NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce CEO Debra Teufel knows there have been some ups and downs with employment in the area, but she's optimistic about their efforts.
"I would say we continue to fill what I would call a leaky bucket," Teufel said. "I was looking back at some of those announcements just in the last year, but then going back five years. You know, last year, the closure of Sunoco Paper Mill lost over 100 jobs in the community. Then with Sleep Haven closing their doors and ProPack this year, and then the layoffs that had occurred at Siemens that they're trying to bounce back from. Prior years, you know, Kansas Protein Foods came in and filled the hole where CH Foods had closed. So that was a net, you know, gain, I guess, once KPF came in, but with the Eaton closure and then we brought KMS in behind that, but KMS operating in the Eaton facility and then the company that operates in one of the former Eaton facilities on the frontage of Airport Road, those were not near the jobs that Eaton had once held in this community. So it's constantly filling that leaky bucket."
There has been some good progress in some areas, however.
"Superior Boiler continues to grow," Teufel said. "They took on a new facility. They're working with us on a relocation plan to bring people in for their jobs. The GUNBROS announcement this year, the Haven Steel Edition this year that's going to be embarking on an expansion in Haven. The last couple of years, Graphic Impressions, First Team, JW Machine, DCI, I mean the list can go on and on of companies that have added jobs, but we are constantly trying. To us, that's the churn of an economy. Companies come and go and we have to work to backfill them and I think we have done a great job of backfilling facilities. I didn't even mention Bold 3PL. My goodness, they're in over a half million square feet of space here now and they would love to have more."
They are still looking for a tenant for the spec building in the industrial park.
"We have had over 15 site visits in the last year and some of those have looked at the spec building, some of those have been here because of the new large industrial site and they are across the board in a spectrum of things that I think are all waiting for the next move in our economy," Teufel said. "I've said election years are a weird year because people are have money sitting on the sidelines waiting to see which way it could go, but these kinds of projects would create really good jobs. They are anything from ag equipment manufacturers to what I would call industrial equipment manufacturing to some biochemical projects to even some wind energy suppliers."
Who wins in November and which sectors of the economy grow as a result could help determine which of those candidates may go forward in Hutchinson.