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We got it! The long awaited news of who would get a large German steel plant that will create more than 30,000 total jobs for the area during the next three years is over, with the announcement Friday that it would locate in the north Mobile, south Washington county community of Calvert. ThyssenKrupp Inc. began its search for a place to locate a new plant to produce its stainless steel, which is used to manufacture everything from elevators to airplanes, in early 2006, the field of prospective sites was narrowed from 26 to two. A site in Louisiana and the one in Calvert were the two finalists. Gov. Bob Riley and his team of economic developers began courting the Germans, getting hefty incentive packages passed through the Alabama Legislature as late as last week. Efforts paid off Friday when the company's decision was announced around 3 a.m. Central-Standard Time. The project to build the massive plant was originally planned to cost in the neighborhood of $2.9 billion, but during Friday's announcement in Montgomery, that figure had risen to $3.7 billion, making it the largest project of its kind to locate to the state in more than 10 years. Once completed, the massive plant will dwarf the Hyundai facility near Montgomery. "Only in one generation do you have opportunities to truly transform areas of a state," Gov. Riley said during Friday's news conference in which the decision was announced. "This is one of those opportunities." Riley was referring to southwest Alabama, specifically the Clarke, Washington and north Mobile county areas, which is in much need of an economic boost such as the one that is expected from the location of ThyssenKrupp in the area. Facing challenges head-on Education of the workforce The southwest Alabama/ southeast Mississippi region now faces new challenges of providing enough skilled and educated workers to meet the needs of ThyssenKrupp from construction to plant operations. Monday, Gov. Riley and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour spoke at a workforce development conference in Monroeville at Alabama Southern Community College. Both agreed that their states would benefit if workers can be trained to do the jobs. The two states recently received a joint $15 million federal grant to train workers in 37 counties on both sides of the state line at two-year colleges throughout the region. Newly trained workers now earning between $15,000 and $20,000 may see the opportunity to increase their annual salaries to as much as $70,000. "There's going to be as much development in this area over the next two years as there has been in the last 40 years," said Riley. Gov. Barbour agreed and said the biggest obstacle both states face is providing consistent quality workers. One concern is that workers, such as welders, currently working in the shipbuilding industries in Mobile and Pascagoula will be lured away when construction on the new mill begins, leaving those industries extremely shorthanded. The governors suggested programs to train welders in an attempt to offset that increased need. During Monday's meeting of the Washington County Commission, Probate Judge Charles Singleton indicated that Alabama Southern Community is looking at establishing a training center in the county for the purpose of training workers for the new plant. Jackson looking to entice new businesses Friday after the announcement was made, Jackson Mayor Richard Long and several council members sat down to discuss their thoughts on what the future may hold for the city. "We think this is great for our area," said Long. "We were pretty confident it (the plant) would locate here. We expect to see growth here due to the workforce expected at the site." "The good thing is that we already have the infrastructure in Jackson to support any residual companies that may locate here," said Councilman Paul South. "One concern I have is the effect it will have on the workforce at other mills in the area in terms of luring employees away from them." Long said another concern is meeting the challenges local schools may face by the influx of new students that may occur. Several of the local principals have expressed similar concerns. Councilman Eldridge Jackson Jr. said he is looking forward to the growth Jackson and the surrounding area is expected to experience. Council members will attend the the International Council of Shopping Centers convention next week. Mayor Long and Jackson agreed it will be a good opportunity to market the city to 60 different corporations, which includes 20 developers to encourage retailers to locate here. Councilman Eddie Huggins said it will be interesting to see how things develop during the next few years. "The thing I am most excited about is that my 9- year-old son and other members of the future workforce will have the opportunity to stay home and work instead of having to move elsewhere." Councilman Anthony Jackson said the emphasis being placed on the employment pool, although a challenge for the region, is a good thing. "That's the kind of problems you want to have," he said, adding that housing issues for the increased number of workers coming to the area is a nother major concern. Mayor Long added that he has been in Jackson since 1979 and cannot remember any project of this magnitude being announced since that time. "This is one of the biggest projects to be announced, not only in our state, but in the U.S. as well during the past 10-12 years. Police Chief Charles Burge said he has been authorized to start the process of compiling a hiring list for police officers in anticipation of the increase in traffic flow and population due to the new plant. The hope is to have a list of applicants ready due to the lengthy process that takes place before inexperienced officers can actually patrol by themselves. "It is usually about six months before that happens," said Burge, "with the exam, interview, three-month academy training and field training. We hope to obtain some applications from experienced officers as well, to cut down on the need for this process." County taking an aggressive approach Clarke County Economic developer Debra Bolen said, "We are certainly excited about the announcement of the steel mill locating just 35 miles south of Clarke County. the county and municipalities have been anticipating the announcement and are actively working to market the area for commercial, industrial and residential development. We will soon be finalizing a new advertising and marketing campaign for the county. We will be aggressively working to recruit investment to Clarke County and will not just sit back and wait for opportunities to present themselves. Bolen said the Clarke County Economic Development partnership has already taken steps to certify local industrial sites for the potential EADS project being sought in Mobile. "This step certainly gives us an advantage as we market these sites for any industrial projects." News reports this week echoed the idea that customers of ThyssenKrupp may relocate to be closer to the new mill in order to reduce the cost of transporting carbon steel, one of the products the mill will produce. ThyssenKrupp officials said carbon steel is fare more sensitive to small price factors than stainless steel, which is expensive enough to absorb price spikes. Stainless steel will also be manufactured at the new facility. Much needed boost forWashington County Washington County Economic Developer Ron Russell said the expected impact of ThyssenKrupp is a welcome one for the county. "This will spur a lot of tier one and tier two suppliers as well as increases in retail businesses and the housing industry," he said. "The challenges we face are in training for the workforce and housing issues. While these are good challenges to have, we need to look at getting potential employees the education and instruction they need to qualify for these positions." Russell said he expects to see a mushroom effect from the new plant with growth taking place throughout the region. During Monday's Washington County Commission meeting, Judge Singleton said the county has been asked to establish a fire station near the location of the new plant. It is yet to be determined whether the station will be manned with paid firefight- ers or served by volunteers, or some sort of combination of the two. Washington County Richard Stringer said his main concern is having enough deputies to adequately police the county once more people associated with the construction of the new plant start to locate to the area. "Anytime you have that many people come in it impacts all types of things from education to traffic," he said. "We don't have enough deputies to cover the county now, so we will definitely need to add more officers and equipment. We will also have the task of educating those locating here from other regions that they are in a dry county that is situated between several wet areas (Choctaw and Mobile counties, and Jackson, which is a wet city in a dry county.) We will also need to look at increasing the amount of room needed to house inmates."
(SA publisher Jim Cox contributed to this report.)
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