The county”s 12th-largest employer shutting down next month will be the biggest closing Lowndes County has seen in a decade. And economic leaders already are working to mitigate the blow.
During Board President and District 1 Supervisor Harry Sanders” 11th annual Caledonia community meeting Tuesday night, Columbus-Lowndes Development Link CEO Joe Higgins spoke of the closure of Columbus” Domtar plant and Link efforts to continually attract new businesses.
“It”s just a business that”s kind of going away,” he said of the Domtar plant, which manufactures glossy paper used for magazines and catalogs.
“It”s the biggest closing we”ve had since 2000. (The closing) is part of our world, part of our business, part of the economy.”
The Link staff is “double-timing it,” trying to find replacements for the 219 lost, high-paying jobs. But other companies are expected to hire between 150-160 this year, including Paccar, Severstal and American Eurocopter, said Higgins, who recently signed a new seven-year contract.
“We don”t think you”re going to get another paper company in there,” he said of the Domtar building. “Paper is going away. We take it very seriously when some of our people are hurting, and we”re trying to help them. It”s two steps forward and one step back; that”s just our business.
“Our guys that are here still keep plugging,” he added “If you know someone looking for a job, tell them to continually check the Paccar (Web) site.”
Higgins said “seven projects” looked at locating in Lowndes County in the past week and more are expected to consider the area.
“Tire kickers don”t pay the bills,” he said. “But we”ve got enough deals looking and, if enough are looking, one or two of these are going to pop.
“We”ve got to keep everybody that”s working working,” he continued. “And we”ve got to do our best to secure some of these deals. We”re not seeing the super deal. We”re seeing the rightly-sized project” with high job counts.”
Updates
During the meeting, county department heads and elected officials updated the residents on the status of developments in their departments or offices.
County Administrator Ralph Billingsley spoke of capital improvement projects which are being funded by $5 million in interest money accrued from the sale of Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle for $30 million in 2007.
Construction of a new 12,000-square-foot, $2.4 million Health Department facility at the intersection of Warpath and Lehmberg roads is slightly behind schedule, but should be completed by the fall.
And the former First Federal Bank building, on Main Street, being renovated by the county will be ready for occupancy by county administrative offices in June, Billingsley said.
“The board (of supervisors) is very determined to do all these things without a millage increase,” Billingsley added, also referring to renovation of the county”s neighborhood parks, the purchase of land for a soccer park in Burns Bottom and a renovation of the Lowndes County Courthouse, after the county administrative offices have moved.
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