By KEN de la BASTIDE, Kokomo Tribune enterprise editor
ken.delabastide@kokomotribune.com
Local economic development officials are attempting to lure battery manufacturer EnerDel to Howard County.
EnerDel announced last month that it was locating its headquarters in Noblesville and was looking for a central Indiana location for a manufacturing plant that would employ as many as 500 people.
Delphi Corp. owned 19.5 percent of EnerDel, which was formed in 2004, but sold its interest to another company.
The jobs would be a welcome addition to Howard County, which according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, currently has an unemployment rate about 33 percent higher than the state average.
The unadjusted July unemployment rate for Kokomo was 9.6 percent, compared to 5.9 percent last year. The state average for July was 6.1 percent.
The unadjusted July unemployment rate for Howard County was 9.3 percent, up from the June adjusted rate of 7.7 percent. The July 2007 rate for the county was 4.9 percent.
Debbie Cook, Kokomo's director of development, and Jan Hendrix, director of the Kokomo-Howard County Development Corp., have been leading discussions with Delphi officials about bringing the EnerDel manufacturing facility to Howard County.
"The state will be involved," Cook said of the selection process by EnerDel. "I believe the request for proposals will be coming from the state. That is normal on a big project like this."
Cook said the city is always working on incentive packages to attract new business.
"I hope the fact that Delphi is located in Kokomo gives us a leg up," she said. "It's a no-brainer."
Cook said city and economic development officials are reaching out to Delphi and EnerDel to make as attractive an offer as possible.
She noted that Kokomo has the space available for a new manufacturing operation within the Delphi complex.
"We have the intellectual capacity for the battery operation," Cook said.
Mitch Frazier, spokesman for the Indiana Economic Development Corp., said the state is working with EnerDel and assisting the company on a possible location for the manufacturing site.
"We're not steering them to any location," he said.
Hendrix said local officials began looking at possibilities for Kokomo as soon as the EnerDel plans were announced for Noblesville.
"There are people still at Delphi that have contact with EnerDel," she said. "We wanted to see what synergys are still there."
Hendrix said she expects to hear shortly what EnerDel needs in terms of a facility.
Frazier said a decision could be made in the near future, and the manufacturing facility is scheduled to begin operations by 2012.
The state has offered EnerDel up to $7.125 million in performance-based tax credits and $58,000 in training grants for the creation of up to 850 jobs total in the state.
Last month, Delphi announced it was trimming the Kokomo work force by approximately 500 positions.
Most of the positions being eliminated are in the engineering sector.
"We would love to see those people transition into new jobs," Cook said. "Having the new bypass being constructed is a plus for us."
EnerDel will be making Lithium-ion batteries for use in hybrid, plug-in electric and electric vehicles. EnerDel recently secured a $70 million contract to supply batteries to a Norwegian company making the "Think" electric vehicle for sale in Europe.