In an e-mail message sent to all members, Fostoria Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors President Chris Chalfin announced that Sally McDonald is no longer the Chamber Director.  No reason was given.  McDonald was hired as chamber director back in December, replacing Pamela Smith who announced on Oct. 23, 2014 she would be stepping down to lead the Erie County Chamber of Commerce in Sandusky.  Celena Runion will be overseeing operations of the Chamber for the near future.

Hancock County’s commissioners voted Tuesday to immediately increase the county’s hotel/motel bed tax by 3 percent to benefit the Marathon Center for the Performing Arts and the Hancock County Agricultural Society.  Two percent of the additional tax will benefit the arts center, and 1 percent will go to the agricultural society for seven years.  The tax money must be used for improvements to property or for assets with a life of at least five years.
 

The Fostoria Economic Development Corporation has partnered with the Ohio State University to lay the foundation for the renaissance of downtown Fostoria.  Fourteen students — all majoring in city and regional planning — are in the process of developing a realistic and sustainable revitalization plan for Fostoria’s business district.  The students are divided into four groups — Infrastructure; Economic Development; Historic Preservation; and, Parks, Recreation, Entertainment and Culture — to provide a more broad and encompassing focus on all aspects of community development.  The students will present the finished product with supporting documentation to FEDC in December, all free of charge to both FEDC and the city. 
 

Fostoria City Council on Tuesday gave the first of three readings to a $150,000 loan to BMP Maintenance Group, LLC. for the replacement of several conveyors inside a former fertilizing facility at 602 Findlay St. now owned by Mennel Milling.  The $150,000 capital investment will come from Fostoria’s Revolving Loan Fund for the replacement of material handling conveyors and the purchase of a stainless steel conveyor.  Mennel said his company purchased the property last year and employees have been steadily rehabbing it with the goal of storing bulk commodities such as salt and mulch inside it.

High School Football computer rankings are out.  In Division I Region I, Findlay has fallen to 10^th.  In Division III Region 8, Bowling Green is number 8.  Liberty Benton is 9^th in Division V Region 16.  In Division IV Region 20, the Chieftains of Hopewell-Loudon are 8^th.  In Division VII Region 24, McComb is number 3, Arlington 6^th, Lakota 7^th, Leipsic 8^th, North Baltimore 9^th and Tiffin Calvert 10^th.

Findlay officials have chosen Volunteer Energy Services of Pickerington as the natural gas supplier for the city’s aggregation program for the next two years, beginning in December and ending in November 2017.  Findlay residents and small businesses will receive a letter from Volunteer Energy around Oct. 18. Current members of the aggregation program, and newly eligible account holders who receive their gas from Columbia Gas of Ohio, will receive a notice instructing them how to opt out of the program if they wish.  Residents who wish to be part of the program or remain in it will not need to do anything.