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16 | I nsIgh t • A p r i l 2 0 14 w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m face time The great thing about Florence County is over two-thirds of our county land is publicly owned, and additional acreage is under open recreation, so we've got every type of trail you can imagine. the timber sale revenues go back to the federal treasury, we can have that money to spend here locally to help sustain and grow jobs related to our forest products industry. We've created our first tax incremental finance district, and because Florence doesn't have an appropriate city or village, we were allowed to do it on a county level. our tIF district is 652 acres centered around downtown Florence, and it includes our industrial park and some land to the west and to the north. We have some tax incentives we can use to help grow new jobs and new products and services for our residents and our visitors. our tIF plan includes a senior housing and/or assisted living-type project. Florence county's median age is 49.7, much higher than the state average, so we have a need. At the industrial park, we are open to any type of projects related to grow our forest products industry cluster. We'd like to attract additional finished product producers. Four of our sawmills produce green lumber, and only one has dry kilns that makes a finished product. Another project would be a motel or hotel development. We've had an independent third-party study done, and we could support a 30-room hotel in the mid-price range. We have one motel in the economy range that has 11 rooms, and they have minimal service. We are looking for something for families and folks who are traveling, with a little more service provided. e great thing about Florence county is over two-thirds of our county land is publicly owned, and additional acreage is under open recreation, so we've got every type of trail you can imagine. We have two of the state's five wild rivers. We're rolling out this spring a new Wisconsin Wild rivers tour, a 100-mile loop that has 15 different access points to our Pine and Popple rivers. We have seven beautiful waterfalls. We obtained a Department of tourism grant to help us with promotion. We've got a new mobile app connected with our website (exploreflorencecounty.com). It has directories related to lodging, dining, outdoor recreation, our business directory and it will have our wild rivers directory. We are the smallest county in the new north in size and population – we only have 4,500 people in our entire county, no traffic and no stoplights. so if you're looking to get away from the traffic, come north. ose of us that live up here, we choose that. JO H N S O N B A N K . C O M B A N K I N G W E A L T H I N S U R A N C E WHETHER YOU'RE LOOKING TO EXPAND OR RELOCATE, IMPROVE FACILITIES OR EQUIPMENT, OR ALL OF THE ABOVE, THE RIGHT BANKING PARTNER WILL HELP YOU REACH YOUR GOALS. TAILORED LENDING SOLUTIONS, PREMIER CUSTOMER SERVICE, AND DECISIONS MADE LOCALLY SET JOHNSON BANK APART. PLUS, WITH A LONG HISTORY OF SUPPORTING WISCONSIN'S BUSINESS OWNERS, WE UNDER- STAND THAT IT'S NOT ABOUT "KEEPING UP" – BUT STAYING AHEAD. MEMBER FDIC Greg Clement, President and Owner, Argon Industries and Todd Polack, Operations Manager yo u p r ov i d e c u s t om s o l u t i on s . yo u e x p e c t t h e m , t o o.