Spear Corp. to seek abatement on second warehouse building

Two years into a tax abatement agreement with Putnam County, things are going well for Spear Corp.

Things are going so well, in fact, that the Roachdale-based manufacturer of commercial pool equipment is looking to expand again.

Founder Jim Spear told the Putnam County Council on Tuesday that the company has already exceeded the employment growth estimated when the last abatement was approved.

While the request for abatement on the new building will not be on the agenda until July, the request Tuesday, made by Putnam County Economic Development Director Kristen Clary, was for the property to be declared an economic revitalization area -- a required precursor of abatement.

The resolution was approved unanimously.

Spear said the plans for the new structure will give Spear a total of 36,000 square feet of building space.

In other business:

* The council re-appointed Ken Eitel to the board of the Putnam County Community Foundation.

* Hearings for the 2016 county budget are set for Sept. 20-22. The council will meet at 9 a.m. each day.

* Council President Darrel Thomas also called on his fellow members to spend some time thinking about what sorts of projects the foresee the county needing or wanting to undertake in the coming years.

"I think it would be in our best interest at one of our council meetings in the next two or three months to develop a want list of things we need in the next few years that are going to cost us big bucks," Thomas said.

Thomas invited fellow council members Keith Berry, Gene Beck, Jill Bridgewater, Dave Fuhrman, Phil Gick and Larry Parker to make a top-five list of priorities so that a master list can be developed.