The Wyandot County Office of Economic Development held its 10th Annual Dinner on Thursday, November 8th. The 
organization celebrated 10 years of local impacts along with a record crowd of nearly 150 individuals. Recapping the past year, WCOED Executive Director Greg Moon welcomed 7 new members to the economic development board, and noted the organization’s new and ongoing workforce development efforts, redesigned website, and recent major projects.
This year’s major projects, including the new Transglobal Door location in Upper Sandusky, and the expansion of Hanon Systems USA in the Village of Carey, accounted for the commitment of 284 new jobs created resulting in over $9.6 million in new annual payroll. Both of these were record annual metrics for the organization.
Moon also highlighted the local economic development organization’s 10-year cumulative impact since inception, which including the following metrics:
The next portion of the night’s agenda provided acknowledgement to the organization’s “founding members”, which included all members that had been a part of the organization since its first year in operation. Those members included: ALVADA ACI CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, ANGELINE SCHOOL & INDUSTRIES, CLOUSE CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION, CSI CONSTRUCTION SERVICES INC., DOUG FRISCH, THE FIRST CITIZENS 
NATIONAL BANK, FIRST FEDERAL BANK, FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF SYCAMORE, GARY WARD, CPA & ASSOCIATES LLP, KIMMEL CORPORATION, M.C. DIVERSIFIED, NORTH CENTRAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC., PFEIFER HARDWARE, ROYNON ELECTRICAL PRODUCTS COMPANY, SCHILLING PROPANE COMPANY, UIS INSURANCE AND INVESTMENTS, UPPER UNITED DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, VAUGHN INDUSTRIES, THE VILLAGE OF CAREY, WYANDOT COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, and WYANDOT MEMORIAL HOSPITAL.
The next portion of the evening featured what were voted as the Top 10 Projects of the Past 10 Years. Leaders behind each of the projects provided an overview including the reasons behind making investments in Wyandot County, and
the results of those projects. The top 10 projects included:
- The creation of the Wyandot Solar Farm (2009-2010)
- The Andersons expanding into their Upper Sandusky facility (2013)
- Kalmbach Feeds ongoing expansion of its MPK facility, and the establishment of the new REK feed mill facility (2016-2018)
- Vaughn Industries development of both the Arrowhead Commerce Park (2013) and Sheriden Subdivision (2018) in the Village of Carey
- Continental Structural Plastics paint line expansion (2014)
- The Wyandot County Commissioners courthouse roof and renovation project (2014-2015)
- The new Hanon Systems USA location in the Village of Carey (2015-2016)
- Mennco Grain’s Upper Sandusky, Nevada, and Wharton Expansions (2016-2017) and the new Mennel Popcorn location and investments (2017-2018) by Mennel Milling
- The expansion of Kimmel Corporation in downtown Upper Sandusky (2017-2018)
- The new Carey distribution center of Smith Drug Company (2017-2018)
Lastly the WCOED awarded it annual Significant Contribution to Economic Development Awards to 3 different organizations for projects completed over the last year. The 3 award winners included:
- Kalmbach Feeds – for the establishment of the new REK feed mill including the commitment of at least 30 new full-time jobs with new annual payroll of $1.8 million, and over $16 million in new capital investment.
- Smith Drug Company – for its new Carey distribution center, which expanded a 101,250 square foot speculative facility by an additional 33,000 SF. Including a commitment of 50 new jobs with new annual payroll of $2.2M, and over $16 million in new capital investment.
- Vaughn Industries – for the development of the new Sheriden Subdivision; a 23 acre development with 18+ developable acres. All utilities, roads, curbs, street lighting, and landscaping present providing multiple shovel-ready lots for commercial development. The 16,000 square foot Blanchard Valley Medical Center part of which is already under construction.