By DeAntae Prince, The Tribune-Star
deantae.prince@tribstar.com
TERRE HAUTE - After two years of construction, CertainTeed Corp. opened its doors to the public at a grand opening on Wednesday morning.
The ceremony featured opening remarks from Thierry Denis, vice president and general manager, and other company officials, the Environmental Protection Agency and David Decker, Vigo County commissioner. The speakers were followed by a ribbon-cutting. Those in attendance were offered plant tours and a sustainability presentation by Tad Radzinski.
The 370,000 square-foot, $70 million fiber cement siding manufacturing facility currently employs 79, who comprise two shifts. A third wave of workers are set to be hired, taking the total to 140.
Employees will earn an average hourly rate of $16.75 to $17.
The opening of the plant offers a positive to residents of Terre Haute and Vigo County, as it comes on the heels Pfizer Inc.'s closure and the loss of nearly 800 jobs at the company since 2007. Decker doesn't see CertainTeed's tenure as a similar situation. He said he expects the company to be a longtime venture.
"We made a commitment to you," Decker said while facing Denis. "You've made a huge financial commitment to our community, and we hope this is the beginning of a very, very long relationship. We look forward to you being here for years and years to come."
Denis said they are happy to offer Terre Haute citizens jobs in a time of need.
"We're pleased to offer employment to people at a time where, unfortunately, many companies are downsizing or laying off people," Denis said. "We're recruiting as we speak."
Several companies have vacated Terre Haute, but Steve Witt, president of Terre Haute Economic Development Corp., said they aren't surprised by fluctuation.
"Companies are going to come and go," Witt said. "We just have to remain as competitive as we can as a community and go after every opportunity that comes our way."
Witt went on to say as long as Terre Haute is at the forefront of competition for new business development, good things are sure to happen.
"I think this demonstrates how important it is that we work on a daily basis to try to bring new opportunities to the community," Witt said. "Because quite frankly, world class companies like CertainTeed and the investment and job creation they're making in Terre Haute and Vigo County don't come along every day."
The company didn't reach its grand opening without withstanding some bumps in the road. From July 27 through Oct. 11, 2007, 10 companies filed 11 liens against CertainTeed, totaling $2.28 million in debt. Most of that portion came from a $1.53 million lien filed Sept. 7 by Wabash Valley Asphalt. As a result, construction of the business came to a halt last October and production was slowed during the latter part of the year.
Denis said the company is still under some portion of the lien.
"Many of those have gone away," Denis said. "So we've been able to resolve most of these issues, but we do still have a number of outstanding issues with a limited number of contractors that we're working to resolve."
Denis wouldn't disclose exactly which of the companies they were still in the process of compensating.
Witt said he was in touch with CertainTeed during the labor holdout, and his confidence never wavered.
"We didn't worry about it too much," Witt said. "We remained in very close contact with CertainTeed officials and they kept us informed every step of the way. We were confident that the plant was going to open, it just took a little longer than anticipated."