Monthly Archives: August 2013

St. Louis based ClearPath Senior Holdings, LLC (www.clearpathsenior.com) announces the construction of an assisted living facility in Maryville, Missouri. The facility will be comprised of approximately 37,000 square feet and consist of 46 units (50 beds). The community will be located on Icon Road just south of West First Street and will employ approximately 40 people. The City of Maryville has shown a great amount of support for ClearPath Senior Holdings and their proposed project. The new assisted living facility will not only create jobs in the community, but will meet the demand for the care services this facility will provide. Preliminary building designs are completed, and the ground breaking is projected for Fall 2013, with resident occupancy in Fall 2014. The $6,000,000 project will consist of a single story structure that features 46 studio, one?bedroom, and two?bedroom units. Amenities provided will include kitchen, dining, private dining, café, living room, rehabilitation room, salon, and activity spaces. Services provided will consist of assisted living and memory care. “It is all about the people we are privileged to care for, their families and our dedicated caretakers. Giving people an option and choice to live as independently as possible improves the quality of life for those involved, ”  said Jim Eisenhart, ClearPath Senior Holdings Principal. “The city of Maryville will be the perfect place to accomplish this goal. Individuals who live in the surrounding area want to stay in the neighborhood they know and love.” “ClearPath Senior Holdings understands the importance of bringing a community’s culture into their development practices to provide a high?quality, welcoming, home?style environment which meets the needs of both the resident and the community,” states Lee Langerock, Nodaway County Economic Development. “We look forward to their development.” ClearPath Senior Holdings, LLC is a privately held senior living investment and development company located in St. Louis, Missouri. ClearPath’s business initiatives center on creating value for its stakeholders through the development and acquisition of seniors housing facilities. ClearPath strives to create lasting value for their investors, the companies in which they invest, and the communities they serve. Further information on ClearPath Senior Holdings, LLC can be found at www.clearpathsenior.com.

Nodaway News Leader August 15, 2013 The Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce has announced that Melanie Robinson-Smith has been chosen as executive director. “We are excited to introduce Melanie to our community,” Chamber President Audra Bradley said. “Under her leadership, we know our chamber members will take full advantage of her years of experience in public administration, project management and large-event planning, to help their businesses succeed and grow in our community.” Robinson-Smith was chosen after an extensive search conducted by a joint executive committee. She most recently served as assistant city manager for the City of Kirksville, where she directed economic development activities for the city, focusing on retail and service recruitment. She managed 12 department budgets totaling $3.5 million in annual expenses, acted on behalf of the city manager when needed and served on several committees for the Kirksville Area Chamber of Commerce. Her past job experience also includes marketing and event planning with the Missouri Lottery and extensive work in parks and recreation management. In Kirksville, she served as community services director during which she managed staff and year-round recreational programs and coordinated media relations and budget operations. Robinson-Smith also served as the special events coordinator for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Division of State Parks, helping with events such as the Katy Trail Ride and as a project officer for the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism’s Outdoor Recreation Grants Program. In that position, she provided technical assistance to communities, helping city leaders through the design, grant-writing, program requirements and construction processes for developing new parks in their areas. “I am honored to be selected as the new executive director of the Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce and look forward to meeting all of the members that make this a great organization.” said Robinson-Smith. “Maryville has been so welcoming to our family and I look forward to getting involved in all of the events and activities that make Maryville so unique.” Robinson-Smith takes the lead from former director Luke Reven, who recently resigned to relocate to the Philadelphia area. Originally from Sturgeon, Robinson-Smith earned a bachelor’s of science degree in parks, recreation and tourism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her husband, Michael Smith, is the head coach for Northwest Missouri State University’s women’s basketball team. The chamber will host a welcome reception to introduce Robinson-Smith to the community later this month.

By Tony Brown Maryville Daily Forum The newly formed Missouri BioProduct Producers Group of Burlington Junction has been awarded a $77,220 grant through the Missouri Department of Agriculture to assist in development of a feedstock supply operation that would provide raw material to a manufacturing facility now under development in northern Nodaway County. According to a department release, the funding comes from the Missouri Value-Added Grant Program, which provides seed money for projects that advance development of Missouri agricultural products in ways that enhance economic growth in rural communities. The producers group is working with California-based ChloroFill LLC, which plans to use hybridized sorghum as a component in the production of plywood-like construction panels. Lee Langerock of Nodaway County Economic Development said the grant will be used to study the feasibility of creating a new business that would act as a conduit between farmers growing the sorghum and ChloroFill. The set-up, she said, could eventually include a facility that would process raw sorghum into a production-ready form before delivering it to Chlorofill’s plant on Highway 71 north of Burlington Junction. ChloroFill’s president and CEO, Michael Hurst, publicly announced plans to build the panel manufacturing facility last October during a breakfast gathering attended by numerous elected officials and members of the local business and agricultural communities. Since then, the company has constructed a 5,400-square-foot building, which Langerock said has been tooled up sufficiently to complete production of sample panels for evaluation by potential customers. Sorghum for the test panels was grown on a 90-acre plot at Northwest Missouri State University’s R.T. Wright Farm. Langerock said the company has yet to begin hiring but has made substantial progress toward the start of commercial production, which will require seven to 10 employees. Anticipated growth, she said, means the plant could provide production and materials handling jobs for three times that many people in about two years. The plant is to manufacture a product trade-named DurahForm, which  consists of processed sorghum stalks fused together using a protein binder. Produced in sheets, DurahForm is similar to high-grade plywood made from bamboo or exotic hardwoods but is manufactured without using formaldehyde, a toxic compound that has been linked to a number of health concerns, including cancer. In announcing the start-up last year, Hurst said DurahForm applications include counter tops, wall and ceiling coverings, furniture, cabinetry, wainscoting, doors and flooring. According to the state Agriculture Department, the producer’s group grant was one of 12 awarded statewide that ranged from $17,000 to $198,000, for a total of $808,838. The grants are funded from the sale of tax credits and can be used for business planning purposes, such as feasibility studies and marketing plans. The maximum individual grant is $200,000 with a required 10 percent local cash match, which in the case of  Missouri BioProduct Producers was paid by Nodaway County Economic Development. Read more: http://www.maryvilledailyforum.com/article/20130807/NEWS/130809299#ixzz2bOPzaw6N  

New moisture meters provide fast, accurate readings in a self-contained, portable unit. Tyler Harris Published: Aug 2, 2013 These days, Northwest Missouri State University’s campus in Maryville houses more than students. Since May, Missouri Moisture Analyzers, LLC, has called the recently constructed Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship its home. “The CIE function is to bring in new companies and make it so they get a good start,” explains Stanley Sinclair, regional sales manager for Missouri Moisture Analyzers. “Most new companies will make it or break it in the first three years.” The CIE is a mixed-use business incubator serving technology-based companies like Missouri Moisture Analyzers. The company was looking for a location to establish itself, and with its proximity to primary grain-producing areas in the Midwest, Maryville fit the bill perfectly. The rental agreement gives the company a place to assemble its product, and gives Maryville a new local business. Students can gain valuable experience with the company, and the company has access to offices, laboratories and equipment. A new old company The company’s product is the model 999 portable moisture meter that can read the moisture content of 250 different kinds of grain, from various kinds of wheat to different kinds of corn and soybeans. Missouri Moisture Analyzers is derived from Motomco Inc. Founded in 1956 in New Jersey, Motomco was known for its model 919 moisture meter. In 1963, USDA adopted the 919 for all grain inspections under the U.S. Grain Inspections Act. Although the company ceased production of the 919 in 2004, it set the foundation for the new company and the new model, which is why Sinclair says it is a new old company. Just like the evolution of eight-track tapes to cassettes to CDs to MP3s, moisture meters have evolved over the years. They have become more portable, going from heavy metals to durable light-weight plastic. They have also cut down the time they need to read moisture levels, going from mechanical to digital. A process 40 years in the making, reading moisture levels used to take up to four hours – not including the time it takes to collect a grain sample. The new 999 series uses dielectric wavelengths that go through the middle of the grain, rather than going around, making a more accurate reading. When it goes through, it reads various components to determine the moisture and temperature based on years of statistics, and displays it as a number on the screen. “We have the ability to measure the moisture in grains and subdivisions of grain,” says Isac Linhares, international business manager for Missouri Moisture Analyzers. “With the 919, it was a process of 20 minutes. Now it’s as little as 10 seconds or 5 seconds.” Advantages for the farmer Why measure the moisture in grain? There are five major benefits, Sinclair says. First, it lets the grower know the best time to harvest. Second, it verifies the moisture reading at the elevator and what the elevator is paying for it. Third, it reduces drying costs and helps growers manage moisture. “If you go too wet, you’re going to have spoilage. If you are too dry you’re going to have breakage,” Sinclair explains. “When you have a moisture meter, it tells you how far to go.” Fourth is securing the grower’s reputation. “A farmer’s reputation is built on the product he delivers,” Sinclair adds. “If he delivers good loads, he gets more of a preferred supplier stature.” Fifth is meeting customer requirements, both at the elevator and at ethanol plants. For example, an ethanol plant might accept corn at 15.9% moisture, but not at 16%. “A farmer who tests his grain before delivery knows if he needs to dry a little more,” Sinclair says. “Having no rejection can save him a lot of money.” The company also calibrates its own moisture meters. The meters come with a sticker that, if removed by another entity to calibrate it, will void warranty. This ensures accuracy and uniformity. Sinclair makes the analogy to changing the weight on a scale while standing on it to read what you want it to say, not really what is accurate – the grower is only cheating themselves if they change the moisture reading by calibrating it elsewhere, like a grain elevator. The calibrated readings vary little from unit to unit, 0.2% maximum compared to the 0.4% standard for USDA. These models range from the portable 999FR to the desktop 999FB. Sinclair says they are worth the investment. They have ten major grains available for quick access, with a total of 250 different grains and their subdivisions. They come with USB drives, allowing farmers to plug data into their computer and keep records from previous years. It has a life expectancy of eight to ten years, and comes with a rechargeable battery that needs to be recharged after 150 to 200 tests. “This is one of the few moisture meters that is self-contained, all-inclusive, and that you can trust,” Sinclair says. More information is available at the Missouri Moisture Analyzers website, by emailing Sinclair at stanley@mtcmoisture.com, or by  phone at 660-562-0203.