It's Not Magic, but Retention Emphasis Pays Off For Missouri Town

By Susan C. Thomson

The Regional Economist, Vol. 18, No. 1 January 2010                                                      To Download PDF Go To Document Central

The bad news came in Corey J. Mehaffy's first week as president of the Moberly Area Economic Development Corp. Dura Automotive Systems announced the layoff of 200 workers at its auto parts plant in Moberly, Mo. As part of its parent company's bankruptcy reorganization, a bulwark of the local economy was losing half of its work force to Mexico.

Though the February 2007 decision was irrevocable and he was new to his job, Mehaffy was on the spot "to try to make the best" of the company's situation, recalls Regina Reid, who was then the human resources manager at the Dura plant in Moberly. He worked with the company and other local partners to help the excess employees get skills assessment, job search and retraining—federal benefits due them as autoworkers whose jobs left the country.

This sort of service has become Mehaffy's modus operandi: to deliberately spend more time working to retain local businesses—and, if possible, help them grow—than trying to woo new employers from out of town.