Seven Hills city hall
In five weeks a Seven Hills company will relocate its headquarters to Independence.
SEVEN HILLS, Ohio -- Seven Hills is losing one of its largest employers, Longbow Research, and its $130,000 in income tax to neighboring Independence.
Councilman Tim Fraundorf calls of the loss "disturbing," especially since some city officials didn't learn of the impending move until councilman Matt Trafis obtained an Independence council agenda and announced the move earlier this month. But the relocation has been in the works since August.
"I question, was everything done that could have been done by Mayor Richard Dell'Aquila to retain this corporation in Seven Hills?" Fraundorf said. "The city of Seven Hills can ill afford to lose any of its existing tax base."
Longbow Research, which collects market research and data on private companies, employs 50 people and has a payroll of $6.5 million, according to public documents. Scroll down to see the documents.
In about five weeks, Longbow will move its corporate headquarters to Independence's Park Center, said Chief Financial Officer Matt Griswold. Griswold said the decision was a "long process" and ultimately came down to office space. He said Park Center made the firm an "attractive offer" they didn't want to pass up.
"I will say that Independence has been very good to work with, not that Seven Hills wasn't," he said. "It's tough. We don't feel great about leaving Seven Hills because you don't want to do that to a city. We've been here for a while, and it's not personal."
The city of Independence offered Longbow a $285,000 job creation and relocation grant to help offset the cost of moving, which Griswold said was also a "helpful bargaining chip, that's for sure."
Independence Mayor Greg Kurtz said the grant allows Independence to remain competitive with other communities.
"Obviously the market is such that you have to compete for good customers, and sometimes we win, sometimes we lose," Kurtz said.
Seven Hills -- which is expecting a budget hole for 2015 -- and Independence have teamed up to plan the future of Rockside Road. But Trafis questions the partnership.
"I don't know where the failure in Seven Hills occurred, but this is a major hit to our budget, and it is unfortunate that our neighbors who have committed to helping us with economic development is purging this company from Seven Hills," Trafis said.
Dell'Aquila said Seven Hills is seeking other businesses to move in to the city. But the mayor criticized Trafis for "politicizing the move."
"This sort of petty political game playing damages the reputation of the city and destroys our ability to keep and retain business investment in Seven Hills," Dell'Aquila said.