Business View Magazine | August 2019

49 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE AUGUST 2019 when you combine them, they are very similar in size to the other two cities. We don’t have a single economic development agency for the entire county, because all three of those population centers have very strong economic development components. “In combination, Minster and New Bremen have more industrial jobs than St. Marys, and St. Marys has more industrial jobs that Wapakoneta. Wapakoneta has more service-sector jobs, but the industrial base is smaller. So, we need three- plus different entities working all the time in Auglaize County to meet the needs of our existing companies, as well as upcoming and future projects. We have what we call the Auglaize AUGLA I ZE COUNTY , OHIO County Economic Development Coalition. There are five of us representing each of those communities who meet regularly, talk about strategies, and make proposals to the County Commissioners for economic development funding. “You can see how similar we are in population base. The annual growth for the county is about .4 percent. We haven’t lost population, which is uncommon among rural communities throughout the U.S., but we haven’t grown significantly, and I believe that is to do with our ability to retain our young people after high school. We retain enough – and sometimes that’s not a bad thing, being stable. It’s a good way to plan for the future.”