By Jessie Burchette
jburchette@salisburypost.com
CHINA GROVE ó Town officials, residents and former mill workers put out the welcome mat Tuesday night for an Arkansas company on the verge of breathing new life into a vacant textile mill and the community.
Aldermen quickly approved an incentive grant to help lure Sustainable Textiles Group to the former Hanesbrands plant on Thom Street, the plant founded and operated for decades as China Grove Textiles.
Earlier in the day, Gov. Bev Perdue Gov. Bev Perdue announced that Sustainable Textile Group, a national manufacturer of fabric made from pre-consumer waste, will establish a new facility in Rowan County with an investment of $11 million and create 223 jobs in China Grove over the next two years.
Perdue touted a $300,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund to the company as a factor in landing the new jobs.
Company officials attending the China Grove Board of Aldermen meeting said a decision will be announced within the next few days.
Luke Terrell and another company official sat in the audience surrounded by people with ties to China Grove Cotton Mill and its successors including Hanesbrands, which closed in December and laid off 185 workers.
“Not long ago, we were upset and mourning. Now, to hear this, it seems to be an answer to a prayer,” Blair Lyseski, China Grove’s mayor pro tem, told the company officials.
Mayor Don Bringle, who worked at the mill for 28 years, said he has been swamped with calls from former workers since they heard the news the mill might reopen.
Bringle said it’s an opportunity to see family, friends and many others in the community re-employed.
He cited Steve Weddington, a 30-year veteran of the mill who was seated in the audience. Weddington was manager of Hanesbrands when it closed.
“There’s a lot of hardworking, good people who want nothing more than to come back through those doors,” Bringle said.
Looking at the company officials, Bringle added, “You won’t have a problem employing workers. They’re eager.”
Alderman Allen Welter, a frequent critic of the Salisbury-Rowan Economic Development Commission, praised the agency and Robert Van Geons, its executive director.
Welter recalled telling Van Geons to bring some jobs to China Grove. “You have restored my faith in you,” Welter told Van Geons.
The only question during the public hearing on the incentives came from Pete Kluttz. He wanted to know what the company name on the building will be.
Terrell said the name will be Sustainable Textiles Group.
Terrell also made clear the company wants to hire the people who worked at the mill previously. “We will not bring in a lot of new people,” he said.
The company uses textile waste that would otherwise go to landfills or incinerators to create a natural fiber made up of 85 percent recycled materials.
Terrell said the company works with international corporations, buying waste material from them and selling them finished product.
Van Geons explained the terms of the incentive grant, which is identical to that approved by the county.
China Grove will rebate 75 percent of taxes on new investment for five years.
The company would pay approximately $38,000 in taxes on new investment with the town rebating $28,000. The town would net almost $18,000 in taxes yearly for the five year period. That would include the 25 percent on new investment as well as nearly $8,000 a year on existing equipment that is not covered in the incentive grant program.
Van Geons commended the Rowan County Board of Commissioners, the state, and Duke Energy for working to help restart textile mills.
He told aldermen that for every $1 China Grove is providing in incentives, the state, the county and Duke Energy are putting up $23.
After the presentation, company officials and members of the Economic Development Commission board stood outside town hall and talked with former mill workers and other residents who welcomed them to town.
The One North Carolina Fund cited by Gov. Perdue provides financial assistance, through local governments, to attract business projects that will stimulate economic activity and create new jobs in the state. Companies receive no money up front and must meet job creation and investment performance standards to qualify for grant funds. These grants also require and are contingent upon local matches.
Through use of the fund, more than 35,000 jobs and $6.5 billion in investment have been created since 2001. Other project partners in include the N.C. Department of Commerce and the N.C. Department of Revenue.
For more information about Sustainable Textile Group or the other companies within the Sustainable Solutions Network, including employment opportunities, go to www.circleglobal.net or call 479-621-7004.
Contact Jessie Burchette at 704-797-4254.