New Noble County business | News Sun
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ALBION — Jerry Busche and Wes Spiess learned the process of mass producing precision automotive parts while working at Busche and Mobex.
Now, they’re going to take that know-how into the medical field.
The pair have purchased SSM Implants LLC, a medical tool company located in Liberty. Now they’re branching out to mass produce bone plates and screws at a factory site in Merriam.
On Monday, the Noble County Council voted to give the company a 10-year abatement on $5 million in new equipment to be phased in over two years at their new plant 4506 S. S.R. 109, which is across the street from QSI Automotive.
Council also voted to give a five-year abatement on $650,000 in improvements to the building and parking area.
The company plans to hire 25 workers, averaging nearly $29 per hour. Workers will work three 12-hour days per week.
Noble County Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Gary Gatman said adding another company which manufactures parts for the medical industry helps give the area a well balanced base.
“This is the kind of company you want,” Gatman said.
Busche said he and Spiess will use what they have learned in precision CNC manufacturing to make quality bone plates and screws.
“We’re going to go faster than what we laid out,” Busche said. “There’s so much need for medical (manufacturing).”
“We want to see you thrive,” Council vice-president Jerry Jansen said.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the council…
• heard a presentation from Noble County Sheriff Max Weber and Jail Commander Lt. Jenny Cummins regarding confinement officer pay.
“We’re lagging behind,” Weber told the council. “It’s like a revolving door out there.”
According to figures provided by Cummins, Noble County’s confinement officers are ranked fifth out of seven counties in Indiana with a county population between 40-50,000. Of those seven, Noble County has the largest facility and is averaging the second highest daily inmate population count.
Noble County confinement officers currently make $40, 163. That puts them at the bottom of the pay scale for neighboring counties. Confinement officers in LaGrange County, for example, make $44,820, nearly $2 more per hour than their counterparts in Albion.
“We are not competitive,” Cummins said.
Weber said Monday’s discussion with just informational officer, and he wasn’t asking for any immediate changes. But he said when budget talks come around this summer, it would be brought up again.
“You’ve got to prepare for this,” Weber said. “It would behoove us not to properly pay them.”
• set a pay scale for a new certified medical assistant position at the Noble County Health Department. The pay scale, as recommended by the council’s salary committee, called for a range from $40,000 to $44,614. The person doing this job would be promoted from a part-time position to full-time. Their responsibility would be centered around running the county’s immunization clinic, handling oversite of youngsters who test for higher level of led as well as serving as an assistant to the department’s school liaison.
Noble County Health Nurse Anne Lowe said she would like to see more in salary for the position.
“That would be at the lower end of what Parkview or Goshen (medical offices) would pay a CMA,” Lowe said.
The council voted to accept the salary committee’s recommendation.
A portion of that full-time employee’s wages will be paid through a state immunization grant.
In a related move, the council voted to set the pay scale for a a school liaison nurse at between $25-$30 per hour. The position requires a registered nurse credentials.
• Noble County Highway Department Engineer Zack Smith reported on preliminary road condition data. Each year, all 812 miles of county roads are driven by someone trained to score those roads on a scale of 1-10 by specific criteria.
This year’s overall road conditions averaged 6.75, up from 6.73 a year ago.
Road conditions overall have steadily improved in Smith’s tenure with the department.
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