By Jeremy Nash
Gov. Bill Haslam and representatives of Michigan-based Morgan Olson cut a ribbon Thursday on the truck manufacturer’s new facility off Corporate Park Drive for what local officials are hoping will be a long, prosperous relationship bringing more than 400 new jobs into the county.
Loudon County Mayor Rollen “Buddy” Bradshaw said creating that many new jobs should help the county move forward.
The event came just days after Loudon County Commission and Loudon City Council held a rare special called meeting to approve a tax credit agreement for Morgan Olson.
“Four hundred jobs, 400 quality jobs are going to be huge for Loudon County,” Bradshaw said. “I think we’re going to see a trickle-down affect that’s going to increase wages, and I think it’ll increase wages throughout the county and maybe throughout this whole region.
“I think it’s going to be an opportunity for folks that are underemployed, or unemployed, to have that opportunity to make that step to gain that employment, quality employment that they can support a family with,” he said. “It’s just I think it’s going to be a great, great next few years, hopefully next decade for Loudon County.”
Bradshaw said the county should see an “immediate impact” once operations are up and going.
“To have possibly 500 employees, to have that many, I think it’s going to be great,” Commissioner David Meers said. “... I think it’s going to be a very positive impact. I really appreciate the city and the county both working together on this. It’s going to be fantastic.”
City of Loudon Mayor Jim Greenway said Morgan Olson moving into the area will be a “wonderful opportunity” for anyone seeking employment.
“The more wheels on the road, the better chance for growth,” Greenway said.
Bradshaw said Morgan Olson representatives are looking for a “super quick ramp up” for production to begin.
“There’s going to be some training involved, so that’s why in the PILOT there’s some verbiage in there that’s going to allow for some ramp up, but Morgan Olson’s very optimistic,” Bradshaw said. “Some of the ones I have talked to have said they want to get those 400 in as soon as possible. Let’s get this rolling and just get everything full steam ahead.”
Steve Hart, Morgan Olson director of human resources, said the plan is to hold a job fair in conjunction with the state 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Nov. 5 at the Loudon plant off Corporate Park Drive. A core group of 90-100 workers will be brought on board to head to Sturgis, Mich., where they will be trained.
Hart said about 250-300 workers should be hired by the end of the year with somewhere in the 400-500 range employed by the following year.
“The problem we’re running into is you’ve got the holidays,” Hart said. “I don’t want to spoil people’s Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday, so we’ve got the small window in there maybe right after Thanksgiving until about a week before Christmas where we can get them up there and get them trained.”
Plant operations should be underway in mid-January, Hart said. The company builds delivery trucks used by UPS, FedEx and others.
“You’ve got environmental issues you have to have permits in place and everything, so that’ll be a big factor on how fast we can get it up and running is how fast we can get the permits done,” Hart said. “There’s certain timelines you have to follow in every state, so you can’t speed those up. ... I think we’d like to be in production mid-January.”
Morgan Olson President and COO Mike Ownbey said Tennessee’s location is helpful because of its close proximity to one of the company’s chassis suppliers, and the new plant should help lessen delivery costs to clients in the eastern and southern region of the country.
Morgan Olson is owned by J.B. Poindexter & Co. Inc.
The 10-year PILOT agreement is expected go into effect Jan. 1 and extend until Dec. 31, 2025. Morgan Olson will pay $1.2 million on real and personal property, which totals $122,832 per year. Roughly 61.5 percent of taxes collected go to the county and the remainder for the city of Loudon.
