The Shelby County Supervisors have approved an Economic Development Assistance contract for a company located just outside of Harlan. During their regularly scheduled meeting today (Tuesday), Jane Nielsen, director of Shelby County DevelopSource, told the Board the contract with Proliant had been amended from $225,000 to $336,000. The award to Proliant came from the Iowa Economic Development Authority or IEDA.

The company will use the money as part of their $22 million expansion project, which is currently under construction. Al Leinen, manager at Proliant, told the Shelby County Supervisors the expansion will add 25 additional employees to the already 36 current workers. Proliant is the biggest plant making stocks and broth in the United States. The expansion of the plant will not require the of use any tax dollars.

Leinen said at the meeting, if all goes well in the current expansion, the plant will see another phase and expansion right away. Proliant is expecting the construction and expansion to be completed by the end of the year.

In other business, the Shelby County Supervisors sold a tiny piece of land to the city of Irwin. The 10-foot by 100-foot section of land was near the ball diamond in Irwin. The City’s bid of One-dollar, was the only bid the Board received. And, Shelby County Auditor Marsha Carter reported to the board on the recent Hotel/Motel Tax Committee action. Carter said the committee had approved $10,000 to the city of Harlan for the “Today in America” program, and the county had received $10,000 for the improvements completed on the Shelby County Courthouse. Both the City and County had submitted proposals before the change to the Hotel/Motel Tax Committee.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)