City lauds Grubaugh for work on wall

By Editor | May 22, 2019 |

After haggling with Dennis Grubaugh for the past couple of years over repairing the wall of a downtown building left exposed after a demolition project, city officials praised Grubaugh for what is essentially the finished product.
Early in Monday’s city council meeting, Mayor Rick Gottman commended Grubaugh for his work on the exterior wall of his building at 507 W. Gallatin St., noting that Grubaugh had worked on the project all weekend.
Later in the meeting, Alderman Andy Lester added his praise for the work. “It looks really nice,” Lester said.
Lester also praised Justin Durbin for the work being done on the exterior of his building at 101 S. Fifth St., and Willms & Associates for building the patio at the corner of Fourth and Gallatin streets, noting that all three projects help to improve the appearance of the downtown area.
The praise for Grubaugh comes after a long-running dispute between him and the city how the appearance of the wall was to be addressed.
Grubaugh initially asked, in April of last year for a Tax Increment Financing grant of $220,000 to repair the wall, and the council came back with an offer of $100,000 for taking care of the problem with a Dri-Vit coating.
Grubaugh rejected that offer, saying that he wanted the wall to be kept in its original condition with repairs to address problems.
The issue was resolved this March when the council approved a TIF grant of up to $100,000 for the remediation project.
That agreement included Grubaugh selling to the city three lots in the 100 block of South Fifth Street.
Also at Monday’s meeting:
• The council, as expected due to the continuing growth of the business, to approve an amendment to the TIF redevelopment agreement with Mark Langston and his business, Octochem, which includes an extension of a current TIF benefit.
Through its current TIF agreement, Octochem is receiving 90 percent tax abatement. Langston wants to extend that current agreement for five years and than to that, add 12 years, for a total of 16 years, as long as the city’s request for extending TIF incentives is granted by the state.
During a work session two weeks ago, Langston presented his plans for a new 70,000-square-foot addition to the business on Wagner Drive on Vandalia’s north side.
Langston estimates the cost of the new addition at $4.76 million, with the total investment of the expansion being about $5.5 million.
Langston started his marketing and sample fulfillment services business in 1995, and relocated it with an expansion in his hometown in 2003. It took on expansion projects in 2008 and 2013.
Vandalia Director of Economic Development Amber Daulbaugh, who is now the administrator of the city’s TIF program, said that within five years of Octochem being in Vandalia, 20 jobs were created and that it now employs 75 people.
Langston projects adding 40-50 jobs in the next six or seven years.
• The council approved the transfer of Vandalia Lake lot No. 20 from Bryan Hartwick of Granite City to Feron and Melissa Ice of Salem.
• The council approved the purchase of a zero-turn Grasshopper mower for Vandalia cemeteries from Chancellor Outdoor Solutions of Vandalia, at a cost of $5,550.
Mayor Rick Gottman said that the city received $3,550 from the Old Capitol Foundation to help fund the purchase.
• Six days after the Fayette County Board gave preliminary support for a temporary extension of the Vandalia/Fayette County Enterprise Zone, the city council took the same action.
Matt Hortenstine of Taylor Law Office in Effingham, who is representing Ranger Power, told of that company’s plans to build a 99-megawatt solar facility on 700 acres northeast of Ramsey.
Hortenstine said it’s estimated that the project will create 400-500 construction jobs and about five permanent jobs, and will generate about $300,000 in new real estate tax monies annually.
Construction is tentatively scheduled to get under way next year and be completed in 2021.