Husted seeks ideas to help area recover from NCR departure

Business, political leaders discuss aid packages to cope with company move.

Learn more about Duluth, where NCR is moving its headquarters to in Georgia.

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By William Hershey and Thomas Gnau
Staff Writer Updated 2:16 AM Wednesday, June 3, 2009

COLUMBUS — If Gov. Ted Strickland was willing to offer $31 million in state incentives to keep NCR in Dayton, then Strickland should be willing to come up with that much state aid to help the Dayton area rebound from NCR’s departure.

That’s the rationale for Sen. Jon Husted’s plan to get the aid for the Dayton-area in the wake of NCR’s decision to move its headquarters to Georgia.

Husted said on Tuesday, June 2, that he is asking both the Dayton Development Coalition and the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce to come up with a plan by the end of the week to submit to Strickland.

The money would be allocated to projects in the Dayton area aimed at creating 1,100 jobs, said Husted.

Husted said he’s advocating an “aggressive approach toward growing the next generation of businesses in the area.”

He said NCR’s decision to move its headquarters to Georgia will affect the Dayton area more than it will affect the NCR workers, most of whom probably will relocate to Georgia.

“They didn’t lose their jobs. We lost the company,” he said.

It’s time to look ahead, he added.

“They (NCR) don’t want to be here,” Husted said. “Let’s engage in the process of working with businesses who do want to be here.”

Phillip L. Parker, president and CEO of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, said he has talked to Husted’s concept of directing state support to creating new Dayton area jobs to replace those being lost in the NCR move. Parker said he likes the idea, and he and members of the chamber board plan to meet with Husted tonight to discuss the idea further.

“I definitely think we can come up with Dayton business support for this initiative,” Parker said.

Parker said work needs to happen on three fronts: retaining businesses that have made a commitment to the area, supporting high-tech start-ups and other local businesses that are primed and ready for growth, and attracting outside businesses to move to the area.

“It could be a mixture of all those actions,” Parker said. “We’re probably not going to find a single company to account for 1,500 jobs. We need to look at the kinds of jobs that will stay and grow over the years, jobs that will have a long-term impact on the area.”

Joe Tuss, assistant Montgomery County administrator, said the county’s economic development strategy leans to pursuing more companies with fewer employees each than fewer companies with more employees, leaving the region less vulnerable to moves by big firms.

Said Tuss, “Give me 10 companies that employ between 100 and 200 people over one company that employs 2,000. I believe that’s the right strategy. It’s a slow rebuilding strategy. And it is a strategy that takes time and patience and commitment.”

“We’ve got a broader strategy and we need to continue to pursue that strategy,” he said. “It’s the right strategy.”

“It’s impossible to put together a development deal and negotiate a package with someone that doesn’t want to talk to you — period,” Tuss added, echoing the sentiments of many Tuesday. “That is the No. 1 frustration I think you’re hearing from all the elected officials and everyone else that you talk to.”

Strickland and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher both said the state would help NCR employees who don’t move to Georgia with the company. “We altogether will do everything we can to help you transition to other good, high-quality jobs in the region,” Fisher said at a news conference at the Old Courthouse in Dayton.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is calling for a coordinated federal response, with one coordinator leading the federal effort to help Dayton.

Brown made a similar request when DHL decided to pull out of Wilmington. Brown has also introduced legislation calling for federal coordination of cities that have suffered significant economic distress.

Husted said help for the community is what’s most needed. “They didn’t lose their jobs,” he said of NCR employees. “We lost the company.”

Lynn Hulsey and Jessica Wehrman contributed to this report. Contact William Hershey at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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