Growing number of county residents commute to work

The metal casket assembly plant employs about 140. The plant has been in Marshfield, a town of 6,700, for more than 30 years.

Webster County Clerk Stan Whitehurst called the plant “a fixture in the community” and the closing a “deep and troubling thing.”

According to an Associated Press report, York’s parent company, Matthews International Corp., decided to close the Marshfield plant to consolidate operations at its Richmond, Ind., plant.

Unless another company rescues the Marshfield plant, the York loss could send more county residents to other communities for work. Already, 60 percent of Webster County residents work outside the county, according to Whitehurst.

“(York’s closing) hastens the trend that we would like to fight, but we have not found an effective way of attacking,” Whitehurst said. “We’re a growing residential area with a shrinking jobs base.”

Webster County’s population is about 35,000, up from 31,000 in 2000 and 23,000 in 1990. However, job growth hasn’t kept pace.

Twenty years ago, Webster County was an agricultural-based economy and very few people left for work. Now, Whitehurst said, schools, governments and other service-type jobs carry the weight but not enough to keep workers from commuting to nearby Springfield or Lebanon.

“When you have so many people leaving the community to go to work, that has a ripple effect,” Whitehurst said. “You used to have lots of ma and pa businesses, and those people were members of the civic clubs and the volunteers and kind of the backbone of the community. It really affects the quality of all of your community’s institutions when this commuter trend starts in.”

Jobs vacuum

Cathy Rust, 47, has lived in Marshfield her entire life. For the last 10 years, she’s also been one of the town’s business leaders. Rust is administrator of Webco Manor/Webco East Nursing & Residential Care Facility, which employs about 140 in Marshfield.

“It’s very devastating to have this happen to our community,” Rust said of the York closing.

Rust expects many of York’s laid-off workers to apply for jobs at her nursing home.

Steve Brallier expects to see something similar at his business, E.D. Industries Inc. in Rogersville. E.D. Industries employs 80 at a 230,000-square-foot plant. It builds aftermarket pickup truck bed covers.

Both Rust and Brallier said recruiting workers is hard. Brallier said Springfield is a vacuum, drawing workers away from Webster County.

Whitehurst said Springfield’s proximity is a double-edged sword. To some, Webster County is great for bedroom-community commuting.

For industry, though, competing with Springfield is a difficult task.

“Springfield casts a real tall shadow, and it just kind of kills anything within that shadow,” Whitehurst said.

Experience wanted

Part of Webster County’s employment problems may be due to a lack of training.

For example, Allan Markley, superintendent of Logan-Rogersville School District, said he often must recruit teachers from outside Webster County. Markley’s district is split among Webster, Greene and Christian counties.

Logan-Rogersville School District employs about 300, and a little more than half live within the district, Markley said.

“Our biggest obstacle is finding skilled employees and experienced management to grow our businesses,” added Steve Smith, CEO of Strafford-based American Products, which employs 45 people at its Country Flame facility, a 90,000-square-foot plant in Marshfield where fireplaces and stoves are built.

Fighting back

Webster County’s economic outlook isn’t all doom and gloom, though.

American Products, which boasts four divisions and 225 workers, plans to grow its stamping and metal fabrication efforts through acquisitions.

If American Products grows, it will likely grow in Marshfield. It’s currently only using 40 percent of its Country Flame plant.

Smith said he would like to hire Webster County residents first because they have strong loyalty and work ethic.

Meanwhile, Marshfield City Administrator Dan McMillan said city government would take an active role in finding a new company to operate at York’s soon-to-be vacant plant, though he hasn’t yet developed a course of action.

Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce has been busy lately, too. Executive Secretary Pam Cook said 28 businesses have joined in the last six weeks.

The city of Seymour has taken an active role in job growth. In conjunction with the county, it started an enhanced enterprise zone in 2005. The 107-square-mile zone features tax abatement incentives to lure new businesses.

Seymour Administrative Assistant Monte Calfas – who drove 35 miles to work at Lowe’s in Springfield for seven years before joining the city three years ago – said the enterprise zone has landed T-Shirt embroidery and screen-printing outfit Winged Promotions and wood-pellet manufacturer Ozark Hardwood Products. Combined, Calfas said, the companies should bring about 20 new jobs to Seymour.

“You want the better jobs, you want the better pay (and) you want better for the citizens and the people in your own community,” he said. “This is just one tool that hopefully will let us accomplish that.”[[In-content Ad]]