County can’t lure Federal Mogul
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The former Powermatic building, with 209,000 square feet, and the former DeZurik facility, with 186,000 square feet, were both offered to Federal Mogul officials as a home for the company’s distribution center.
Federal Mogul’s distribution center in Smithville, which employed 225 people, was destroyed by fire Friday morning in what has been estimated as an $80 to $100 million loss. Employee Joseph Lee Merriman, 20, has been charged with starting the blaze.
“I didn’t know how good our chances were, but I still wanted to give it everything we had to get them to locate here,” said Don Rigsby, Warren County’s director of economic development. “I know the Smithville people would have liked that because McMinnville is only 20 miles down the road and not nearly as much of a drive.”
Employees coming out of a Wednesday afternoon meeting in Smithville said they were told Federal Mogul had agreed to a 20-month lease on a structure in Smyrna. Employees were offered jobs at the Smyrna facility in 12-hour shifts with some work beginning Wednesday night.
Smyrna town planner Kevin Rigsby confirmed Federal Mogul has leased a 4-year-old building that was formerly occupied by Graybar Electric. The building has 500,000 square feet, but Rigsby said he didn’t believe Federal Mogul was taking all the space.
Warren County Executive Kenneth Rogers said he talked to Federal Mogul officials every day since the fire trying to encourage the company to locate here, either temporarily or permanently.
“I told them Tuesday we would build them a plant here if that’s what they wanted,” said Rogers. “We did everything we could but beg. We just didn’t have what they wanted.”
Federal Mogul officials did not return phone calls, but it is believed they wanted a distribution center they could use immediately. The DeZurik building is currently filled with heavy equipment and would take time to clear out. Powermatic would have been more of an immediate alternative, but the company was looking for a facility with high ceilings, which Powermatic does not have.
Some Federal Mogul employees are upset their jobs have been moved to Smyrna, which is one hour away. Coupled with a 12-hour shift, it makes for a 14-hour work day. Other employees, like McMinnville’s Nadine Spain, are pleased they are being put back to work so quickly.
“My husband works at Carrier and they’re phasing out so I’m willing to drive, plus I’m willing to stick with Federal Mogul,” said Spain, who has been with the company eight years. “I originally started as a temporary and they trusted me enough to hire me in. I intend to stay with them.”
On the other end of the spectrum, employee Darryl Davenport said he will not accept the company’s offer to work in Smyrna.
“By the time we drive over there, it would be a 16-hour day and there’s no guarantee they would build our plant back in Smithville,” Davenport said. “I’m afraid they will get settled in over there and you’ll have to drive that all the time.”
(Smithville Review publisher and editor Dennis Stanley contributed to this report.)