By Jeff Tucker, Shelbyville News staff writer
Harley-Davidson officials were scouting out Shelby County Wednesday as the motorcycle maker reportedly is considering building a new assembly plant employing at least 1,000 workers.
Harley-Davidson officials met throughout the day with a contingent of Shelby County officials, including Dan Theobald, executive director of the Shelby County Development Corp., state Rep. Sean Eberhart and local school officials.
Eberhart cautioned the one-day meeting was preliminary but promising.
"We had different people working (Wednesday) to give them a total face to the community," said Eberhart, R-Shelbyville. "This is an early part of their process. It's just the first step of many to come. We're just happy to be considered."
The Milwaukee-based manufacturer is considering sites in Shelbyville, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and two unidentified states while it considers revamping, closing or moving some operations out of its 2,800-employee production complex at York, Penn., according to published reports.
Eberhart said company officials looked at several sites in Shelby County and were not specific on preferred location, plant size, number of employees or a timetable for any potential relocation into Shelby County.
Unconfirmed reports suggest, however, the motorcycle-maker is considering land along Interstate 74 northwest of Shelbyville.
"They were not real specific on any sites at this time," Eberhart said. "This was just more of an informal type of visit on their part to give us a look-see. They are looking for a site for possible expansion. They weren't real specific about the size of their plant or the number of people."
Eberhart said the local contingency courting Harley-Davidson included representatives from Triton Central High School and Shelbyville Central Schools.
"And we did talk about the school systems," Eberhart said.
Eberhart said late Wednesday that Theobald was continuing to host company officials.
"He's the lead guy on this that showed them around," Eberhart said. "Of course, he's our point guy when it comes to these types of things."
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