Article submitted by James Master Managing Editor of The Pilot News
MARSHALL COUNTY — Laura Walls, president and CEO of the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC), presented a quarterly report to the County Commissioners on Monday.
She started things off by giving the commissioners some highlights from the previous year. The total investment for the year resulted in $80.2 million in capital investment and 331 new jobs. Business attraction accounted for $13.2 million in capital investment and 114 new jobs while business expansions accounted for $67 million in capital investment and 217 new jobs.
“But the most exciting thing lately has been that we have closed on the Plymouth Manufacturing Center,” Walls said. Divert, Inc is the buyer and has a multi-phase development approach for its Plymouth operations. Dec. 26 was the start of the buildout. Walls reported that this will result in 55 new full-time employees with an average hourly wage of $30.48. She said that operations are expected to start in the spring.
Commissioner Kevin Overmyer asked if Divert was a waste to energy process company. Walls explained the first phase in Divert’s multi-phase approach.
“This first phase is taking food waste from grocery stores and analyzing it,” she said. She stated that if a grocery store took its food waste to Divert, the company would be able to analyze the amount and “they’ll tell them what the waste is made up of and so they (the grocery store) can make adjustments to their purchasing.”
Expansion plans are already being made, Walls said. “Eventually, the system will be completely contained, but they’ll eventually use the food waste to produce bio diesel, or biofuel, but that looks to be a couple of years down the road.”
Commissioner Mike Burroughs asked if Divert has other plants in Indiana. Walls replied that while there are no other plants in Indiana, Divert does have a plant on the East coast and one in Los Angeles.
“Their process is very clean and meticulous,” she added.
Walls said that the Plymouth facility will service the northeast section of Illinois, northern Indiana, and northwest Ohio, and southern Michigan.
In December 2021, the unemployment rate in Marshall County was .9 percent according to Walls. Her numbers show that in December 2020 there were 21,757 in the county’s labor force. In December 2021, there were 22,142 which means that 385 more county residents were employed in Dec. 2021 when compared to the previous year.
“I never imagined I would see a time when a county’s unemployment rate was below one percent,” Walls said.
Mike Miley, president of the Plymouth Redevelopment Commission, spoke about the .9 percent unemployment rate. “That unemployment number has just flabbergasted me for a while. Isn’t it true
that there’s another component that goes into that, that it’s people that are actively seeking employment? So, it’s kind of a misnomer in a way.”
Miley also asked Walls if she had the total number of jobs, for the years of 2021 and 2020, that are in the county.
“The reason why I brought up the 385 new members of the labor force in December ‘21 is because it’s true to be counted in that unemployment number you have to be seeking a job. But there are 385 people that are now working in December ‘21 that weren’t in ‘20. We’re seeing actual people filling jobs in Marshall County,” Walls said.
As to the number of jobs that are available, Walls said that “there are a lot of jobs available, and some of it is replacing people who have left to go to a different position, but on the business expansion side 217 new jobs were created in 2021 for new positions for expansion projects. So, I think it’s a combination of it’s hard to find labor, companies are growing, and they can’t fill what their current demand was let alone what their new expanded demand is.”
