FINDLAY, OH (WLIO) - Out of over 500 micropolitan areas, or communities with a population between 10,000 and 50,000, Findlay has been named #1 in the country by Site Selection Magazine. The award is granted based on job creation, new construction, and capital investments in a region. Findlay had 35 qualifying projects, compared to the 2nd place winner with 12.
"I'm really proud that the city of Findlay not only won the prize, but we won it by a landslide. And that just really shows that we had a lot of significant investment across the board from various sectors and that's important to having a diverse economy. So, I'm excited that we've received it, it's not something we count on, but it's something that we always work toward," said Christina Muryn, the mayor of Findlay.
Over the past decade, the city has seen significant growth in the manufacturing and logistics industries. Muryn credits their success in economic development to the collaboration of all branches of local government, business-friendly policies, and open-door communication with companies. As more businesses like Amazon have been expanding into Findlay, more than just the people who were hired for those newly created jobs are seeing positive change.
"Growth in a community is really beneficial because you have competitiveness that helps raise wages and helps create the services in the community, businesses, attractions, when you have more economic investment, you're more likely to have more amenities that are important to the overall quality of life," she continued.
The city of Findlay focuses just as much on investing in existing businesses and is looking forward to seeing what the next couple of years have in store for their local economy.
"I do think that we have a couple of our local businesses that are talking about additional expansions or adding jobs here in the next year or two, so I'm excited to hopefully see those move forward," Muryn said.
