By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
Fleetwood Enterprises in Decatur “has had a fairly decent year,” Rob Kowalczyk, the company’s operations manager, told Decatur City Council at a recent meeting.
“I don’t see a great uptick, but I don’t see it going down any more,” he noted, looking ahead.
Kowalczyk was on hand as council was taking a look at several tax abatements it gave out, including one to Fleetwood.
Council was reviewing CF-1 forms, which, under state law, companies that receive tax abatements must file annually to show they are living up to what they promised when receiving the abatements.
Kowalczyk said the Fleetwood operation in Decatur currently has about 600 employees.
Asked if finding enough employees has been a problem, Kowalczyk said “it has been a struggle” at times but the company is managing.
Tariffs, he added, have been manageable so far.
Council approved continuation of Fleetwood’s two tax abatements.
Also approved were tax abatements for two other local firms, Hoosier Pattern and I-O Properties, which operates The Country Butcher.
The latter, which faced considerable public opposition before it began operations here, has increased its workforce. “We haven’t received any complaints about them since they started (over a year ago),” Mayor Dan Rickord said.
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