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By KAITY HOLTMAN Staff writer, Maryville Daily Forum Posted on Feb 6, 2015 Nearly 300 representatives from across the northwest Missouri region gathered in Jefferson City on Tuesday, Feb. 3 and Wednesday, Feb. 4 as part of Great Northwest Days. Kicking off the two-day event was the introduction of the group to the House of Representatives and the Senate. The group split into two to represent in both places and were announced and welcomed. Counties represented included Andrew, Atchison, Buchanan, Caldwell, Daviess, Dekalb, Gentry, Grundy, Holt, Livingston, Linn, Mercer, Nodaway, Putnam, Sullivan and Worth counties. At the luncheon, the group heard from four panelists in the areas the group had identified as priorities for this region. Those areas included transportation, economic development, infrastructure, and education. Michelle Watkins, Transportation and Planning Director for the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) focused on budget cuts that had been anticipated and have now arrived. She said MoDOT funding has been cut to $325 million, which means the focus will be on maintaining primary roads but that supplemental roads would likely suffer. Maintenance will be continued on primary roads, but new projects are not in the plans, according to Watkins. “From what they told us in a meeting recently, that means 136 and 71 are considered primary roads in Nodaway County and all other roads are supplementary,” Nodaway County Commissioner Bob Westfall said. Max Summers, University of Missouri Extension Transition team leader, focused on economic development and specifically the Community Foundation of Northwest Missouri. His focus was on providing opportunities to young people to encourage their return to rural communities. Randy Railsback, executive director of the Green Hills Regional Planning Commission, echoed Summers’ message about investing in young professionals and businesses as he discussed efforts to increase broadband across northern Missouri. Railsback stressed that in order for businesses to succeed and thrive, the ability to connect with the rest of the country online was a key and that it needed to be made a priority for the region. Commissioner of Education Dr. Margie Vandeven spoke of goals to make Missouri’s education top-notch. She announced that all Missouri high school juniors will now be able to take the ACT test once at no charge. Vandeven also discussed her department’s focus on investing in both students and teachers in an effort to be in the top 10 states in education rankings by 2020. City Manager Greg McDanel recognizes that many of these priorities match that of the Maryville city council. One specific priority mentioned repeatedly was bringing youth back to rural communities. “I think it’s been in the city’s long-term plan for a while to continue to bring youth back to the community,” McDanel said. “Rural university communities tend to suffer from students getting their degrees and leaving, but the more high-tech jobs, the more opportunities we can provide, the more reasons we can give them to come back here and raise their families.” That afternoon, the Leadership Maryville group and others attended a Higher Education Hearing, where Dr. John Jasinksi addressed legislators about the state of Northwest Missouri State University. Jasinski spoke among his colleagues from Truman State University, Missouri Western State University, the University of Missouri system, and others. Jasinski brought up positive aspects and the continued progress of the university and noted that any funding needed this year would be for routine maintenance of the campus facilities. An evening reception welcomed northwest Missouri region delegates and legislators from across the state in the Capitol Plaza Hotel Ballroom. Residents of each county set up booths to showcase features their area has to offer. The City of Maryville, Nodaway County Economic Development, Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce and Leadership Maryville worked together to showcase Mozingo Lake Recreation Park and Northwest Missouri State University, as well as manufacturers and businesses from across Nodaway County. Maryville Chamber of Commerce director Jordyn Swalley said that hosting a booth was a great way to make leaders aware of what Nodaway County has to offer. “I think the main thing that I took away from this event is pride,” Swalley said. “Pride when it comes to Dr. John Jasinski explaining the accomplishments Northwest Missouri State University has made even with a 21 percent financial decrease from the state; pride in handing out giveaways to our state representatives & senators from local manufacturers and businesses that are expanding or thriving; and pride in our past and present representatives and senators as other Missouri figures expressed the deep amount of respect they have for them.” Food, music and community booths created an environment of fellowship, networking and productive conversations among northwest region residents and legislators from across the state. Half of the General Assembly was present or represented at the reception. Sixteen senators and 87 representatives were present, and office staff represented an additional 22 legislators. “The northwest region certainly had a strong, unified presence, and this was a great opportunity to talk about the needs of the ‘Great Northwest,’” McDanel said. “Those needs usually include sales tax, and funding of K-12 and higher education. Representative (Allen) Andrews and Senator (Dan) Hegeman have our interests at heart, but others may not realize our needs … this was a good time to go down and speak our piece.” A regional breakfast on Wednesday featured speaker Dr. Tim Crowley, who provides leadership development workshops throughout the region. His motivating speech focused the importance of story telling to promote small communities and businesses. According to Crowley, statistics show that 75 percent of conversations in the workplace are negative. He challenged everyone in the room to work to change that and to encourage one another. A group from the Leadership Maryville class and members of the Maryville Chamber of Commerce took a behind-the-scenes tour with former District 1 Representative Mike Thomson and Joe Hegeman, intern for current Representative Allen Andrews. The tour included the floors of the Senate and House, and the dome of the Capitol Building. “This truly was an experience that not all get  Continue Reading »

Posted on Jan 21, 2015 by Tony Brown MARYVILLE, Mo. — Employees at the Federal-Mogul Motorparts factory in Maryville recently celebrated a couple of milestones. First of all, workers were recognized with time-in-service awards during the company’s annual banquet held at the Maryville Country Club. The second distinction marked the completion of 6 million work hours without a time-lost accident. A luncheon and shirt giveaway commemorated the safety achievement. The plant’s last time-lost accident occurred Dec. 10, 1999. Time-in-service recognitions included 45 employees with a combined total of 890 years on the job. The group was congratulated by Rick Owens, plant manager and general manager of the Federal-Mogul facility in Boaz, Alabama. Those receiving awards included: 30 years — Mark Wolfer, supervisor, forging and assembly; Rodney Saville, shipping/receiving; James Mattson, inner tie rod end technician; Tad Henggeler, center link/drag link technician; Connie Wonderly, quality control technician; Tom Wilson, MRO coordinator; Tim Henson, quality control manager; Connie Loomis, packaging technician; and Raymond (Skeeter) Cross, forging technician. 20 years — Randy Sanders, maintenance supervisor; Matt Abrams, electrician; Keith Schmitz, forging technician; Dana Roberts, Robert Saxton, Randy Smyser, Jerry Deen and David Wilmes, center link/drag link technicians; Steve Coleman, Janette Oberhauser, Chris Schenkel, Jason Thompson, Melisha David, and Steve Auffert, tie rod machining technicians; David Wilmes, quality assurance supervisor; Tony Volner, John Deere assembly technician; Todd Rickabaugh, team leader-tie rod machining; Willis Spire and Greg Hawkins, coating line technicians; Tim Spire, component technician; Todd Walker and Robert Gaskill, maintenance technicians; Debbie Collins and Donnie Drummond, shipping/receiving technicians; Renea Smyser, packaging technician; Robert Hannigan, materials manager; Chris Baldwin, Goss technician. 15 years — Renee Wolf, plant controller 10 years ­— Shannon Staples and Keith Shimak, forging technicians; Ken Petersen, manufacturing engineer; Jeff Smith, quality control technician; Jaclyn Coate, accounting clerk. 5 years — Geoff Scott, tie rod machining technician; Jeff Sanders, large tie rod end steering support technician; Travis Wymore, large tie rod end technician.

Posted on Jan 9, 2015 by Tony Brown Maryville Daily Forum According to a municipal staff report attached to the agenda for Monday’s Maryville City Council meeting, Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp. U.S.A. has announced plans to undertake a 100,800 square-foot expansion that will include upgraded machining operations and new equipment. The report stated that the $25 million expansion could create up to 30 new jobs in conjunction with weekend shifts. In the report, City Manager Greg McDanel stated that Missouri law authorizes municipalities to issue Industrial Development Revenue bonds, also known as Chapter 100 bonds, to provide tax incentives to facilitate such expansion projects. At Monday’s regular council session, McDanel is expected to recommend that the council adopt a resolution in support of issuing municipal Industrial Development Revenue Bonds in an amount not to exceed $25 million to finance the Kawasaki expansion. McDanel stated that the expansion aligns with the council’s stated goal of enlarging the city’s tax base by “pursuing strategic economic development and private investment.” IDBs may be issued by any Missouri municipality to finance the cost of offices, warehouses, distribution facilities and industrial plants. In conjunction with such projects, bond proceeds can be used to construct or install buildings, fixtures and machinery. There are two primary reasons to issue IDBs, McDanel said. First, when the bonds are tax-exempt, they may possess lower interest rates than those obtained through conventional financing. The second reason is that property taxes on bond-financed property may be abated because legal title to the property and improvements is held by the city during the financing period. In a typical IDB transaction, the municipality holds fee title to the project and leases it to the company, thereby making it exempt from real and personal property taxes during the bonding period. IDBs can be issued as revenue bonds that do not require voter approval and are payable solely from revenues received from the project. In other words, the municipality merely acts as a conduit for the financing. At then end of the bonding term, the property is transferred back to the company for a nominal fee. Building materials and other real property improvements financed with IDBs may also be exempt from state and local sales tax. The Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp. U.S.A. plant operated just outside Maryville’s south city limits for the past 25 years before voluntarily annexing into the city in December. The annexation, which required no extension of city services, will provide the city with significant new tax revenue from sales and property taxes on the facility as it now exists. Anticipated annual revenue totals $134,952 for the city proper, $35,738 for Maryville Parks & Recreation and $15,770 for the Maryville Public Library.

Dec. 11, 2014 JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri’s Department of Economic Development has been named the number one economic development agency in the country by the nation’s premier international brokerage and consulting firms, Gov. Jay Nixon announced today. According to AEDI/Pollina Corporate, this is the first time the organization has formally ranked state agencies making Missouri the first to receive the distinction. “I congratulate director Mike Downing and the dedicated team at the Missouri Department of Economic Development on this prestigious honor,” Gov. Nixon said. “They, along with the many local partners, work tirelessly to promote our state as the best place to do business—and after a record year for job creation and capital investment, this distinction is well-deserved.” To develop the Top 10 State Economic Development Organizations list, AEDI/Pollina Corporate evaluated states’ economic development organization’s performance, and awarded points based on marketing of the state to employers, efforts for attracting new business and assisting existing state employers.  Missouri led the nation with a score of 112. Utah earned the number 10 spot with a score of 84. “When it came to picking a winner, Missouri made a strong case for receiving top honors,” said Brent A. Pollina, Esq., Vice President of AEDI/Pollina Corporate.  “With its strong project management team, extensive incentive programs, clear marketing message, and knowledgeable leadership, Missouri has made a clear and convincing case for being our choice for top Economic Development department.” The designation is based in large part on the AEDI/Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States study, which examines 32 factors relative to state efforts to be pro-business. Missouri moved up the chart to number 8 on this year’s AEDI/Pollina Corporate Top Pro-Business States list, one spot up from 2013. The selection process is based on a comprehensive approach that looks at job retention and creation efforts of all 50 states and examines more than 30 factors relative to state efforts to create business-friendly environments. After calling for a streamlining of Missouri’s economic incentive programs in his 2013 State of the State Address, Gov. Nixon signed into a law a comprehensive strategy to support economic growth and create career opportunities for Missourians. Missouri Works consolidated four of its business development incentives into a single program with uniform of definitions and a streamlined applications process to cut through red tape. Missouri Works also enables more small businesses and businesses in rural areas to participate as well as provides targeted benefits to existing Missouri businesses. In addition, Missouri Works consolidated the state’s workforce training programs into a single, streamlined program that is more closely aligned with the state’s other economic development programs. It also targets workforce development resources more efficiently toward job placement and training for job-seekers. In fiscal year 2014, Missouri experienced the best year on record for job creation and capital investments, partnering with dozens of growing companies to announce 121 expansion projects, which included plans to create a total of 28,198 new jobs and invest more than $6.35 billion in the Show-Me State. During that same time, Missouri landed the largest expansion in state history when Cerner announced plans to create up to 16,000 new jobs with a $4.45 billion investment. Missouri’s statewide efforts towards business development consists of a public-private partnership, which is divided by function between the Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED) and a private sector partner, the Hawthorn Foundation and its wholly owned subsidiary, the Missouri Partnership. DED, along with the 13 contracted international offices, work to attract foreign direct investment to the state, facilitate exporting for Missouri businesses, as well as focus on business expansion, retention, and workforce development. The role of the Missouri Partnership is to attract businesses to the state as well as manage related marketing. The Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED) and its partners work with local economic development agencies throughout the state, as well as community colleges and workforce development agencies to improve opportunities for business development and foster economic growth.  DED’s divisions and boards, including but not limited to the Missouri Technology Corporation, the Division of Business and Community Development, Missouri Development Finance Board, and the Division of Workforce Development, also provide crucial financial support to sustain a healthy and diverse competitive business community. Entrepreneurs or businesses interested in learning about these resources should visit Mo.gov.   ###

By TONY Brown News editor, Maryville Daily Forum Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 6:07 am Maryville’s largest employer is about to become an actual part of the city of Maryville. City Manager Greg McDanel and Kawasaki Motors Mfg. Corp. U.S.A. Plant Manager and Vice President Steve Bratt jointly announced at Monday’s City Council meeting that the 1,100-employee small-motor factory is to be incorporated into the city limits. The 800,000 square-foot plant is located just south of town near the intersection of South Main Street and Highway 71. The “self-annexation,” which is to become official in about a month, significantly increases Kawasaki’s tax liability, but will swell municipal coffers by providing new property tax revenue for the city proper along with the Maryville Public Library and Maryville Parks & Recreation, both set up as quasi-independent agencies. In addition, since Kawasaki operates under a “direct pay” sales tax agreement with the state of Missouri, the city will now realize additional sales tax revenue as well. Bratt said Kawasaki’s decision to request annexation was rooted in a desire to fulfill its “corporate responsibility” to the city on whose outskirts it has operated for the past 25 years, especially in the wake of the Energizer battery plant closure in 2013. “We are proud to be a part of Maryville,” Bratt said. “We’re just not in Maryville, and we would like to take this opportunity to join the city.” For complete details about the proposed Kawasaki annexation see Wednesday’s report in the Maryville Daily Forum.