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Exclusive: ‘Project Tread’ Could Bring 40-60 Jobs To Century By Next Year
September 9, 2011
A new economic development project dubbed “Project Tread” could bring 40 to 60 new jobs to Century by next year.
Century Mayor Freddie McCall said the Town of Century, the Century Chamber of Commerce and the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce have worked to lure the company “from up north” to relocate to a 15-acre parcel in the Century Industrial Park.
“It’s a doable project that can and will work,” McCall said Thursday night. “We’ll have an industry here and working three shifts, 24 hours a day.”
McCall declined to name the company or the exact nature of the business, citing the sensitive nature of the business negotiations between the town and the industry. He also declined to say if the company might deal in any chemicals or products that would require them to secure a permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
The company is asking the town to give them the 15 acres in the industrial park, and McCall said the town is willing — with a catch. In exchange for the 15 acres, the company will be required to place $100,000 in an escrow account. If the company performs and creates at least 40 of the promised jobs, their money will be returned. If they fail to create the jobs within a time limit not yet specified, the $100,000 will go to the Town of Century to pay for the land.
Some of the new jobs will be “experts” that will move to the Century area to run the company, the mayor said. The rest will be local area hires.
McCall said the company has a $30 million federal grant lined up that will require them to be up and running next year.
The mayor said the company is not connected whatsoever to Century Lumber and Land, or any other other associated industries that announced plans last year to open in the old Alger-Sullivan Lumber Company building. The Century Lumber and Land project has yet come to fruition, despite the company holding a ribbon cutting ceremony and taking hundred of employment applications.
McCall will return to the Century Town Council in the coming weeks with a contract with the ‘Project Tread” company for council approval.
Comments
11 Responses to “Exclusive: ‘Project Tread’ Could Bring 40-60 Jobs To Century By Next Year”
Apparently the lack of confidence in the government starts at the local level. There seems to be a Lack of Believablity where the government of any sort is concerned. Hmmm……..I wonder why?!
YEAH,yeah,yeah! Just as everyone else stated people will tell all kind of lies to get reelected.What happened to the job that was supposed to come to the town of century in the “sawmill”? Okay my point exactly..Get MR.MAYOR out of that seat.You only see him in certain parts of century ONLY during election time.While youre”MR.MAYOR” tryna get a so call job sight what about getting our schools reopened so that our kids wouldnt have to travel 30minutes to get to school rather than 5 minutes.How do he expect people to get a good job if we have no education?? Most people wont.But of course he knows that already.Get him out of there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!;)
Why does the Mayor think that he doesn’t have to share all information with the Council. Anything pertaining to Town business the Council should be informed completely. They were elected to make decisions for the Town and the Mayor was elected to carry out those decisions. How can they make good decisions when they are not informed until the Mayor has it lined up like he wants and then he brings it to the table expecting a vote that night. Come on Mayor let the Council know what kind of business you are trying to bring to Century they may not think it is the kind of business the citizens of Century want in “their” town.
Century’s Mayor knows what it takes to get re-elected. Just make them a few promises and they will fall for it every time. PEOPLE when are you going to wake up and realize that you are being duped!! Town of Century residents, please show this man that you are more intelligent than this and get this man out of office. I will be willing to bet that you won’t hear anything else about this “PROJECT TREAD” after the October elections.
I hope that this is sincere, however, the track record is not good for this sort of thing. I will speak life. I pray now for jobs to really actually show up in Century and surrounding towns. Not a song and dance.
Election time people…don’t hold ur breath!!!!!!
We would like to know just what business is coming here, it could be something like a fish processing plant that would stink so bad that our property values that are already suffering would plummet so far as to be practically worthless. We have a right to say whether we want it or not.
The government should not be in the real estate business.
I’ve always said that tax breaks and other monetary incentives to industry should come with stipulations. It’s crazy to give a company a tax break or free land because they promise something and then it doesn’t happen.
I do agree with Steve though – just because they hire 40 people to get their money back, there should be a time limit.
Good Job Mr. Mayor!
“The company will be required to place $100,000 in an escrow account. If the company performs and creates at least 40 of the promised jobs, their money will be returned. If they fail to create the jobs within a time limit not yet specified, the $100,000 will go to the Town of Century to pay for the land.”
Hopefully the 40 promised jobs will be required to exist for a period of time (5 years) before the $100,000 is returned. I would hate to see 40 jobs created and the company close a year later. Companies fail. If this company failed short-term, 40 jobs and $100,000 would be lost.
I like to believe that this is actually going to happen and a viable company will actually show-up this time, but we have seen and heard this dog and pony show before with the electric car plant, catfish processor, and lumber mill. This has all the makings of yet another Century magic show complete with the smoke and mirrors on the front end to distract. Then comes the infamous make-believe Century Houdini act to cover the company’s disappearance before it ever shows, which will be followed by the tap dance and song of why this never really happened. At least we’re in for some good entertainment, so stay tuned!