Business View Civil & Municipal l November 2022

59 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 9 life has proven an appealing place for its 1,000 employees to set their roots. To prepare for the anticipated growth, Putnam has been working with local developers to encourage more housing development. “We already have several Nucor managers living in our county, and we’re very excited to have their families become a part of our community,” Tenney says. “Depending on where you are in the county, you could be just about 20 minutes away from the plant.” The county’s largest employer is a Toyota Motor Manufacturing Plant located in the city of Buffalo. “They have over 2,100 employees and are definitely our pride and joy here in Putnam County,” Tenney raves. “They started the plant in 1990 and have grown through more than a dozen expansions since then. We are very thankful to have them in our Putnam County.” The county also has a large food production base, thanks to its wealth of agriculture. They are also looking to expand into more distribution, with spaces available in the industrial park along the newly finished Route 35. “We’re primed for it,” Tenney says. “We have some distribution along I-64, which is the major interstate that comes through Teays Valley, but with Route 35 complete, we have a direct shot to Dayton and Columbus. There is definitely a great opportunity.” almost complete,” Steele says. “It has been built by volunteer labor. More than 350 people have volunteered, and they are up to more than 11,000 volunteer hours at this point. It’s becoming one of the biggest attractors to our area. It is a great trail system right in the middle of our most populated area in the county. But then you enter the trail system and you feel like you’re in this remote wooded area because it’s just very secluded. It’s this funny juxtaposition where you’re just two minutes from the local restaurants and shopping, but you feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere.” The county isn’t lacking when it comes to restaurants, either. “One thing that’s unique for a community our size is the amount of locally owned restaurants,” Steele says. “We have a wide variety and selection of local foods including some great ethnic flavors, some Appalachian-based cuisine, you’ve got home country cooking like people associate with West Virginia, but also some higher end. We have a really great farm-to-table restaurant right in our area. I think that’s something folks might not expect from a place of our size.” All of what Putnam County has to offer is attracting a lot of growth to the area. Steel manufacturer, Nucor Corporation, is building a state-of-the-art sheet metal facility in nearby Mason County and Putnam’s friendly way of PUTNAM COUNTY , WEST V I RGINI A Ashley Alford Glance, President of the Board of Directors of Putnam County Chamber of Commerce Morganne Tenney, Executive Director of the Putnam County Development Authority