Industrial developer interested in coming to the Valley

During the Board of Supervisor’s meeting Tuesday, the board heard a presentation from Xavier Rivas, vice president of development of Mexicali-based industrial developer PIMSA, in which he shared with the board the company’s desire to extend its footprint into the Imperial Valley.

The presentation was added on the agenda after last week District 1 Supervisor John Renison suggested the idea of inviting Rivas to speak to the board as the company recently announced plans to build an industrial plant in Yuma. On Tuesday, he urged the rest of the board members to have a more aggressive approach and work with PIMSA and attract them to the Valley.

“I would like staff to develop an MOU (memorandum of understanding) in which we can work closer with them,” Renison said. “I don’t see a lot of promotion going on, I see a lot of meetings that people attend but there is no real job production and I’m concerned about that, not only for D1 but for the entire county.”

During his presentation, Rivas said that all the company needs to work with the county is the will to work with them. He said a major contributing to the company’s decision to go to Yuma was the “can-do attitude” from Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls.

Despite the recent agreement to develop and industrial park in Yuma, Rivas said one of the next objectives for PIMSA is to develop something in the Imperial Valley. He said two possibilities to the type of development that could fit the Valley is to complement what will be produced in Yuma or what is already being produced in Mexicali, or focus on logistics. “We are ready to move forward and we just wanted to bring to your attention that we want to do business with the Imperial Valley,” Rivas said. “We want to continue to move forward. We are hungry to continue and are really interested in making it happen in the Imperial Valley and I hope you can assign us someone to follow up with to make it a reality.”

PIMSA began operations in Mexicali in 1977, its industrial Park in Mexicali encompasses 5.8 million square feet and depending on the time of year employ anywhere between 20,000 to 25,000 people.

Rivas said that the Imperial Valley has been a target for a long time but it wasn’t feasible in the past, he said that although farming is a crucial aspect of the economy he believes local officials need to consider diversifying the local economy.

“Personally I think we need to pursue this relationship,” said District 5 Supervisor Ray Castillo. “I always liked the dual plant concept. I think is time, is way overdue and I’m glad you’re here before us — we need to move forward with this.”

Following the presentation, the board gave directions to Community and Economic Development manager Esperanza Colio Warren to work with PIMSA to develop an agreement or plan to make the PIMSA expansion a reality.

Renison noted that the company’s track record and the time he has known them, along with the support from the rest of the board give him a lot of confidence that they’ll be able to get some jobs come to the Valley.

“The time has come to pursue this aggressively,” Renison said. “I’m very optimistic that we’ll be able to get something done here.”