Scott City public hearing set for May 11 for public bond issue

Mid-South Wire Co. in Scott City is taking out a $3 million loan to cover the cost of the Scott City building, plus make improvements and purchase new equipment.

The Industrial Development Authority of Scott City will hold a public hearing at 2 p.m. May 11 at city hall on 618 Main St. regarding the issuance of the revenue bonds to the Tennessee-based corporation. All interested people may attend the hearing and will have an opportunity to express their views, according to Scott City administrator Ron Eskew. The IDA is the avenue for which the tax-exempt bonds are issued, under federal and state law.

The low-interest bonds would come from Regions Bank, a division of Regions Financial Corp., and Mid-South would have 15 years to pay it back. Mark Grimm, the attorney representing the firm counseling the bond, Gilmore & Bell, said Mid-South would be solely reponsible for paying back the money, not the taxpayers or the city.

The nearly 100,000-square-foot facility at 503 Main St. cost $1.6 million. Equipment, some of which has been shipped from the Nashville plant, is being installed, according to the company's chief financial officer, Jeff McCann.

John T. Johnson, the president of Mid-South, experienced a setback in the hiring process when the first employee, George Jones of Jackson, who would have managed the plant, died March 2.

"It was a real tragic thing," Johnson said. "It threw us in a tailspin and made the process kind of hectic."

Johnson and his staff are screening employees and still expect to have 25 people by the end of the year. They're currently looking for another plant manager. The manufacture of drawing wire is supposed to begin in May.

"We were looking in the Missouri area and wanted to not only expand, but serve customers in the Midwest," said McCann, adding that the Rubbermaid plant in Jackson generates $15 million a year of the company's revenue. "The building near the Mississippi serves our purpose for transporting raw materials and the people involved have been very gracious to us."

Among the people who helped bring the business to Southeast Missouri was Mitch Robinson, an industrial recruiter who directs Cape Girardeau Area Magnet. Along with Mid-South, Robinson is working with National Asset Recovery Service Inc. in Cape Girardeau, which will have a permanent call center at the Town Plaza, and Signature Packaging and Paper in Jackson, which just had its ribbon-cutting ceremony at Jackson South Industrial Park last week.

tkrakowiak@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137