Manufacturing company looks to locate in JC

Will create 20 jobs to start

Jefferson City is working toward attracting a new manufacturer to the area, not long after RR Donnelley announced its closure.

The Jefferson City Council is considering a bill to authorize a development agreement with Roar Real Estate 2 and James R. Morris.

Missy Bonnot, economic development director with the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber has been working on attracting the manufacturing company, which is based in Bloomington, Ill., since April, but declined to confirm the name of the company.

She said the manufacturer, which would produce bags for dog food producers in the region, would locate on chamber-owned property in a sale and contract still under review by the chamber board.

Bonnot said the manufacturer would locate onto 9.16 acres of a 25-acre tract owned by the chamber west of Alpla.

She said a 30,000 to 40,000 square foot facility would be built on the land, with the company investing at least $3 million in real and personal property.

The company has promised to create 20 jobs to start, though Bonnot noted they feel confident more would be created.

City Attorney Drew Hilpert said the company's goal is 41 employees.

The agreement with the city would have the city and county provide a sanitary sewer system to the property, which Hilpert said would cost about $16,000.

The agreement also calls for an extension of the current Alpla rail spur at the expense of the city and county once the company requests it. The agreement states that if the company does not request it within three years of the agreement, then the city and county are no longer obligated to extend the rail spur.

Hilpert noted an agreement with the county for all costs would come to the City Council next month.

Bonnot said the company would be a "24/7 operation," working with three shifts per day and looking to hire "high skilled individuals."

"This has been just a blazing project," Bonnot said.

Bonnot said the company would like to be in operation by February 2014.