Company’s impact unlimited
Greenpower should help local economy
Not only were civic leaders at Friday’s groundbreaking for Greenpower Motor Company’s electric-power bus plant, but several local business people were there hoping the company will not only stimulate the local economy, but maybe their’s as well.
The Vancouver, Canada-based company broke ground Friday on 10 acres of land it purchased from the city on Hope Drive at the Porterville Municipal Airport. Within a year, it will be turning out electric buses for not just the City of Porterville, but for cities and schools across the nation. It has already set up a limited operation across the street in a hangar.
City Councilman Monte Reyes, the city’s representative on the air board, called it a “momentous day” in the city.
He said not only will the new company bring jobs and an economic boost to the area, but it will help to clean the air.
“We’re challenged with air quality. This is a very exciting time. It’s very real today and very real for our community going forward,” he said.
History
It was in early November of 2015 that Greenpower Chairman Fraser Atkinson and CEO Phillip Aldridge happened to come into town. Atkinson told on Friday how they searched all across the nation before coming to Porterville. Atkinson said as they met with people in town, mostly real estate
estate folks, they kept being told to meet with the city, so they stopped in at City Manager John Lollis’ office. Luckily, he was not so busy he could not meet with the men he had no idea for what they were looking. It was the beginning of a beautiful partnership and a partnership which sealed the deal.
Atkinson said everyone at the city, including Mayor Milt Stowe, the rest of the city council, and staff members Jenni Byers and Jason Ridenour, did everything they could to assist them in their search.
“How we got here. It really speaks to how we ended up here,” said Atkinson as he told the first piece of property they looked at fell through, then so did a second. Finally, the city told him it had vacant land available and that’s how Friday came about.
“On our second visit, when we showed up, Mayor Stowe, Virginia (Gurrola), John, Jenni and Jason were all there. We’d never seen that before,” he said. The city then put them in touch with the California Air Resource Board and another partnership was developed. On Friday, the air board presented the city a check for $9.5 million to purchase 10 electric-power buses from Greenpower. That really sealed the deal.
“No matter who we dealt with in this state, it’s all about leadership,” Atkinson said of all those they have worked with. “We’re delighted to be a part of that.”
Payoff City officials have said the company will employ as many as 60 workers at the start, but could grow to more than 1,000 employees. The jobs are factory jobs with good pay and benefits.
Lollis said the company plans to grow in phases with more than $10 million being invested locally over the next two years.
“I think this is as big as anything to come to town,” said Jim Holly, longtime president and CEO of Bank of the Sierra. He said the company could have a bigger impact than Walmart Distribution Center when it came to town 25 years ago and that did have a significant impact.
“It will raise the profile and notoriety (of Porterville) across the state,” said Holly.
Former mayor Ron Irish agreed.
Saying time will be the true teller of the impact, he too noted it has been a long time since the city landed a large manufacturer.
“All indications are it looks good. I’m excited,” said Irish.
Jason Ridenour, economic development manager for the City of Porterville, said the company could create over 400 new jobs in the city at an average salary of $45,625.
An economic impact analysis conducted by Impact Datasource for the city reports that in addition to the direct jobs that will be created by Greenpower locating in Porterville, an additional 155 indirect jobs will be created. This growth is expected to spur additional housing and commercial development, according to the report.