February 17, 2011
City’s ’03 tax debt was considered solved By PAUL COMSTOCK ThisWeek Community Newspapers Grove City, which for two months has been dealing with a debt to the Internal Revenue Service, experienced a similar but smaller incident in 2003. City records obtained by The Grove City Record include a Jan. 14, 2003, letter to the IRS and two purchase orders totaling $9,075 for unpaid taxes, penalties and interest. That amount was dwarfed by the
$685,905 that the IRS in December said the city owed in unpaid federal withholding taxes. A subsequent search of city records revealed more money owed to the IRS. City officials on Feb. 7 said the city has made a payment of $752,179. The IRS said payments had been missed since at least 2007. The 2003 letter to the IRS was signed by then-city finance director Robert E. Behlen III, who wrote that the city “has documented our intent and the steps
taken to comply with all laws and regulations related to the issuance and filing of W-2’s ...” The letter also said the city “has paid all penalties and interest that have been levied, (and is) on notice of the timing of electronic payments and (has) implemented internal procedures to correct this past practice.” Mayor Richard “Ike” Stage was the city administrator when Behlen wrote the letter to the IRS. Stage said the city handles thousands of purchase orders
each year and he does not precisely recall the IRS purchase orders. He said, however, “Knowing what my relationship with the finance director was, I would have questioned him on how this happened. ... I probably said to him, ‘You’d better fix this, Mr. Behlen.’ I suspect from that comment, he would have written that letter.” The Record was unable to reach Behlen. Because Behlen’s letter said the city
was committed to following IRS regulations and corrective steps had been taken, city officials would have considered the matter resolved, Stage said. That view would have been confirmed, Stage said, by a 2007 forensic audit conducted when Behlen left his city job. That audit found no problems, Stage said. “If there was a problem, why didn’t (the audit) find it?” he said. Stage said he left his job as adminisSee CITY’S TAX DEBT, page A2
Two roads closing in Grove City By LISA AURAND ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Photos by Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
SPELLING BEE (Above) South-Western City School District Spelling Bee runner-up Jordan Wilt, and the champion Said Ahmed look at their trophies following the annual event on Feb. 10. Wilt is a sixth-grader at Park Street Intermediate School and Ahmed is an eighth-grader at Norton Middle School. Ahmed won on the word “pyrite.” (Right) Eddie Dennis, a sixth-grader at Franklin Woods Intermediate School, concentrates as he tries to spell “aborigine.”
Two roads in the same part of Grove City will be closed this week for unrelated reasons. A 20- to 30-foot stretch of Old Haughn Road is being shut down until the weekend to build a water main in preparation for A closer look the construction of the new water tower. A 20- to 30-foot stretch of The conOld Haughn Road is being struction of the shut down until the week12- and 16-inch end to build a water main in water main, preparation for the conwhich is costing struction of the new water the city $1.02- tower. Also, state Route million, will re- 665 closed between Old inforce the Haughn Road and Gateway southwestern West Drive on Feb. 15 for portion of the 60 days. water distribution system, including the Big Run Water Tank. The new1.25million-gallon tank is being constructed in Fryer Park to replace the current tower near the Interstate 71 and state Route 665 interchange. “The city is well under way to put in a brand new water tower at Fryer Park, so part of that requires running a new water line up Haughn Road and over to the water tank,” city spokesman Don Walters said. “All the businesses and houses on Old Haughn Road are still going to be able to access their houses or their businesses north and south of that 30 feet.” Construction on the water main will continue over the next few months, and traffic will be maintained during that time, according to Service Director Les Spring. State Route 665 closed between Old Haughn Road and Gateway West Drive on Feb. 15 for 60 days. The detour is Route 665 to Gateway West Drive to new Haughn Road to old Haughn Road to Route 665. “One of the requirements that needed to be done for the interchange to work was that road was just too close to the interchange,” Walters said. “We See TWO ROADS, page A2
Local company will add 55 jobs this year By LISA AURAND ThisWeek Community Newspapers The Grove City branch of an international corporation will bring 55 new jobs to town this year. Switzerland-based Kern International, which manufactures and sells mail inserting systems, is expanding its Grove City branch off Gantz Road. The local arm of the corporation will become the only one of its U.S. facilities to manufacture mailing systems, said company spokesman Ryan McManis. “We’re transitioning from a sales and service division to actually a manufacturer of equipment,” he said.
The company’s new A1-Class machine will be the world’s fastest mail inserter once it is launched in April, according to Kern officials. “It will definitely be a standout in our industry,” McManis said. “April will be the official launch, so that we’re starting to take orders. By mid-year, we’ll be starting to produce things domestically.” The company demonstrated the new machine at a trade show in November, which generated a lot of interest because America is the biggest market for direct mail marketing in the world, he said. “We’re driven by technology that is demanded by the U.S. customers,” Mc-
DIRECTORY News: (740) 888-6100 editorial@thisweeknews.com Sports: (740) 888-6054 sports@thisweeknews.com Retail ads: (740) 888-6000 www.thisweeknews.com/advertise Classified: (740) 888-5003 classified@thisweeknews.com Customer Service: 1-888-837-4342
“
We’re going to employ engineers, designers, assembly workers — really spanning all the way from management to parts and inventory as well as sales and service.
RYAN MCMANIS —Kern International spokesman
Manis said. “We came across this technology and we were able to acquire it and turn it into a commercially viable product.” Kern chose to bring some of its manufacturing to the United States because of the dollar’s current low value relative to world currencies, McManis
”
said. “It makes these products cheaper for our customers in the U.S. versus buying them with the euro.” Kern moved its local facility to Grove City from south Columbus in 2007 and will expand into existing warehouse space next door to its cur-
Weekly newspaper. Daily updates.
rent location. “It’s kind of an exciting time for Kern right now,” McManis said. “We’re finishing getting some equipment put into our warehouse so we’re ready for production this year.” Kern will seek a variety of skill sets in its new employees. “We’re going to employ engineers, designers, assembly workers — really spanning all the way from management to parts and inventory as well as sales and service.” The jobs will be added gradually, rather than all at once, and will be advertised on well-known job-hunting sites and at kerncan.com, McManis said.
food and wine expand your tastes
Presented by:
Central Ohio’s choice for community news.
ThisWeekNEWS.com | ThisWeekSPORTS.com
Visit ThisWeekNews.com/foodandwine