On Monday at the Shelbyville Common Council meeting at City Hall, the council unanimously approved a 10-year tax abatement for Ryobi, located at 800 W. Mausoleum Road, to assist with the company’s latest project that will add 22 new employees to its current roster of 868 employees.
“This tax abatement is the second of three in the revitalization and changeover of Ryobi Die Casting from what we normally see as a regular transmission type of casing, which they’ve done for decades, to electric vehicles and also to stationary static parts of their aluminum casts,” said Ryobi attorney Stephen Schrumpf.
Ryobi will purchase and install new manufacturing equipment to support additional production lines being used for new business. The project will cost $10,217,000 and is expected to be completed by April 2024.
“This is exciting in a sense that an old type of industry is transitioning into being a very modern and very sophisticated facility,” said Schrumpf.
The new equipment consists of a die casting machine and finishing lines for the die casting machine’s production.
The 22 new employees needed will make an average hourly rate of $23.58.
The 10-year tax abatement starts at 100% in the first year and reduces by 10% each subsequent year until the 10-year period ends.
Interlocal agreement
The council approved an interlocal agreement with Shelby County to transfer recently received 2022 opioid funds into one account to be managed and dispersed.
“This is an interlocal agreement between the city and the county for the county to transfer their portion of the match dollars from the grant from FSSA to the city,” explained Shelbyville City Attorney Jennifer Meltzer to allow all documentation regarding the grant to come from one building (City Hall). “The county is in agreement with this. It is on their agenda later in December as well.”
The city’s Board of Works approved the interlocal agreement Tuesday morning at its regular meeting.
The full FSSA (Indiana Family & Social Services Administration) grant is for $406,898. Match money from the city is $181,000 and the county is $24,917.15, according to Meltzer.
“We have been working on programming for these funds for months, if not over a year or maybe two years, because we knew this would be coming eventually,” said Shelbyville Mayor Tom DeBaun. “We wanted to have programming in place to be prepared once those dollars did become available.
“We have had countless meetings internally. We’ve had meetings with the county. We’ve had meetings with the hospital. We’ve had meetings with other mental health providers.”
Keyen Macklin, the city’s Behavioral Health & Justice Equity Director, will administrate the funds.
Gateway Corridor Project
At an October meeting, the council approved the process to start receiving Requests For Proposals (RFP) for a gateway corridor project along State Road 9 from Interstate 74 to downtown Shelbyville.
The deadline to receive the RFPs was Monday. Three were received but will sit unopened for at least two weeks.
Mayor-elect Scott Furgeson, who is currently the Fourth Ward representative on the common council, stated Monday night he will not push forward with the proposed $9 million project when he becomes mayor in January.
Furgeson is not in favor of the city paying for the entire project.
“I don’t believe that this project for $9 million is something we should be spending our own money on,” he said. “There are ways to get federal money. I believe the city did apply for federal money on this project a couple years ago … and it was turned down.
“I think it is a good project but I think using our own money is not the best way to use our money when there is money out there. Now will that come about quickly? Three years? Four years? Five years? That is hard to say.”
Furgeson stated he would like to see the city pay for the installation of proposed roundabouts at the stop light at Michigan Road and Knauf Drive and at the entrance to the Isabella Farms subdivision currently under construction along State Road 9.
Furgeson believes the city could receive federal dollars to work on the beautification aspects of the corridor and the installation of sidewalks and a trail path headed north out of downtown Shelbyville.
The council has one scheduled meeting left in 2023. The first meeting of 2024 will include Furgeson as mayor and four new council members joining Betsy Means-Davis (Second Ward), Mike Johnson (Third Ward) and Thurman Adams (Fifth Ward).
Kassy Wilson will replace Joanne Bowen as the First Ward representative and Linda Sanders will fill Furgeson’s seat as the Fourth Ward representative. In addition, Dennis Harrold and Chuck Reed will fill the At-Large seats, replacing Rob Nolley and Brian Asher.
A committee needs to be formed to open the RFPs but with the turnover coming in January, the council agreed some discussion was needed on how to proceed. The stated plan Monday was to have a committee in place by the next council meeting on Dec. 18.
“My concern is if we piece meal it, there is no guarantee for funding,” said DeBaun, who went on to state his belief in the need for increased pedestrian safety along the corridor. “However the council moves forward I would ask that, not to use a pun, but there is a comprehensive plan for what happens out there because I think there are several elements that need to be addressed. This was our shot at addressing all of them.
“If this council or a future council does not feel this is a way to go, that’s fine, but I want it understood it is my belief there are some safety issues out there that need to be addressed collectively.”
Get the most recent Shelby County Post headlines delivered to your email. Go to shelbycountypost.com and click on the free daily email signup link at the top of the page.
