Callaway Co. company to add 30 Jobs

Gov. Jay Nixon's administration today announced that a Fulton company will expand, creating 30 new jobs, made possible by the award of economic incentives from the state of Missouri.

Through the Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED), the state has approved a $300,000 Industrial Infrastructure Grant for Callaway County for infrastructure improvements under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. The Industrial Infrastructure Grant will aid the county on serving the infrastructure needs of OCCI, Inc's expansion.

"The new investment and significant job creation by this general contractor construction company is good news for economy of mid-Missouri and our entire state," Gov. Nixon said. "We will continue to fight every single day, for every single job, to move our economy forward. OCCI, Inc.'s creation of 30 new jobs and $1 million in private investment is a significant step for our state's manufacturing sector and economy in general."

The project will have a significant economic benefit for Callaway County and the surrounding region.

County Road 256 will be widened and paved in order for the company to continue to add jobs at its current Callaway County location. The current road infrastructure creates a great challenge for transporting products out of the facility and affected the design process throughout the project.

The company plans to expand its presence in the gate fabrication market and is uniquely positioned geographically to compete for this business in the continental U.S., especially east of the Mississippi. The company plans to invest additional capital into the fabrication facility to stream line the operations and enable better handle larger steel fabrication projects.

In conjunction with the expansion, the company has a small loading facility on the Missouri River in Callaway County and is looking at future plans to expand the into a location where large items, such as gates, could be assembled on site to be loaded on barges. A better road infrastructure is necessary in order to serve current fabrication facility.

The project will be owned and maintained by Callaway County and will be maintained by the Road and Bridge Department.

OCCI, Inc. is a general contractor construction company that was founded in 1984. Today the Company consists of two distinct divisions: the construction division carries the OCCI name, while the fabrication division does business as Missouri Fabricators. The construction division's primary focus is bridge construction as well as lock and dam rehabilitation.

Products manufactured at the site include fracture critical bridge and road steel products, railroad bridges, dam locks/gates, bridge finger joints, heavy construction consumer products (HPSI), bridge and highway construction false work, and other items needed by the company to effectively execute construction projects such as work boats, barge spuds, jacking cans, false work and specialized scaffolding.

The CDBG Industrial Infrastructure Grant assists local governments in the development of public infrastructure that allows industries to locate new facilities, expand existing facilities, and prevent the closing of a facility or the relocation of a facility outside the state. Projects can only be in a "non-entitlement" area -- a city under 50,000 in population or a county under 200,000 in population.

Grant funds may be used for public streets, water or sewer lines, engineering and other public facilities necessary to support the project. A public entity must own the facilities to be funded. Facilities owned by the company or a private utility are not eligible for funding.