Springfield operations still intact

Amid McLeodUSA's restructuring, its Springfield operations have so far remained intact, according to Bruce Tiemann, senior manager of external relations for McLeod-USA.

The company has maintained approximately 170 employees in Springfield in three locations: 3216 S. National, 333 Park Central East and 2026 E. Phelps.

The only operation likely to be affected at this point is the telephone directory publishing division on Phelps. McLeod-USA has arranged to sell its publishing operations to United Kingdom-based Yell Group for $600 million, Tiemann said, but the sale has not yet closed.

Part of the deal is a five-year operating agreement with renewal options that would retain McLeodUSA branding on telephone directories.

Tiemann could not comment on the future of local employment, saying it would be premature to make any predictions on an individual basis "until all of these moving parts come to rest." Corporate is not sure how each location in the system will fare after the reorganization, he added.

Meanwhile, the regional call center remains in Kelly Plaza on South National and Brian Rolling directs the sales center from his office in Tulsa, Okla., Tiemann said. Rolling began the position early this year.

Steven E. Smith was regional sales manager when the center opened here in February 2001. Smith is now general manager of All Comm Technologies.

"Springfield is one of the areas ... we've been in for a long time, either as McLeodUSA or DialUS," Tiemann said. He added it was one of the first areas served in the state of Missouri because of the DialUS presence here since 1983. The two companies merged in 1998.