Golden O Awards Bestowed

Oelwein Chamber & Area Development (OCAD) announced and presented their 2007 awards at Business after Five at Best-Way Building Center on Wednesday, March 19. The award recipients are nominated by the OCAD membership and are voted upon by the OCAD Board of Directors. The three awards presented on Wednesday were to International Ingredients, Business of the Year; to Gene Fuelling, Volunteer of the Year; and Jeff Niemann, Citizen of the Year. A Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Gene Vine at an earlier date.


Business of the Year....
Don Frazer of the Business Development Committee presents Richard Neff, Plant Manager at International Ingredients with the 2007 Business of the Year Award. Located just north of Oelwein on Highway 3, International Ingredients began their production in January 2007. The company employs approximately 39 employees, overseen by plant manager, Richard Neff. International Ingredients has developed an unbelievably efficient waste management program for their operation and has worked very closely with the Fayette County Landfill to be sure that they are taking advantage of every opportunity to recycle their excess packaging waste.



Volunteer of the Year....
Brian Batterson of the OCAD Executive Board presents Gene Fuelling with the 2007 Volunteer of the Year Award for his work with the Business Development Committee. Every year OCAD recognizes one of their volunteers who consistently goes above and beyond the call of duty to make sure that projects are carried out to their fullest potential. OCAD nominated and chose Gene Fuelling for his work in leading the Business Development Committee and the numbers of hours that he has spent hands-on conferencing with new business prospects for the community of Oelwein. Gene wishes to share this award with the Business Development Committee, which includes Don Avenson, Don Frazer, Sandie Graf, Paul Gray, Mike Kennedy, Larry Murphy, Jeff Niemann, Jim Patera, Charlene Stocker, Ron Van Veldhuizan, Neil Wilkinson and the late Gene Vine.


Citizen of the Year....
Brian Batterson of the OCAD Executive Board presents Jeff Niemann with the 2007 Citizen of the Year Award for his work with the Oelwein Private Investment Corporation. Jeff Niemann was chosen for his work with the Oelwein Private Investment Corporation. The Oelwein Private Investment Corporation is a civic-minded, for-profit corporation with private shareholders.    The aim of the corporation is to purchase under-utilized commercial property in downtown Oelwein.  The property will be completely renovated to improve appearance, preserve historical elements and fully utilize all available space.   The group will be actively recruiting new tenants for the building. Ultimately the corporation will seek to re-sell the property to recover the investment. If the venture proves to be successful, the funds would likely be used to renovate additional properties and hopefully serve as a positive example to spur other groups or individuals to improve other commercial properties within the community. Jeff stated that he involved with OCAD because he was tired of hearing, Why Oelwein? He asks Why NOT Oelwein? Jeff said he accepted this award not so much for what he has done, but for the positive attitude that he tries to maintain.

Lifetime Achievement Award....
Former Councilwoman Vi Sims here congratulates Gene Vine on the outstanding achievements that earned him the Lifetime Achievement Award presented on Monday, Feb. 22, at Gene’s retirement from City Council. It was with great pleasure that OCAD bestowed this award upon Gene, as his can-do attitude exemplifies community involvement. Gene became a 3rd Ward Councilman shortly after moving to Oelwein in the mid 70s. He served in that position until he succesfully ran for mayor in 1988. Serving till 2001, he was the longest serving mayor in Oelwein history. Gene spent the last few years of his life again serving as Councilman for the 3rd Ward. Before passing away from cancer in March of 2008, Mr. Vine wrote a wish-list of projects needed to keep Oelwein moving forward. They included work on hospital interests, airport development, the possibility of a super highway to Oelwein, continued economic development, Phase 2 of downtown revitilization, funding of brownfields, and neighborhood improvements. Gene Vine will be greatly missed.