Greg Matt and Jeff Berg Run Unopposed in Primary Election for Seats on Knox City Council

Greg Matt
Jeff Berg

There are two other candidates running for a seat on the Knox City Council and they are unopposed in the Knox Primary Election.

Greg Matt has served for eight-and-a-half years on the Council and he says that his focus is the economy and jobs.

“In the next four years, I hope we can continue our partnership with the Starke County Economic Development Foundation and bring in more industry and more jobs,” said Matt. “Charlie’s been a great asset to us and we’ve been quite successful. A lot of that is because he had a great opportunity to bring in the rail into our Industrial Park. I’m very pro industry because that gives us a lot of employment and that’s what we would all like to see.”

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JW Hicks Presents Expansion Plans to Knox City Council

Knox City Council #2
Back Row: Mayor Rick Chambers, Ed Blue, Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston, Greg Matt and Attorney David Matsey. Front Row: Linda Berndt, Jeff Berg and Ron Parker

James Hicks, accompanied by his son Brian, Josh Deal and Starke County Economic Development Foundation Director, Charles Weaver, attended the Knox City Council meeting Tuesday night. Hicks, the owner of JW Hicks, Inc., which includes a plant in Knox, came before the Council to announce plans for a 110,000 square foot addition to the Knox facility. Continue reading

City of Knox, MPI, Working to Properly Treat Chemicals at Knox Wastewater Treatment Facility

Knox Wastewater Treatment Plant

Mayor Rick Chambers updated the Knox City Council members on the possible resumption of water discharge from the Indiana Fine Blanking (MPI) Plant in Knox into the City Wastewater Treatment Plant.

MPI has to treat the metals it produces so no rust will appear on the finished product. A soap is used in the water treatment to clean the metal. When it was discharged into the Knox Wastewater Treatment Plant, it was interfering with the plant’s equipment. According to Wastewater Superintendent, Kelly Clemons, the size of the plant and its equipment made it impossible to handle the discharge.

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Driving Force Behind Creation of Starke County Economic Development Foundation Dies

Robert E. Hamilton

A driving force behind the creation of the Starke County Economic Development Foundation has died at his retirement home in Colorado. Bob Hamilton came to Knox as the President of the Farmer’s Bank and Trust Company which is now Key Bank.

Upon his arrival in the early 1980’s, Hamilton realized Starke County needed a way to attract industry. He once said, “How can the bank make loans if people don’t have jobs to pay the loan off?”

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S.C.P. Property Sells in Starke County Tax Sale

The S.C.P. property sold Tuesday in the tax sale conducted at the Starke County Annex. S.C.P., doing business as the Federal Group on Culver Road in Knox, had been placed on the sale for back taxes of $93,000. The company’s four parcels of land and buildings were put on the auction, with opening bids of $300.00.

Purchasing all four of the parcels was the Starke County Economic Development Foundation, with with Ben Osinski of the Foundation’s Board placing the bids. The 40 acre parcel of land went for $500 and the other three parcels went for $300 a piece.

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Testimony Heard on Mint Distillery Bill

Charles Weaver
Charles Weaver

Starke County Economic Development Foundation Director, Charles Weaver, testified last week on a legislative bill that would lessen the requirement for mint farmers of having to acquire burdensome permits and regulations that could force them to not continue in that farming field. According to Weaver’s testimony, none of the mint farmers in Starke County know if they will be able to extract the oil from the crop because of the permit issue.

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Northwest Indiana Forum Elects Managing Board of Directors

Charles Weaver
Charles Weaver

The Northwest Indiana Forum membership elected its 2011 Managing Board of Directors at its annual meeting last week at the Horseshoe Casino.

Among the new directors elected to continue are: Linda Woloshansky, Center of Workforce Innovations; Ed Volk, LaPorte Municipal Airport; Charles Weaver Starke County Economic Development Foundation; and Bill Wellman, Whiteco.

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