City of Centralia Industrial Development Commission met Dec. 20.
Here is the minutes provided by the commission:
Members Present: Dick Cary, Ken Coughlin, Travis Etheridge, Bob Feig, and Ty Orr
Members Absent: Dave Agee, Bo Baer, Jack Mann, Bill Sprehe, Lloyd Vestal, Tom Ashby, and Dan Ramey
Also Present: Rose Aldag-McVey - Economic Development Director, Steven Stilt – Reporter, Centralia Morning Sentinel, Bruce Kropp - WJBD Radio, and Kevin Elko – Human Resources Manager, Conagra Brands
Public Comment: None
Approval of Minutes: None due to lack of a quorum
Ongoing Business: The Business Appreciation Reception was a success with over 100 area business owners or leaders in attendance. Aldag-McVey thanked the Commission for their efforts in encouraging business activity in the area.
New Business: Aldag-McVey introduced Kevin Elko, Human Resource Manager for Conagra Brands, formerly Pinnacle Foods. Elko is from Benton, Illinois and began working as an hourly worker at Continental Tire in Mt. Vernon then moved to Chicago, Mexico, and China as his career progressed with other companies. He has been with Conagra for about a hear and one-half. They package cake mixes, brownie mixes and canned frosting for Duncan Hines; they are the only Duncan Hines plant in the world. With 240-250 employees, they shipped over 16 million cases (twelve mixes per case) in 2018. Pinnacle’s headquarters in New Jersey will close soon as Conagra’s headquarters are in Omaha, Nebraska and Chicago, Illinois.
In 2018, the Centralia plant was upgraded with $5 million capital. Elko has been charged with upgrading the talent, they need maintenance techs and skilled labor workers. Conagra is partnering with Kaskaskia College for an intern program and Elko gave input to the new tech training program at KC. The starting pay for maintenance workers is $14.25 with increased levels based upon knowledge. They work 24 hours Monday through Friday. Elko has spoken to area High School classes, participated in Job Fairs, spoken at KC during the Critical Skills Gap Summit, and responds to most requests to engage with potential workforce.
Elko offered tours of the plant and noted, for quality control, they must bake every two hours; therefore, fresh baked goods are always in the breakroom. Conagra participates in the community, during the Halloween Parade they gave out over 4,000 boxes of mixes. They also donate box mixes to local good causes. Elko would like to see the plant begin co-packing in the future.
Two new restaurants which plan to open in the Crooked Creek Mall were discussed, Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches and Rosati’s Pizza Restaurant.
Discussion:
Albanese Cormier is the new owner of Fairview Shopping Center; changes are as follows: Goody’s will become Gordmans, US Bank closed the out building drive-up, and Sears Hometown will close in January. The mall owner is seeking new tenants and has secured short term leases with most current tenants.
Small Business Development Center Day at Centralia City Hall will be April 3, 2019. Aldag-McVey reported that City Manager Ramey has met with the Illinois Department of Transportation and Centralia will receive funding for multiple road projects over the next years.
Centralia is seeing positive growth; Aldag-McVey shared information reported by Ramey during the budget work session: compared to a few years ago, sales tax revenue received by the City has risen by $300,000 which extrapolates to an additional $30 million in actual sales. Many other rural communities are seeing sales tax revenue go down.
https://cityofcentralia.org/vertical/sites/%7BFC680FE7-BE5C-4903-A103-67AF5EF51655%7D/uploads/Dec_2018_Minutes.pdf
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