to be redefined to eliminate some confusion in coordinating work between the contractors bidding on the project, Tidd said.

Bid packages would have included multiple contracts on various aspects of the project. In the past, Tidd said MCEDA would consider awarding contracts for parts of the work in the hopes of receiving more competitive bids.

Initial engineering plans for the project were completed in July. The hangar, unused since 1994, needs to be expanded to accommodate larger planes, with contractors also working on temperature, air and lighting.

The renovations are to meet the needs of Dean Baldwin Painting, an aircraft maintenance company that has signed a lease to use the facility.

“Baldwin is aware of this,” Tidd said. “They understand and are still committed.”

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Grant Deadline Pushed Back

Posted on October 25, 2011 by admin

By Jonathan Kleyer Peru Tribune

Miami County Economic Development officials are seeking one more extension on the deadline to submit documents to the Office of Rural Community Affairs for a loan to help fund renovations for the Dean Baldwin Painting project.

Renovations for the Grissom Aeroplex’s Hangar 200 to accommodate the incoming aircraft maintenance company depend partly on a $6.2 million OCRA loan, alongside a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration.

OCRA’s latest deadline was Oct. 31, and the Miami County Commissioners signed a MCEDA letter to give their support in seeking a deadline extension. Right now, MCEDA is reviewing 15 bid packages from contractors hoping to carry out the project.

“Based on where the project is now, there’s no way we’re going to meet our deadline, so we’re asking to extend it,” said Jim Tidd, MCEDA executive director.

MCEDA’s next regular meeting is 10 a.m. Nov. 9 in the economic authority’s office. Tidd said the group is considering having a special meeting earlier to go ahead and take formal action on the bids that officials have been reviewing.

He also asked that the commissioners send a representative to the regular meeting Nov. 9 for the swearing in of Bill Newman. The commissioners recently appointed

Newman to fill a vacant seat on the MCEDA board.

The commissioners also discussed the Wounded Warriors Run, a charity five-kilometer run and walk being organized at the Grissom Aeroplex.

Jim Price, of the Grissom Air Museum, and Capt. Markus Trouerbach, commanding officer of the U.S. Marine Detachment One Communication Company, discussed details with the officials and sought their support because of expected traffic disruption.

The run, taking place Oct. 29 starting at the Grissom Air Museum, is expected to take up one side of roadway in the Grissom Aeroplex for about an hour and a half. Registration at the air museum will take place from 9 to 10:45 a.m., with the race starting at about 11 a.m.

Proceeds go to support the Homes for Wounded Warriors program, which aids wounded veterans who need a new home built or a home improved to accommodate the veteran’s physical needs.

“You’ll see a lot of marines out there, running and helping out. … We don’t make a lot of money with our runs, but this is a great way to get the community involved,” Trouerbach said. “It’s walk, crawl, run – any way you can make it.”

To learn more about Homes for Wounded Warriors or the run, go online to www.hwwp.org or e-mail Capt. Trouerbach at mark.trouerbach@usmc.mil.

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Solar company progresses toward Tipton County expansion despite industry woes

Posted on October 14, 2011 by admin

Daniel Human, Kokomo Tribune Staff Writer

TIPTON — Competitors’ collapses that drew criticisms to the U.S. solar industry do not mean the manufacturer planning a major expansion to Tipton County faces the same ill fate, the company says.

A handful of hires have already happened in Indiana, a spokeswoman for the company said Tuesday.

Abound Solar has remained adamant publicly for more than a month that it is operating smoothly and is not coping with the same struggles that led to the bankruptcy of fellow stimulus beneficiary Solyndra LLC.

Abound is using a $400 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand in Colorado then into Tipton County, where the company says it will add at least 850 jobs.

Solyndra, which received approval in 2009 for a $535 million loan guarantee, has brought the government program as well as the entire U.S. solar industry under public scrutiny after the company filed for bankruptcy.

The company followed Evergreen Inc. and SpectraWatt Inc. as the third U.S. solar equipment producer to file for bankruptcy within a month.

Abound on Monday also announced CEO Tom Tiller would step down for personal reasons. The company has appointed Craig Witsoe, head of Lineage Power, to take over the position.

“Solar is a relatively young market and there are going to be growing pains,” Abound wrote in the newsletter. “We believe that we are prepared to meet these changes and the associated challenges head on.”

Tipton County Commissioner Jane Harper said Tuesday area residents began contacting her soon after Solyndra collapsed. Concerns have emerged about whether Abound would actually begin operating at the never-used plant at the corner of U.S. 31 and Ind. 28.

She accredited a lot of the suspicions not only to a frenzy of attention on the solar industry since Solyndra’s bankruptcy, but the history of the empty sprawling factory, which previously belonged to Chrysler and Getrag Transmission.

The two automotive companies built most of what would have been a transmission plant. But both owners backed out of the construction in 2008, when the building was about 90 percent complete.

“[Area residents] just are more wary because, let’s face it, that building has looked like it has right now since 2008,” Harper said.

Every indication is that the company remains healthy, she said.

“They’re trying to button up the plant right now,” she said. “They’ve kept their payments current with Tipton Utilities. … Say they were late on payments or didn’t return emails, I’d be a little worried. They’re still doing everything they said they would.”

But it will require patience as Abound creeps toward its expansion to Indiana.

The set-up of the DOE loan guarantee requires the company to first add two lines to the one it started with at its plant in Longmont, Colo. Most of the loan, $300 million, comes afterward so the company can add production lines in Tipton.

Tania Ku, a spokeswoman for Abound, said the project is “on track” as the company finishes installing its second line in Longmont. The addition of the third line should finish in the first half of 2012, she said.

The company has filled a few management positions so far for the Tipton County plant.

Most hires, which Abound has said could reach as many as 1,000, will not happen until the production lines ramp up over the next couple years.

The company expects to have the factory fully operational by 2014.

Abound says on its website the Tipton plant is still in planning stages and the company will post jobs online as they open.

About 80 people have begun working for the company this year in Colorado, Ku said, bringing total employment up to 400.

Much of Abound’s ability to survive in the solar market will depend on the company’s ability to reduce production costs below $1 per watt.

A key to that is a thin-film coating of cadmium-telluride, a semi-conductor used by Abound, as well as solar giant First Solar and global conglomerate General Electric. The material is cheaper but less-efficient at converting sunlight to electricity than a material commonly used by industry titans in China, polycrystalline silicon.

While Solyndra, like Abound, produced thin-film solar panels, one point Abound has noted as an advantage it had over its now-defunct competitor was Solyndra produced cylindrical panels at a much higher cost.

© 2011 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.

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Completion of $213 million Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor 2 years away

Posted on October 12, 2011 by admin

Jonathan Kleyer, Peru Tribune

Work on Indiana 25 from Logansport to Lafayette, and on U.S. 24 from Fort Wayne to Toledo for the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor, will be complete in the next two years.

More than 150 people gathered in the Western Howard Conservation Club for the 29th yearly update on the project.

“For over 20 years, government officials, business leaders and Hoosiers have been working toward the completion of the Heartland highway,” Congressman Todd Rokita said. “Completion is close at hand and not a moment too soon. At a time many Hoosiers are desperately in need of jobs, this project will bring critical economic development and opportunity to north central Indiana. The Heartland highway offers a bright future for this region of our state.”

Because of the country’s debt — about 42 percent of every dollar the government spends has been borrowed — many are wondering where to get money to maintain and build roads and bridges. However, because of the work between different agencies from the corridor’s area, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) and state government, the project will be able to keep moving, Rokita said.

“This project is successful because the answer came from here, not from Washington,” he said. “I hope to be able to help bring this project to a landing, start the next phase, move on to another project.”

The entire project has a total estimated cost of $213 million, said Robert Tally, Federal Highway Administration Indiana division administrator. About 80 percent of that was federally funded.

“At a federal level, we are still facing an uncertain future as far as our infrastructure. … We need to be mindful of this,” Tally said. “This corridor will land successfully.”

INDOT has already started work on the two sections, and the department has confirmation that the work is fully funded, said Jim Earl, INDOT project manager.

“I’m very encouraged that the deadlines appear to be on track, and the funding is committed,” said Tom Weatherwax, Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor chairman. “Today, if you didn’t have something done and didn’t have the funding committed, you might have trouble getting somewhere.”

For the corridor’s connection from Fort Wayne to Toledo, INDOT is working on U.S. 24 up to the state line. To do this, five road construction contracts and one environmental contract were made. Two of the five sections of roadway are already complete and open to traffic, and the rest are expected to be complete late 2012 or early 2013, Earl said.

For Indiana 25 from Lafayette to Logansport, 26 contracts had to be awarded to work on more than 35 miles of roadway. Of those, 13 are working on the road itself, and eight are working on bridges. Land acquisition and permitting are ongoing, but the entire section should be complete sometime in 2013.

The goal of the highway development is to create a four-lane highway connecting the Wabash Valley to other regional and national areas, trying to promote the area’s economy with greater accessibility. Bridges over the Wabash River were started in 1991, a Fort Wayne bypass was opened in 1995, work on the corridor from Logansport to Peru completed in 1999 and work completed from Huntington to Wabash in 2000.

“Upon completion of the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor, all of the communities along its route will see improved economic benefits, including the creation of new jobs and better opportunities for the citizens that live there,” Peru Mayor Jim Walker said.

Copyright © 2011 Peru Tribune

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County ready for new projects

Posted on October 4, 2011 by admin

Several construction projects are coming up for Miami County as officials move forward on plans to expand the Grissom Aeroplex’s Hangar 200 and to perform bridge rehabilitation in the Converse area.

Jim Tidd, Miami County Economic Development Authority, reported to the Miami County Commissioners that MCEDA will have a public meeting 10:30 a.m. Oct. 12 to open bids received to carry out hangar renovations for the incoming aircraft painting company, Dean Baldwin Painting.

“Last count I knew we had 39 different plan holders, that is, contractors requested the project’s plans,” Tidd said. “Last pre-bid meeting we had, there were over 70 contractors attending, so we’re anticipating a lot of bids to review.”

Previously, Tidd has said MCEDA expects to use about eight contractors to perform the renovations.

After opening the bids and taking time to consider them, MCEDA expects to award contracts in early November, Tidd said.

County commissioners gave permission for officials to start advertising for contractor bids to work on rehabilitating the South 1050 East bridge south of East Sycamore Street.

“We’re going to rehabilitate it,” said Miami County Commissioners Chairman Craig Boyer. “It’s been on the schedule maybe as long as four years. We’re using plans that already existed, and it will be bid soon.”

Because the county already had bridge repair plans drawn up in the past, officials want to have a contractor work on the bridge with county employees providing engineering services, instead of also hiring an engineering firm, Boyer said.

The commissioners also gave permission for Miami County Emergency Management Agency Director Kris Marks and Assistant Director Michele Fershee to formally join a district mutual aid task force being formed for Indiana’s district three.

The two have already been assisting agencies in the area because the activity contributes toward reimbursements given to the county for their salaries, so formally agreeing to provide aid should not make much of a change in the local EMA’s workload, Marks said.

The district has been working on putting together a mutual aid agreement for several years, he added.

“We kind of need (the agreement) because up until now, it’s been kind of a verbal agreement,” Marks said. “This is formalizing things on paper.”

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