Palenick smiled during Tuesday’s city council meeting when taking about luring a company from Hamilton to Middletown.
”We are excited,” he told council members. “Very pleased.”
Council will vote at its next meeting on July 20 whether to authorize a small business grant of $15,000 to assist with building improvements and electrical updates needed to move operations and equipment.
Keith Joyce, administrator of Access Envelope, told the Journal-News on Thursday that the company has started moving operations to Middletown. He said the company is doing “two jobs at once” in Hamilton and Middletown trying to fill the backlog of orders.
Joyce said they were looking for a new location when they drove by an empty building at the corner of Terry Drive and Carmody Boulevard.
Access Envelopes is a specialized manufacturer that produces envelopes or “pockets” for the bank industry, medical field and hospitality trade, he said. The company opened in February 2000.
Palenick believes the company will be the first to primarily relocate in Middletown because of the city’s federally funded Opportunity Zone, a designation and investment program created by the Tax Cuts ad Jobs Act of 2017 allowing for certain investments in lower income areas to have tax advantages.
The company’s six full-time employees earn $205,000, and will grow its employment to 18 positions with a payroll of $615,000 by Dec. 31, 2024, according to the staff report.
The company must remain at the Middletown location for at least four years from the date it notifies the city in writing that it will move forward with its expansion.
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