The Lake View City Council approved a resolution Monday night laying the groundwork for economic development incentives for Evapco’s planned expansion. Administrator, Scott Peterson, says representatives from the industrial cooling and refrigeration company attended the council’s latest meeting and provided an update on the project.
Evapco is investing approximately $12.5 million for the project: about $9.5 mill in construction costs and $3 million in equipment purchases. The addition to the community’s property tax base is substantial in its own right, but Peterson says the company is also preparing for a notable increase in available jobs.
He notes officials are assisting the company with getting the expansion up and running as quickly as possible. The city will install an approximately mile-long, 12-inch water main to the new plant to account for the increased water usage at the site. Early cost estimates on that effort come in around $568,000, which will be paid for using
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Refrigerated locker service now online in SW towns that lost grocery stores
The owner of a pair of small food markets in southwest Iowa is opening two sets of refrigerated lockers in nearby communities that no longer have grocery stores.
Theo Ramsey, who runs Ramsey’s Market, with stores in Lenox and Manning, is now offering the locker service in Shelby and Walnut. Ramsey says it’s a simple system.
“Folks would shop online and if they get in their order by 5 PM, we guarantee it the next day by 5 PM, usually much earlier,” Ramsey says. “Folks would get a notification when we deliver their stuff to the locker, punch in the code, pop open the doors, grab their stuff and go home.”
Ramsey is calling the new venture “Fresh Out of the Box,” and he anticipates it will quickly become very popular. It’s not just about the groceries, he says, but it’s also about keeping people in their rural communities and helping those towns continue to grow.
The lockers are part of a pilot program funded through Iowa Economic Development Authority’s rural initiative program. Ramsey was awarded a Catalyst Grant of $100,000 and an Empower Rural Iowa grant of $20,000 to kick start the estimated $1.9 million project.
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