Industrial Development Board

[bubba]

In response to the Fiscal Court being "In the dark" about the plans to hire a recruiter to bring jobs to the county, I have one request.

Do SOMETHING, ANYTHING to get good paying jobs back in the county.

Employment in the county has been on the decline for at least the past 5 years, if not longer.

There has been a workforce reduction at MTD, and Campbell Hausfeld (both employ half as many people as they did five years ago.) We have had the closing of Vermont last year and now Leitchfield Plastics.

How many jobs have to be lost before our county leaders decide they need to become active in bringing companies to Grayson County?

If we can get State resources to help bring industry to the county for free, why haven't we already done this?

We need industry that will provide all segments of our community the chance to earn a living in Grayson County.

I have driven out of county to work for 11 years. In that 11 years, I have paid a bunch of taxes to a city that I don't live in. Taxes for schools and services that I don't use. Its too bad that tax money couldn't have stayed in Grayson County.


How we get new industry to the county shouldn't be a turf battle. The Mayor and the Industrial Dev Board has finally woke up to the fact we are about to lose more jobs (and taxes). Great, if they hire a reruiter, that will be at least one additional well paying job in the county, perhaps it will lead to more.

Work together, get results.

[booger]

There Hasn't Been Any Jobs Brought To This County Since Kenneth Goff Left The Industrial Board. What The City Needs Is A Negotiator Who Can Talk With People Who Want To Put Businesses And Factories In Our County. They Need Incentives To Come Here!!! Instead All We Have Is A Board Of People Who Want To Destroy The Businesses And Factories Already Here.

[mbuckles]

What The City Needs Is A Negotiator Who Can Talk With People Who Want To Put Businesses And Factories In Our County. They Need Incentives To Come Here!!! Instead All We Have Is A Board Of People Who Want To Destroy The Businesses And Factories Already Here.

Booger/Bubba... Good to see you all posting in the forums here at k105.com. It's almost like when Jake and Elwood "put the band back together". :)

A couple of questions to help continue the discussion a little bit. In the above quote, it says the "city needs is a negotiator who can talk with people who want to put businesses and factories in our county". Recents reports are that the City Of Leitchfield and the Industrial Development Board are working to do just that, and have offered/committed to invest 2/3 of the price that it would require to retain this person. So my question is, do you think that County Government should get on board with such a plan, should they develop their own plan (as referenced at the recent Fiscal Court meeting), or should they sit back and let City Government and the Industrial Development carry the load?

I'm a little confused about the "instead all we have is a board of people who want to destroy the businesses and factories already here". Do you really believe this to be true? The argument can always, and will forever be able to be made that "enough" hasn't been done to recruit new business and industry, but I can't understand the theory that a group of people would want to "destroy" anything that currently operates in the county. If so, it's news to me. If you have information that you can elaborate on, I'd be very interested in knowing about it.

Much of what Leitchfield and Grayson County are going through now is very similar to what other cities of similar size are enduring I think. That doesn't make it any easier to take of course, but it's not a problem unique to our area. I have always thought Leitchfield/GC in the "ripple effect" fashion. For instance, if something happens nationally; Be it a fashion trend, economics, pricing, etc., you can look for the ripple to roll across Grayson County at some point in the future. Gas prices are a perfect example. If gasoline prices go up in Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Louisville, etc., you can see the same thing happen in GC a few days later. Likewise, if they fall regionally, it takes a few days for them to fall here locally. When the Ford, GE, UPS', etc. of the world have difficulty in larger areas, then the ripple occurs here later.

The textile industry was the first to get smashed with the relocation of plants across the country to other locations around the world (mostly Asia). Gradually, you're seeing other industries follow suit, almost in predictable order. Do I have an answer? No. And I realize that I've rambled a little off topic here.

To summarize and get back on topic... We're fighting for the same new plants and industry that most of the other "Leitchfield's" of the world are fighting for, and those are getting harder and harder to find. These people looking to start new businesses aren't going to come knocking on our door. We are going to have to go knock on theirs. And we need to knock louder and more frequently than our peers.

[bubba]

I am trying to keep this civil. I was unaware there was such a board in the county because there has not been much activity since I moved back to town.

The competition for companies of any size is going to be difficult because there are many places with active recruiting programs. They won't come unless invited.

We need to put our name on the list of communities that can be considered sites for new industry. I don't care if it is part of the plan the mayor or a plan from the county.

There needs to be more done for the community.

It seems that the mayor has taken the ball and has a plan. Where were the "free" services the judge was talking about when Campbell and MTD started downsizing? Or when Vermont closed? How many good paying jobs have left Grayson County in the past 5 years?

If you aren't growing, you are dying. There hasn't been "growth" in the jobs in Leitchfield industry in years. If we don't turn it around soon, they will board the place up like a steel mill town.

I don't want to blame or talk bad about anyone, personal attacks killed the board a few years ago. Ask positive questions that can be answered by the people in charge.

[bj]

I appreciate the effort you guys have made in starting this discussion and would like to participate. I have been in business in Grayson County for almost 27 years. This company was actually started by my Dad back in the late 60's so we have been trying to create jobs here for some time. I have been involved in more than one business venture and have served like you probably have on several boards and with civic organizations. I love this community and it has always been my wish that my children and grandchildren would be able to stay here and raise their families as well but that is becoming increasingly more difficult because the opportunities that were created in the 70's are dying and as has already been well said here have not been replaced.

Bubba's post reflects the need for leadership. Leadership that is proactive for progress instead of being reactive to change. I really like the reference to the turf battle between intities of government and business recruitment. It should always be about what is best and not who's idea it was.

Let me begin by saying first we need to understand the battle that is being fought for jobs. I had a member of the Industrial Development Board make a statement to me that I totally agree with and Mark has stated as well in that we cannot compete with the China's and Mexico's of the world because you are talking about a completely different standard of living and until these countries living standards grow to mirror our own it will stay that way. The board member also said that we could compete head to head with other cities and states and be very successful given the opportunity and that is were a full time Grayson County only industrial recruiter comes in. Now there are other factors that play in such as taxation, labor laws, unemployment, transportation and trained work force that we won't get into but the playing field between US communities is much more level than international competition.

The business of industrial recruitment is in some ways almost clandestine because everybody wants the next good industry for there community. This is why the industrial foundation is not a transparent public entity. The more public that business recruitment becomes the more property prices are affected and the greater chance that a neighboring community will get in on the action so to speak. So it is necessary for this foundation to be able to move in somewhat of a private fashion. Another check mark for a Grayson County only industrial recruiter.

The concern of the fiscal court for conserving our tax dollars is apprciated although there are other decisions that have been made that make that claim look somewhat hollow. Never the less the decision to create another board all be it a public one this time seems to me to be redundant. I think that the fiscal court has a very valid point in that it needs to be represented on the Industrial Foundation Board for communication purposes and the current board should recognize this and correct it. There may also be other entities out there that should have a representative serving on the board and maybe the whole board composition should be examined I don't know. But the fiscal court the elected governing body of the county should have a direct line to the industrial foundation.

The idea of soliciting state help for Grayson County industrial recruitment is problamatic beccause the state recruits for the state and not just for Grayson County. If you get interest from a potential business client and then immediately share that with the state they can, will and have in the past tried to get that potential client interested in other sites across the commonwealth. That same board member shared with me just such an incident involving our recruitment of Inplast. After that deal was locked up word got to the state and they tried to get Inplast to look at other state supported sites. So again we need someone who is advocating for Grayson County only.

The value of this position is up for debate I suppose but this is first of all an investment in our future not simply a taxpayer expense and getting a qualified candidate whether they be a Grayson County native or someone with valuable experience in this field will take some dollars. When you look at the combined budgets of the city, county and industrial foundation then 75k is not much considering what one medium size factory does for our local economy. Not to mention that with a full time industrial recruiter there could be better communication with existing companies doing business in Grayson County as to there long term intentions maybe heading off the unpleasant surprise such as Leitchfield Plastics closure. This person would be an employee of government and accountable to the people, reporting to local government their activities which would be shared with the general public on a need to know basis. Every elected official and board member would need to be aware of and honor their fudciary responsibility in regards to privacy.

There may also be other entities that recognize the importance of this endeavour and would be willing to commit resources over time to fund this position in return for some oversight.

Bottom line from my perspective is it is a no brainer that should have been done years ago. And not to be negative but if there are those that don't feel comfortable leading on this project then they should at least stay out of the way.

[bubba]

Great comments BJ, Thank you for your input.

I agree, I do not think another board is the answer. I think the county needs a rep on the existing board. So their interests and concerns can be considered.

We cannot compete with Mexico and China on price. But we can compete in other areas. Quality, flexibility and delivery. The company I work for is pulling jobs back from CHINA as business conditons make this possible. Prices on CHINESE products will be rising due to the increases in their tax structure.

Industrial Development is like Tourism, you have to make the case for people to come to Grayson County. In both situations, they are spending their money here with us. It takes more than hoping they will show up.

I don't think the Recruiter job will be easy. You will be doing a lot of cold calls and trying to sell a product (Grayson County). If done properly, there will be results for us all.

With this position there can be discussions with the local industrial leaders to see what can be done to make them want to stay (and possibly expand) locally. It could be somthing simple (Better road into the plant) or long term, (specialized training at the schools.)

I don't know what made Jones Plastic choose to close the Leitchfield Plant. If there was something that could have been done to change their mind, it was too late by the time the news was released to the press.

We can't afford to lose anyone else. Our community leaders need to start now and not worry who gets the credit.

[bj]

Bubba you make a very good point with the quality and flexibility of the US work force and the delivery system is light years beyond most of the so called cheaper labor countries. A tremendous amount of the goods that are manufactured in those places has to be reworked before it is consumer worthy.

You are right that the recruiter job will be a challenge and that to me means it is going to be about contacts within industry in order to get the heads up when some company is looking. Using the resources provided through the state are necessary and therefore we as in Grayson County need a point person to gather those resources together and make that contact with a potential company. Without a point person to handle this as their primary duty it will become secondary on the list of things to do. This is the problem that the Fiscal Court's proposal does not address.